The Women's March has been fielding criticisms over its ties to Louis Farrakhan. The Nation of Islam leader has been known to spout anti-Semitic views, as recently as last week. CNN's Jake Tapper called out Women's March co-chair Tamika Mallory for attending Farrakhan's Saviour's Day speech, where he claimed that "the powerful Jews are my enemy."
It turns out that Mallory has attended the Savior's Day event for years. The Women's March relationship with Farrakhan is a "hot mess," Tapper said.
Democrats in Congress like Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) are now facing the same heat. On Friday, Tapper shared a new Washington Post fact check article that gave Ellison Four Pinocchios for claiming he's had nothing to do with Farrakhan since entering Congress.
WaPo factchecker: “Ellison is trying to have it both ways, publicly distancing himself while privately doing something else. He earns Four Pinocchios for suggesting his interactions with Farrakhan ended in 2006.” https://t.co/FLjtCm6ame
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 9, 2018
"Man, I’m telling you back in 2006 and before, I disavowed them," Ellison said during a "Morning Joe" appearance in 2016. "That’s the ridiculous thing about this, that we keep on having to answer this kind of stuff."
The Facts, according to WaPo, are that "there are at least three recent cases in which Ellison and Farrakhan have crossed paths and may have even spoken."
First, during a function at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va, then, at a dinner for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and they reportedly had another private meeting in 2016.
Ellison repeatedly has danced around the question of his association with Farrakhan, including whether they have crossed paths since he publicly cut ties with the Nation of Islam in 2006. But he needs to provide a better explanation for what he was doing in Farrakhan’s hotel suite in 2016 and what they discussed. He cannot claim to have “disavowed” Farrakhan more than a decade ago while moving the same circles and apparently having a friendly chat behind closed doors.
Farrakhan has tainted other political careers, even that of former President Barack Obama. Then-candidate Obama's relationship with Farrakhan very well could have upended his presidential campaign in 2008, had it not been for the fact that the journalist who took the photo decided to keep it hidden for years.
As it turns out, the Women's March's ties to Farrakhan is only one of its problems. Linda Sarsour, a co-chair of the march, was recently arrested for disturbing the peace on Capitol Hill.