House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has joined a growing list of Republicans in condemning Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) unsubstantiated Islamophobic attacks against top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The flap started when Bachmann all but directly accused Clinton aide Huma Abedin of working on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood in a letter with four colleagues to the State Department’s Inspector General demanding an investigation.
“I think accusations like this being thrown around are dangerous,” Boehner said during a press conference on Thursday:
Q: Speaker Boehner, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann…specifically mentioned Huma Abedin, the deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and basically said that she had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood through her family and they also showed that the State Department’s policies have become more friendly to the Muslim brotherhood and other Islamic groups. Do you have this concern — do you think it’s appropriate that she and these members would ask for this letter, especially as a member of the House Intelligence Committee?
BOEHNER: I haven’t seen the letter, but — I don’t know Huma, but from everything I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.
Q: Would you consider taking her off the Intelligence Committee? Congresswoman Bachmann?
BOEHNER: I don’t know that that’s related at all.
Watch it:
Boehner comments come after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took to the unusual step of repudiating Bachmann’s McCarthyesque witch-hunt as “nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen.”
Bachmann has issued a statement noting that her claims are “unfortunately being distorted,” though the attention seeking Congresswoman is surprisingly unwilling to discuss the matter with the media. On Wednesday, Bachmann high-tailed it out of the Capitol Building hallway as CNN’s Dana Bash sought to confront her about the allegations.
Update:
Appearing on NPR, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined the growing chorus of Republicans to distance themselves from Bachmann’s Islamopbic with-hunt. Salon reports that Rubio said (listen here):
I can tell you that I don’t share the feelings that are in that letter. And in fact, I’m very very careful and cautious about ever making accusations like that about anyone.
Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald also noted that Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) said on Twitter that Bachmann’s accusations were “out-of-line” and have “no place in our public discourse.”