Political News

GOP congressman appears on anti-Muslim radio show

A Florida congressman has made three appearances on a radio show hosted by two people who regularly espouse fringe anti-Muslim comments.

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By
Andrew Kaczynski
, CNN
(CNN) — A Florida congressman has made three appearances on a radio show hosted by two people who regularly espouse fringe anti-Muslim comments.

Republican Rep. Brian Mast appeared on the Right Side Patriots radio program on Tuesday, an online show hosted by conservative commentators Diane Sori and Craig Andresen who proudly describe themselves as anti-Muslim.

The appearance was Mast's first as a sitting congressman after he previously appeared in 2015 and 2016 as a congressional candidate, according to recaps of the show. Audio of the previous shows is not online.

Neither Mast, nor the hosts, made any anti-Muslim comments in Tuesday's interview, which touched on his background and run for Congress. Sori and Mast mentioned they sat at the same table at a dinner hosted by former Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida.

The segment following Mast's appearance accused Muslim-American political candidates of committing "ballot box jihad."

"It's also important for people to remember whether they like to hear it or not," said Sori. "We are at war with Islam. Plain and simple. I cannot say it enough. Islam is not a religion and we are at war with Islam -- not radical Islam, all Islam."

Mast's spokesman, Brian Stewart, defended the interview in a statement to CNN's KFile, saying Mast talked to all reporters.

"Congressman Mast talks to many reporters about the issues that are most important to his constituents like clean water, support for veterans and community safety -- just as he did in this interview -- and just like every reporter doesn't agree with his positions, he doesn't agree with every statement ever made by the reporters that he talks to," Stewart wrote in an email.

Sori and Andresen have separate websites for their radio program. The main page of Sori's website prominently features a long article by her on her belief that Islam is a cult and not a religion. Conspiratorial and anti-Muslim comments are a main theme of her blog

Andresen also regularly writes anti-Muslim comments and conspiracies such as a theory that former President Barack Obama is a secret Muslim whose real father was an Indonesian man.

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