Here’s what Cruz said at a summit being held by Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy in Last Vegas.
Gaffney tends to enter the wider discussion every couple of years, whenever the national discussion about Islam hits its lowest ebb. Most recently it was when Donald Trump cited figures collected by the CSP about the supposed jihadist sympathies of American Muslims. According to Foreign Policy (and many other outlets), that poll should be treated with suspicion—at the very least, its methodology means it isn’t statistically valid.
Gaffney in the past has also questioned Obama’s citizenship, claimed Obama was a secret Muslim, accused Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, and said Elena Kagan would institute sharia law if confirmed to the Supreme Court. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes.”
Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and Rick Santorum will also appear at the summit.