“The similarities between Congressman Coffman and Donald Trump are striking,” said DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law. “It’s clear that there’s nothing Trump can do that will cause Coffman to change his mind about supporting the Republican nominee.”
BACKGROUND
Coffman Suggested Muslims in Military Should Be Vetted for Ties to Radical Islam. In a 2011 interview, Coffman suggested that Muslims in the military should be vetted for ties to radical Islam. Coffman said, “We need that same mentality today, to have that active counter-intelligence effort, to make sure that our ranks are not infiltrated by those sympathetic to radical Islam, like Major Hasan [Fort Hood], like Private First Class Abdo. And I think that is very important. And I think that also it would help Muslim Americans who are serving in the military, because then those soldiers, Marines, and airmen, serving alongside of them would understand that they have been vetted and that they can be trusted.” [Michael Brown interview,12/16/11]
2015: Coffman Spoke In Front Of The “Nation’s Leading Anti-Muslim Hate Group.” “Republican Rep. Mike Coffman spoke in September at the conference of an organization that has been profiled repeatedly as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. ‘ACT For America is perhaps the nation’s leading Anti-Muslim hate group … extremely out there in terms of their bigotry and extremism and hate mongering,’ said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The New York Times Magazine described the organization’s president Brigitte Gabriel, who also spoke at the conference, as follows: ‘She presents a portrait of Islam so thoroughly bent on destruction and domination that it is unrecognizable to those who study or practice the religion.’” [Colorado Independent, 10/06/15]