5 former colleagues of Rep. Cory Mills say he told them he became a Muslim — as girlfriend claims Blaze News report 'entirely untrue'



Five former associates of Florida Rep. Cory Mills (R) have now confirmed to Blaze News that Mills converted to Islam around the time he was married in 2014. Meanwhile, Mills' girlfriend, in an apparent attempt to reassert control over the narrative, has attacked Blaze News' previous reporting on the matter.

Her rebuttal doesn't square with the testimony of Cory Mills' former associates.

Mills has recently come under intense scrutiny. A Feb. 19 domestic disturbance at Mills' luxury penthouse not only prompted a police response but brought to light the Republican congressman's apparent misrepresentations about his new romantic relationship and unfinished divorce.

This in turn prompted Blaze News to dig deeper into Mills' situation — an exploration that has yielded a number of strange insights into the Republican who rose to power on a pro-Christian, America First platform. Among them: Mills was married by Mohammed Al-Hanooti, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a Hamas fundraiser; the marriage was reportedly conducted in a mosque that likely would have required the groom to be Muslim; and at least one associate of Mills indicated that the congressman became a practicing Muslim after marrying Iraq native Rana Al Saadi — a conversion he emphatically denied in a conversation.

Here is an Instagram post with Raviani and Mills.

Iranian-American activist Sarah Raviani suggested to the Daily Mail "that the claims made in the Blaze article are entirely untrue." This was the first time since her domestic disturbance call that Mills' 27-year-old girlfriend has publicly announced their relationship.

According to the Daily Mail, the police report on the incident claims officers heard Mills “instruct her to lie about the origin of her bruises.” In addition to confirming she was in a relationship with Mills — who is married to Al Saadi — and asserting that "no assault took place" in February, Raviani told the Daily Mail that Mills' faith should not be up for debate, claiming that they attend Christian services together and pray in private.

'He said, "We need to go over there and take care of it."'

"He has not only attended church with my family and me, but we also pray together privately — just the two of us — where there would be no reason to pretend or perform for others," said Raviani. "Additionally, we pray together publicly before meals. Any assertion that he is a Muslim is false, and I can personally attest to his Christian faith."

The Daily Mail appeared to insinuate that the couple's Easter travels together served as evidence of her claims. As Blaze News has already reported, Mills, who owns an international weapons company, traveled to Turkey and Syria over Easter, where Mills also met with foreign government officials from both countries,

RELATED: GOP Rep. Cory Mills explains why he was married by a radical Islamic cleric

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Since the first Blaze News report was written, more former associates of Mills have confirmed to Blaze News that Mills converted to Islam around the time he was married. Four of them spoke to Blaze News on background for fear of reprisal, but one was willing to go on the record. Max Woodside, CEO at Paladin LLC, is among those not buying what Mills and his proxies are selling.

Woodside, who at one point served as Mills' team leader while with the American private military contractor DynCorp and had multiple run-ins with the future congressman in the Middle East, recently went on the record with Blaze News, noting, "I'm not afraid of him. He knows we're done."

Woodside indicated that "sometime around 2013," after he returned from Afghanistan, he received a call "out of the blue" from Mills.

"He mentioned that he had a friend — I guess it's his current wife that he's divorcing, whatever the hell she is," said Woodside. "I guess she was having problems with somebody over there. He said, 'We need to go over there and take care of it.' I said, 'Brother, whatever we do is going to come back to you.' ... I said, 'You're always going to have problems because she's a Muslim and you're a Christian.'"

According to Woodside, Mills said, "No, I converted. I'm a Muslim."

This alleged admission stood out to Woodside, who told Blaze News, "They're my sworn enemy."

Woodside noted, however, "As far as the Muslim stuff [goes], I only heard him say it one time. I never saw him convert. I never saw him put any head rags on. He just told me he converted to Islam. I said, 'All right, whatever, dude. We're done.'"

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Robert Spencer, the founder and editor of Jihad Watch, cast doubt on whether Mills could have been married at the notoriously extreme Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia without converting.

"It doesn’t sound plausible. Al-Hanooti had multiple ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. … Any imam who had their approval, and who approved of the Brotherhood, had to be well versed in Sharia and loyal to its provisions," Spencer previously told Blaze News. "Sharia stipulates that a Muslim woman may not marry a Christian or any other non-Muslim man. This is based on the Qur'an. ... A Muslim man may marry a Christian woman … but a Muslim woman cannot marry a Christian man.”

Spencer speculated that maybe "the whole thing was quick and involved Mills… at the mosque with little understanding of what he was saying … so he can dismiss it now and may not have even realized what he was doing, but he wouldn’t have been able to marry Al Saadi otherwise."

Mills’ former team leader’s interpretation of the conversion is that Mills “said that to get the freaking girl.” Woodside told Blaze News that “he’s not a Muslim or a Christian as far as I’m concerned. He just said what he wanted to get what he wanted, which is what he always does.” Others who knew Mills at the time, however, told Blaze News that Mills seemed to have truly converted and remained Muslim after his wedding.

When pressed about the unlikelihood that a radical mufti like Al-Hanooti would officiate the marriage of a non-Muslim, Mills told Blaze News that the situation was complicated.

His then-fiancée needed to visit a dying relative in Iraq, Mills said, but "would've been arrested" if she entered Iraq without a marriage certificate because her first husband in Iraq "wasn't a good man" and "all he had to do was say she wasn’t divorced within Iraq, therefore the marriage is still valid."

According to Mills, Al-Hanooti was "the only Iraqi imam that her mom [could] get in contact with who would do this for us.

"I will do anything to protect my family. So if having her mother find someone who is willing to just sign something so she doesn't get arrested when she goes to visit her dying uncle, who's her last remaining male Al Saadi," said Mills. "Yeah, you're damn right, I have no problem whatsoever, because it didn't change my faith, it didn't change who I am, it didn't change the church that I went to. So yeah, enjoy your hit piece."

Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson noted that "we merely asked Mills what religion he was and who married him. If Mills had simply admitted that, yes, he converted to Islam to marry a Muslim woman or help her visit her family or whatever, that would be one thing. Instead, he threatened Blaze Media with libel, defamation, malice, and slander before we published a word. I find that odd."

Woodside, along with many other former associates of Mills who spoke to Blaze News, had some harsh words for the congressman: "He's always going to say [whatever he needs] to get him whatever he wants, which makes him a good politician because that’s what they do."

"He's a die-hard conservative on the face of it," Woodside told Blaze News, but "Cory's out for himself. That's all he's ever been."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Trump admin launches blue-state probes into hidden trans-ing of kids, threatens defunding schools that keep parents in dark



The Trump Department of Education may be headed for dismantlement but on its way out is set to make life difficult for those blue-state radicals trying to indoctrinate and transition children behind parents' backs.

In addition to putting schools nationwide on notice that they could lose federal funding for violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, the ED announced late last week that it is investigating the education departments in Maine and California over allegations school districts in those blue states keep parents in the dark regarding efforts to transition their children.

While ideologues in the public education system are apparently upset over the return of accountability and transparency — the executive director of the non-straight lobbying group GLSEN called the initiative an "intimidation tactic" — there should have been no doubt it was coming. After all, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 29 directing his education secretary to draft a plan for:

  • protecting parental rights pursuant to FERPA and the PPRA;
  • eliminating federal funds from being by schools and school employees to directly or indirectly interfere with parents' statutory right to administrative and educational information pertaining to their children;
  • eliminating federal funds from being used "to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor's social transition from the minor's parents"; and
  • ending the use of federal funds that "support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology."

Biden-era mutation of federal law

FERPA is a federal law recognizing parents' rights to access their kids' education records as well as to wield some control over the release of personally identifiable information.

PPRA is a federal law requiring that parents of unemancipated minor students provide consent before the administration or distribution of any survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information regarding the student or their family's political affiliations or beliefs; mental or psychological problems; sexual behavior or attitudes; unlawful behavior; religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs; or income.

'The Department will no longer passively accept school officials' hostility to parental involvement.'

Education Secretary Linda McMahon indicated in a letter to educators nationwide Friday that "over the last four years, instead of vigorously enforcing these laws, the Biden Administration neglected the flood of complaints it received."

McMahon noted that while the complaints piled up, certain states took "advantage of this dereliction of government responsibility and installed policies that specifically instruct teachers and administrators to conceal student’s critical information in student records from their parents."

In the interest of both rectifying radicals' inversion of the concept of privacy "to facilitate ideological indoctrination in a school environment without parental interference or even involvement" and of addressing parents' concerns, McMahon vowed a "revitalized effort" to make both the FERPA and PPRA "the source of proactive, effective checks on schools that try to keep parents in the dark."

"The Department will no longer passively accept school officials' hostility to parental involvement," said McMahon. "The Department stands with parents in exercising their rights to the full extent of the law."

Frank Miller, acting director of the ED's Student Privacy Policy Office, reminded chief state school officers and superintendents of their obligations under FERPA and PPRA in a corresponding letter, suggesting that certain state and local educational agencies are presently committing violations.

Blue-state violators

The ED announced Thursday that it was launching an investigation into the California Department of Education for alleged FERPA violations. On Friday, the ED revealed that it was similarly going after the state education department in Maine for potential violations.

California receives roughly $8 billion annually from the U.S. Education Department. Maine reportedly received $250 million from the ED this year.

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California governor now masquerading as a moderate, ratified a gay assemblyman's bill last year prohibiting school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and state special schools from introducing or enforcing rules, regulations, or policies that require employees to disclose to parents "any information related to a pupil's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression."

'It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law.'

Blaze News previously reported that California law now effectively requires educators to keep parents in the dark about their child's sexual confusion and gender dysphoria unless the child consents to looping them in and shields public employees from consequence if they worked to conceal a child's confusion from his or her parents.

In Maine, a similarly ruinous game of secrecy is afoot.

A recent report in the Federalist cited by McMahon indicated that 57 Maine school districts had policies on the books that prevented parents from knowing when their children started identifying as members of the opposite sex.

"Teachers and school counselors should not be in the business of advising minors entrusted to their care on consequential decisions about their sexual identity and mental health. That responsibility and privilege lies with a parent or trusted loved one," McMahon said in a statement. "It is not only immoral but also potentially in contradiction with federal law."

'We're closer than ever to dismantling these policies permanently.'

Nicole Neily, the founder of the parental rights advocacy group Parents Defending Education, stated, "Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible 'sex changes' — a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children."

"We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent's [sic] backs by teachers or administrators," added Neily.

The ED noted that state laws do not override federal laws and that FERPA violations "can result in termination of an educational entity’s federal funding."

Blue-state educators are not only facing pressure from the ED on this issue.

While the Department of Agriculture has been hammering blue states for alleged failures to fall in line with Trump's directive to keep men out of women's sports, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins noted her department will also support the ED in its investigation of the California Department of Education for over potential FERPA violations.

Rollins told Newsom in a March 27 letter that her department is "undertaking a review of its research and other education-related funding in California for compliance with the Constitution, federal laws including Titles VI and IX, and the priorities of the Trump Administration."

Elana Ross, a spokeswoman for Newsom, told Politico that "parents continue to have full, guaranteed access to their student's education records as required by federal law," adding, "If the U.S. Department of Education still had staff, this would be a quick investigation — all they would need to do is read the law the Governor signed."

The Thomas More Society, which has been fighting California in court to prevent its practice of hiding critical information about students from parents, celebrated the Trump ED's decision to bring the fight to blue-state radicals.

"We hope that the combination of our class action lawsuit and the U.S. government's investigation will prove a powerful 'one-two punch' that will deliver a knockout blow to these policies in California, along with showing the path to defeat these policies across the entire country," Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president, said in a statement.

"We're closer than ever to dismantling these policies permanently, protecting truth-telling teachers, and restoring every California parent’s right to be involved in their child’s health and well-being," added Breen.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Abandoned by the Biden administration': Rep. Cory Mills rescues 10 Americans from nightmare in Haiti



The days Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) served with the Army's 82 Airborne Division and as a defense contractor may be behind him, but he's not letting his corresponding skill set go to waste. The Florida Republican took part in a Monday night rescue of a group of Americans trapped in Haiti, the rudderless Caribbean nation presently in the grips of cannibalistic gangs.

"I am proud to report that my team and I were successful in evacuating and rescuing a trapped, and at risk group of Americans from 'Have Faith Orphanage' in Haiti last night," Mills noted on X.

What's the background?

Haiti was already in rough shape before gangs started torching police stations, massacring civilians, and eating human flesh in broad daylight late last month. After all, the country's president was assassinated in 2021, and criminal elements have since taken full advantage of the resultant power vacuum.

In recent weeks, armed gangs have lain waste to the nation's capital, Port au Prince, and besieged the international airport. They've also taken control of the port and freed well over 4,000 convicts from the country's two biggest prisons, reported the Independent.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya in late February to beg for a United Nations-backed security force to stabilize his country. He has since announced he's throwing in the towel and resigning his post, as demanded by Haiti's terroristic gangs.

The State Department has advised Americans to get off the island, but that's now all but impossible.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reportedly said Monday that Americans unable to leave Haiti should register through the department's crisis intake form on the embassy's website.

The U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince states on its website that it "is not able to facilitate air travel for private citizens."

Mitch Albom, founder of a Haitian orphanage, told WDIV-TV, "There's no planes, no boats, there's no way out, and everything has been shut down by the gangs."

ABC News indicated that the land crossing into the Dominican Republic is similarly a no-go as the route is dominated by gangs.

Not waiting on Biden

Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain (R) told WDIV that she heard about Mitch Albom's troubles getting out of Haiti and reached out to him. Having elsewhere expressed doubt that the Biden administration was up the challenge, McClain reached out to Rep. Cory Mills.

"I said, 'I need your help. My constituents need your help,'" McClain reportedly told Mills.

Sure enough, Mills agreed to lead the rescue mission into the gang-ravaged island.

The Detroit News reported that the Florida Republican put together a crew and secured a helicopter and pilot in the Dominican Republic. After a first attempt was grounded by mechanical issues, Mills secured another chopper, then flew into Haiti, successfully evacuating Albom and nine others.

The 10 evacuees, eight of whom are from Michigan, were safely escorted to the Dominican Republic around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Albom expressed gratitude for the rescue, noting in a statement, "A group of us from Have Faith Haiti, including my wife and myself, were evacuated overnight from Haiti, where we had been sheltering in place since a state of emergency was declared."

"I had a responsibility to bring home 8 wonderful volunteers who were working with us," continued Albom. "But my wife's and my hearts ache for our kids still there. Saying goodbye to them was horribly difficult. We pray for help in making their country safe for them again, and we will be back with them the moment it is possible."

There are apparently 60 children and 40 staff at the orphanage.

McClain announced at an Armed Services Committee Hearing this week, "Last night, I coordinated with Congressman Cory Mills to rescue several Americans trapped in Port Au Prince."

"Congressman Mills actually participated in the rescue of those Americans abandoned by the Biden administration and the State Department," added McClain.

— (@)

Mills noted on X, "This recent mission reiterates a disturbing reality that under President Biden's leadership American lives are continually jeopardized. I have conducted rescue/ evacs of Americans multiple times when Joe Biden has deserted them. There's a clear pattern of abandonment!"

"Americans at home and abroad are more unsafe under Biden than ever before," continued Mills. "We need President Trump back in the White House as the world can't afford 4 more years of Biden's failed administration."

I am proud to report that my team and I were successful in evacuating and rescuing a trapped, and at risk group of Americans from \u2018Have Faith Orphanage\u2019 in Haiti last night.\n\nThis recent mission reiterates a disturbing reality that under President Biden\u2019s leadership American\u2026
— (@)

Mills has a history of stepping in to help stranded Americans ostensibly left behind by the Biden administration.

Amid the Biden administration's botched 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mills — then a congressional candidate — reportedly helped another group of Americans get home safely.

Last year, the decorated combat veteran helped rescue scores of Americans who were left stranded in Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, including a son of Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.).

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!