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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to begin designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The order, invoking the Immigration and Nationality Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, cites the group’s involvement in violence across the Middle East, including rocket attacks on Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.
The move begins a 30-day review led by the State and Treasury Departments to identify Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon for possible designation, which could freeze assets, restrict travel, and criminalize material support for affiliated entities.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond,” Trump’s executive order reads. “Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.
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“For example, in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel,” the order continues. “A senior leader of the Egyptian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, on October 7, 2023, called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests, and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas.
“Such activities threaten the security of American civilians in the Levant and other parts of the Middle East, as well as the safety and stability of our regional partners,” the order noted.
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Trump signaled over the weekend that he was planning to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization after several groups stepped up warnings in recent months that the Islamic group was gaining a foothold in the U.S.
“It will be done in the strongest and most powerful terms,” Trump told Just the News over the weekend. “Final documents are being drawn.”
The president’s comment came shortly after Texas declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and just days after the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), a prominent global research center, released a comprehensive 200-page study warning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s growing influence in the U.S.
The Islamist organization founded in Egypt, has gained access to government agencies, been involved in advising American civil rights policy, infiltrated educational institutions, and created a vast social media footprint, the report states, while outlining the belief that the group has allegedly targeted U.S. government agencies for infiltration, including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice, through career appointments and advisory roles.
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“We welcome President Trump’s statements and the growing recognition that the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideology and network pose a serious challenge to the United States and democratic societies,” Charles Asher Small, executive director of ISGAP, said in a press release after Trump’s interview with Just the News.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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