Booker says Gabbard ‘endangering’ NJ with remarks on radical Islam, heavily Muslim city; deputy responds

Tulsi Gabbard says Charlie Kirk understood the threat to freedom and worked to preserve it Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reflects on the energy Charlie Kirk had and says she is ‘in awe of’ Erika Kirk’s strength in the face of ‘the toughest times’ at TPUSA's AmericaFest 2025 (Credit: Turning Point USA). Sen. Cory Booker and the top U.S. counter-terrorism official sparred Tuesday over DNI Tulsi Gabbard ’s reference to Paterson, New Jersey’s Muslim community during her speech to AmericaFest earlier this week. Booker, D-N.J., took issue with part of director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s speech to AmericaFest in Phoenix over the weekend, where she called out threats to the U.S. homeland from Islamist ideology. Booker ripped Gabbard for name-dropping his state’s third-largest city, Paterson. The city, between New York City and the Delaware Water Gap, is named for Irish immigrant and Constitution signatory William Paterson but has a sizable, growing Arab Christian and Muslim community. TEXAS GOV ABBOTT DECLARES CAIR, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AS TERRORIST GROUPS, PREVENTING LAND PURCHASES Sen. Cory Booker, left, and Tulsi Gabbard, right, at a Democratic presidential debate. (Saul Loeb/Getty Images) "Paterson is one of New Jersey’s oldest cities and has always embodied the best American values - industry, perseverance, and diversity," Booker tweeted Tuesday. "Tulsi Gabbard's dangerous attempt to sow fear, pit people against each other, and smear the Muslim Americans of Paterson, NJ is dishonest, cruel, and un-American - it endangers an entire community," said Booker, who hails from nearby Newark. Paterson reportedly has the second-highest percentage of Muslims behind Muslim-majority Hamtramck, Michigan. Paterson’s sister city is Ramallah, in the Palestinian West Bank, according to WKXW . MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP CAIR SUES TEXAS OVER ABBOTT'S ‘TERRORIST’ DESIGNATION "In Jersey, we know our state's diversity is our strength, and we stand up for our own," Booker said . During her speech, Gabbard warned that Islamist ideology fuels terror groups that should be defeated "militarily" but also presents a " direct threat to freedom " because it is effectively "political" thought. Gabbard warned that such ideology is both political and a direct threat to freedom because it seeks to "create a global caliphate that governs us here in America" and seeks enforcement of Sharia Law governance. 2021 AFGHAN REMARKS HAUNT GOP LAWMAKER'S SENATE BID AFTER DC GUARD SHOOTING "If you fail to comply, if you fail to adhere to this ideology, if you dare to exercise your God-given right to free speech, censorship is not what we face. They will use violence or any means they deem as necessary to silence us," Gabbard warned during her Phoenix address, before noting that German cities have canceled Christmas festivals due to the threat of radical Islamists; warning some may be taking root in America. "In places like Dearborn, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Islamist clerics are openly pushing this Islamist ideology, trying to recruit and radicalize young people," she went on, saying that advocacy-group-backed efforts to institute Sharia law are already in place in Houston, Texas...

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