A MAGA representative from Florida who ran on a conservative Christian platform has confirmed he was married by a radical Islamic mufti who advocated for jihad.
Rep. Cory Mills married Rana Al Saadi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iraq, in 2014. According to their marriage certificate, they were married by Mohammed Al-Hanooti at the Dar Al-Hijirah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, Blaze News reported.
During his time as the center’s imam, from 1995 to 1999, Al-Hanooti’s sermons included calls for holy war against non-Muslims and proclamations that Allah will curse the Americans, British, and Jews.
He had deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and was believed by the FBI to be a key fundraiser for Hamas. He was also listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing plot.
Another imam who was at Dar Al-Hijirah for just over a year was accused of radicalizing both the Fort Hood shooter, who killed 13 people in November 2009, and a man who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear during a December 2009 Northwest Airlines flight.
Two of the 9/11 hijackers also attended the center in early 2001.
All of this was common knowledge when Mills, a combat veteran who later worked as a private subcontractor in the Middle East, wed Al Saadi. The issue came up briefly during Mills’ congressional campaign but was quickly dropped.
Mills has since become a rising MAGA star, booking TV appearances and winning praise from President Donald Trump.
In February, D.C. police responded to an alleged assault at Mills’ home, bringing renewed scrutiny to his personal life. The woman in question wasn’t Al Saadi, according to Blaze News. The congressman has denied any wrongdoing.
Former Daily Beast journalist Roger Sollenberger brought renewed attention to Mills’ marriage certificate last month with a detailed social media thread.
The congressman has now confirmed to Blaze News that Al-Hanooti had married the couple but said he never converted to Islam. The two have been separated from three years and been in divorce proceedings for two and a half years.
Until recently, the mosque’s website said people who were married there had to be Muslim. Experts also told Blaze News it seemed unlikely that Al-Hanooti would ignore Sharia law, which prohibits Muslim women from marrying Christian men.
But Mills said the situation was more complicated than that.
His wife needed to visit a dying relative in Iraq, but she was fearful that if she returned to her native country without a marriage certificate, her first husband would try to claim she was still married to him, Mills said.
In that case, he could have had her arrested for being unfaithful and demanded a dowry from her, Mills added. Al-Hanooti was the only Iraqi imam that Al Saadi‘s mother could find who was willing to sign the marriage certificate.
Mills didn‘t personally know Al-Hanooti, who was sick at the time, he said.
“I didn’t have a relationship with the guy, so I can’t tell you anything other than the fact that he was sick,” Mills told Blaze News. “I don’t know anything about his involvement in the co-conspirator thing.”
The imam died within a year of signing the wedding certificate.
“I will do anything to protect my family,” he said, adding that he had “no problem” having his future mother-in-law find someone to sign a document that would prevent his wife from being arrested when she went to visit her dying uncle.
“It didn‘t change my faith, it didn‘t change who I am, it didn‘t change the church that I went to,” he said. “Enjoy your hit piece.”
Robert Spencer, the founder and editor of Jihad Watch, speculated to Blaze News that the ceremony could have been quick, with Mills saying the shahada—the Islamic oath and creed—without really knowing or caring what what he was doing.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Mills for comment.
Soon after they wed, Mills and Al Saadi started PACEM, an international arms company, soon after they married. A year later, they reached a $228 million arms deal with the Iraqi government, though the company didn‘t end up receiving the full contract amount, according to Business Insider.
The post MAGA Rep Reveals He Was Married by Radical Islamic Cleric appeared first on The Daily Beast.
