Noted Islamophobe denies role in Trump transition but says he’s open to helping

Yet another controversial name has been tossed into the mix of possible advisers for President-elect Donald Trump as he prepares for his move to the White House: noted anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, and the New York Times reported Tuesday that Gaffney, who runs an Islamophobic think tank, would play an advisory role to the Trump transition team as it selects national security personnel.

Gaffney has since denied those reports, stating he has not been contacted by the Trump camp, but made clear he would be open to an invitation.

“An unattributed quote appeared in the press yesterday indicating I had been appointed to the Trump transition. In fact, I had not been contacted by anyone from the team,” he said in a statement to Bloomberg View.

But he noted he would “look forward to helping the president-elect and the national security-minded team he is assembling in whatever way I can.”

For those not familiar with Gaffney’s past, or why the mention of his name sparked outrage, Yahoo News has put together a brief history of his career.

Gaffney’s long history of making racist, fabulist statements earned him the label “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes” from the Southern Poverty Law Center. He served in the Defense Department during the Reagan administration before founding the Center for Security Policy, whose website contains numerous op-eds by Gaffney warning of the dangers of Muslims and encroaching Sharia law.

Despite decades of controversial statements, Gaffney became a national security adviser for Ted Cruz’s primary campaign earlier this year.

The following are just a few other examples of the comments and writing that have earned him the reputation of being a hard-line voice for Islamophobia:

— He accused President Obama of potentially being a “secret Muslim” in a 2009 Washington Times column.

— He stepped forward as an early supporter of Trump’s proposed banning of all Muslims entering the United States.

— In 2011, Gaffney accused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of “corruption” and “misprision of treason” for appointing a Muslim American lawyer to a state court.

— He was banned from speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference for insisting that the organization was being infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Noted antitax, pro-vaping advocate Grover Norquist was one of the CPAC regulars Gaffney targeted.

— Gaffney advocated that Muslim American Rep. André Carson should lose his spot on the House Intelligence Committee because it was likely he’d leak classified information to the Muslim Brotherhood.

— Gaffney stated that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin had “longstanding ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood and was in place to run “Islamist influence operations” on the former secretary of state.

— Gaffney posited that Saddam Hussein and Iraq were behind the 1995 Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing.

— He claimed that President Obama had reduced America’s missile defense system to help submit the United States to Islam. Gaffney cited a logo change for the system that included the star and crescent as “code-breaking evidence” of the shift.

— He called Pope Francis’ theology “rabidly anti-American” after the pontiff criticized Trump’s plan for a border wall.

— Gaffney has accused Gen. David Petraeus of being complicit in Sharia law for saying Qurans, the Muslim holy books, should not be desecrated. He has also echoed claims that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was a “champion” of Sharia law in her time as dean of Harvard Law School.