Tulsi Gabbard suggests Paterson, N.J. is working to impose Islamic law, prompting fierce backlash
Leaders in Paterson, New Jersey, are pushing back against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's remarks over the weekend suggesting the city is working to impose Islamic law.
Here's what Gabbard said
During a speech at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest event in Phoenix on Saturday, Gabbard claimed that groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, issued a call to action to implement Sharia Law in the U.S.
"Their fundamental ideology is antithetical to the foundation that we find in our constitution," Gabbard said.
She went on to single out the city of Paterson.
"Paterson, New Jersey, is proud to call themselves the first Muslim city. They are working to implement in their own governments these Islamic principles that are forced on people through the use of laws or violence," Gabbard said.
Paterson mayor, CAIR sound off on Gabbard's remarks
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh rejected Gabbard's claims and publicly invited her to visit the city and apologize.
"Paterson welcomes everyone, and Paterson has never failed a friend. Tulsi Gabbard needs to know Paterson is a better place because Muslims call our city home," Sayegh said.
Selaedin Maksut, the executive director of CAIR's New Jersey chapter, said the comments are inaccurate, and place Muslim residents at risk.
"Her remarks have placed the community here in Paterson, the mosques here in Paterson, in the crosshairs, putting them in direct harm's way by conflating Muslim civic participation and Muslim contributions in society with terrorism," Maksut said.
CAIR-N.J. officials joined Paterson's leader in saying Gabbard should retract her statements and apologize.
Comments were "dishonest, cruel, and un-American"
New Jersey Democrats blasted Gabbard's comments.
"Tulsi Gabbard's dangerous attempt to sow fear, pit people against each other, and smear the Muslim Americans of Paterson is dishonest, cruel, and un-American," U.S. Sen. Cory Booker wrote, in part, on social media.
CBS News New York reached out to Gabbard. The director's office referred us back to the speech that sparked the controversy.