Anti-Muslim training materials used by FBI and Justice Department personnel are “inconsistent” with DOJ’s Muslim outreach efforts and can undermine such relationships, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
Positions expressed in the materials — including that all Muslims are likely terrorist sympathizers and that the Prophet Muhammad was a “cult leader” — “do not reflect the views of the Justice Department and the FBI,” Holder said.
“It is regrettable that this information was part of the training program,” Holder said. “We are reviewing all of the materials, all of our training materials, to make sure that that kind of misinformation — that can really undermine the really substantial outreach efforts that we have made.”
Holder said such misinformation can “really have a negative impact on our ability to communicate effectively as we have in the past with this community.”
Another Justice Department official previously said Holder was “firmly committed” to getting anti-Muslim material out of law enforcement training and FBI Director Robert Mueller said the training has been isolated. The FBI has called in the Army’s help in reviewing their counterterrorism training material.
Muslim-Americans, Holder said, are “American citizens who have the same desires as we have. They want their kids to be safe.”
“That kind of information, that kind of training sets back those efforts,” Holder said. “We have distanced ourselves from that person and those statements.”
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.