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.
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
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.'"
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!
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) in late March directed the Texas Rangers, the Texas State Securities Board, and the Texas Workforce Commission to launch investigations into the East Plano Islamic Center concerning its plans to develop a Muslim-centric city on 402 acres near Josephine, roughly 40 miles outside Dallas.
The development would reportedly feature a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school, an outreach center, commercial developments, sports facilities, and 1,000 homes, townhomes, and apartments.
'There definitely could be an argument that there's conflict because I'm still being represented by him and he's representing clients that we are investigating.'
The proposed city has ignited fears within the surrounding community that it will implement Sharia law and potentially ultimately lead to a "no-go zone."
Abbott has repeatedly expressed concerns about the planned community.
In February, Abbott stated in a post on social media, "To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are 'no go zones' which this project seems to imply."
"Bottom line. The project as proposed in the video is not allowed in Texas," the governor concluded, referring to EPIC's promotional clip advertising the plans.
The Texas Funeral Service Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to EPIC in March, demanding that it "immediately stop all illegal funeral service operations."
According to Abbott, EPIC had been operating a funeral home without an established license in violation of state law.
Abbott announced on April 1 that EPIC "may not begin construction" on its community, stating that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality discovered it had failed to obtain required "authorizations or permits."
The governor insisted that EPIC City "has serious legal issues" and announced that a dozen state agencies are looking into the proposed community.
The governor tasked the Texas Rangers with investigating EPIC "for potential criminal activities." The Texas Workforce Commission is probing "potential discrimination in violation of the Texas Fair Housing Act." The Texas State Securities Board is looking into any "potential financial harm to Texans." Additionally, state Attorney General Ken Paxton is examining "potential violations of Texas consumer protection laws."
"Texas vigorously safeguards the freedoms granted to American citizens in the U.S. Constitution, including the freedom of religion," Abbott said. "To that end, the Texas Workforce Commission opened an investigation into the group behind the proposed EPIC compound who are potentially breaking state fair housing laws by refusing to sell or rent housing to certain groups based on religion or other protected traits."
The RAIR Foundation USA was among the first to begin sounding the alarm about EPIC and its proposed city.
Amy Mek, the founder and editor in chief of the RAIR Foundation, warned that the project is not just "a housing development."
"It's the expansion of a Sharia-controlled society, starting with the radical school already operating at the EPIC Mosque in Plano, Texas," Mek wrote. "Now, EPIC is scaling up — EPIC City will operate with no city oversight, no state-controlled curriculum, and no accountability to American laws."
'No one associated with EPIC … follows Sharia law or is in favor of Sharia law.'
Many residents in Blue Ridge, a city roughly 20 miles away from Josephine, voiced their concerns about the proposed development during a recent city council meeting.
Douglas Deaton, a former police lieutenant in Plano, stated that a Sharia law enclave existed in Texas long before EPIC proposed its city plans.
"There seems to be a general misunderstanding that we're talking about a plan to build an Islamic, Sharia-friendly community. The EPIC neighborhood already exists in Plano. It's been there for nearly 12 years. With 74 residential properties, a massive mosque, schools, a medical clinic, and multiple businesses," he told the city council. "You have to be a member of their mosque to live there."
"This is not a matter of radicals hiding in plain sight; they're not hiding. They've been open about their beliefs and their intent," Deaton added.
On Wednesday, Paxton spoke with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck about the governor's actions against EPIC, revealing interesting new details about the controversy.
"We're not going to sacrifice [our constitution] for Sharia law. It's just not going to happen in Texas," Paxton told Beck. "At the same time, we want to be cognizant that people have a right to have their own religion, and we respect that."
Paxton explained that the community cannot discriminate against potential residents based on religion, noting that doing so would violate housing laws.
He stated that he recently learned that the attorney representing EPIC City's developers, Dan Cogdell, is the same lawyer who previously defended him against impeachment. Paxton was acquitted of all charges in 2023.
The AG called it "a little concerning" that he was not made aware of that fact sooner.
"There definitely could be an argument that there's conflict because I'm still being represented by him and he's representing clients that we are investigating," Paxton told Beck.
EPIC has denied claims that its proposed community will disregard state and federal laws to implement Sharia law.
Cogdell accused Abbott of spreading lies about the planned city, claiming that the project is "the victim of racial profiling."
"These aren't foreign adversaries. These are Texans. These are Americans. These are United States citizens," Cogdell told KTVT last week. "No one associated with EPIC, no one associated with that community follows Sharia law or is in favor of Sharia law."
Cogdell had a message for Abbott.
"Quit tweeting lies, false information, and nonsense. Because my clients right now, what they are doing is they are suffering from essentially gubernatorial hate speech," he stated.
Cogdell reportedly told KTVK that his clients have received "dozens of death threats." As a result, the developers were "too scared to go on camera," according to the news outlet.
When reached for comment, the governor's office referred KTVK to previously released statements.
Beck was offered an opportunity to speak with the project's developer on Thursday, only to discover that Cogdell had been tapped to talk on their behalf. Upon realizing this, Beck canceled, insisting that he wanted a candid conversation with the developer, not the attorney. The developer signaled interest in rescheduling for next week.
During Thursday's radio show, Beck stated, "I got an email from somebody who said, 'You know, you should talk to the developer directly.'"
The email read, "Given the amount of misinformation circulating, it might be beneficial to speak directly with the landowner developer to ensure accuracy."
"So I said yes to that on the program," Beck stated. "Then I find out that it's the lawyer. Well, what happened to the directly to the landowner developer? So they said he'll be prepared for our conversation sometime next week."
"I don't have anything bad to say about the developer if it's all on the up and up," he added. "It's just, there's some things about this, the people that are engaged in it, that are a little disturbing."
The developer did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Now that Donald Trump has successfully mounted his political comeback and is set to become the 47th president of the United States, we can finally look forward to seeing how he’ll handle his long list of agenda items for his upcoming administration: inflation, immigration, energy, crime.
He’s got his hands full.
Both Israel and Turkey are aligned when it comes to sending money and arms to Azerbaijan for the express purpose of whittling the already-tiny Republic of Armenia down to nothing.
But for now, let’s focus on his foreign policy — particularly how he’s going to tackle the increasingly complicated situation developing in Israel and the rest of the Middle East.
Trump has come out firmly in support of Israel in the state’s crusade against Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and the rest of Iran’s proxy terrorist network. But the rhetoric that’s come from both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu oversimplifies the situation.
America and Israel are the good guys.
Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are the bad guys.
That’s been the framing of the situation from GOP establishmentarians. Simple, yet effective.
But it’s nowhere near as simple as that, and Trump’s recent moves have actually complicated his commitment to that framing as well.
You see, the Middle East is, in reality, a smorgasbord of shifting, overlapping, crisscrossing alliances. And that’s because there is so much ethnic and religious diversity within this pocket of the world.
Contrary to common Western perception, the Middle East is not one big, brown, Muslim monolith. The Turks are not the Sunni Arabs, who aren’t the Shiite Persians, who aren’t the Christian Armenians, who aren’t the somewhat secular, somewhat Islamic Azeris, who aren’t the Maronite Lebanese, who aren’t the Coptic Egyptians.
Each one of these groups vary drastically from one another in ethnicity, culture, and religion. And therefore, there’s no clear-cut demarcation in the Middle East when it comes to political alliances. Or at least, there’s not a simple “good guys vs. bad guys” heuristic that can be used to assess the situation.
And yet, that’s the framing American foreign policy and media sticks with: "The Middle East is full of Muslim bad guys (who are all the same), and we need to protect the lone Judeo-Christian oasis of democracy in the Middle East."
Our once and future president did something recently that slightly undermined the legitimacy of that framing.
In the days leading up to his election, Trump announced his commitment to aiding Christians in the Middle East who had been victims of Islamic persecution. Specifically, he was referring to the 120,000 Armenians who had been ethnically cleansed from their historic homeland of Artsakh by Azerbaijan.
He even went so far as calling the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, his holiness Aram I, about mobilizing an Armenian restoration of Artsakh.
From where I’m sitting, this is a clear result of Trump having surrounded himself with advisors like Robert F Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tulsi Gabbard, all of whom have all made statements signaling their support for Armenia against its various regional antagonists.
But the simple act of signaling a commitment to aiding the Christian Armenians actually creates a flurry of complications for the Trump administration.
And it all has to do with the love triangle between the U.S., Israel, and Turkey.
As the entire world knows, Israel launched a war in Gaza after the brutal October 7 attacks by Hamas.
What much of the world doesn’t know is that at the time of the attacks, Israel was already embroiled in a different conflict, aiding (along with the U.S. State Department) in its ethnic cleansing campaign against the Armenian enclave of Artsakh.
And just one week after the October 7 attacks, a shipment of arms left Tel Aviv headed toward Baku, Azerbaijan.
And Israel has not relented. In the midst of all the bombs Israel has dropped on both Gaza and Lebanon, it (along with Turkey) continues to send state-of-the-art weaponry to Azerbaijan, most recently on September 24.
If you’ve kept up with the news, you also know that there’s been a fair bit of saber-rattling between Turkey and Israel, as Turkish President Erdogan has been raising tensions with Israel for its offensive against Hamas, recently going so far as hailing the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders as “courageous” and hosting Hamas in Turkey after the terrorist group was booted from Qatar.
It certainly seems like the Islamic Turks are egging on a war with Israel from the outside.
But how much of this is theater?
After all, Israel relies on Turkey and Azerbaijan for 40% of its oil via the BTC Pipeline (which begins in Baku and ends in Ceyhan, Turkey).
And, as I already mentioned, both Israel and Turkey are aligned when it comes to sending money and arms to Azerbaijan for the express purpose of whittling the already-tiny Republic of Armenia down to nothing.
But that still doesn’t cover the total extent of Israel’s antagonistic relationship with Armenians.
You see, the state of Israel isn’t just home to Jews and Muslims. It’s home to about 187,000 Christians, some 5,000 of whom are Armenian. In Jerusalem, the Old City has historically been divided into four quarters: the Christian quarter, Jewish quarter, Muslim quarter, and the Armenian quarter.
While this Armenian community dates back to the 4th century, it has recently found itself under siege by a shadowy Israeli corporation called Xana Capital. In dispute is the "Cow's Garden," the last large, open space in Jerusalem's Old City. In 2021, the Armenian patriarchate agreed to a secret 98-year lease of the land — which comprises 25% of the Armenian quarter, to a Jewish-Australian developer.
Calling the lease illegal, the community has been fighting to invalidate it in court. Meanwhile, the Grayzone reports that Xana Capital has employed Israeli settlers to intimidate Armenians into vacating the land.
The point I’m making is that the framing of the Israel-Palestine conflict since the 10/7 attacks has been that Israel has been in a fight for its survival against the bloodthirsty Muslims and therefore needs as much aid and support from the U.S. as it can muster.
But there's one glaring flaw in that narrative: Israel’s direct involvement in the downfall of the Armenian state and diaspora.
To recap:
Israel has been sending arms to Azerbaijan, before, during, and after October 7.
Israel is currently confiscating the historic Armenian quarter of Jerusalem.
All of this is happening in the midst of its crusade against Hamas and Hezbollah.
My question is: When is the United States going to prioritize Christians in the Middle East priority over the other two Abrahamic faiths? We’re a Christian country, right?
This is why Trump’s pre-election commitments to Christians in the Middle East is a complicated matter. It’s not as simple as “Muslims bad, Israel good.”
As I mentioned, Trump seems to be stacking his cabinet with pro-Armenia advocates (RFK Jr., Vivek, Tulsi, even Marco Rubio). But he’s also got plenty of pro-Israel people (Elise Stefanik, Kristi Noem, Lee Zeldin, Mike Huckabee, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth, and, yes, even Marco Rubio) in the mix. Not to mention the pro-Turkey Dr. Oz as head of Medicare and Medicaid.
So for now, it looks like it’ll be a bumpy ride.
In a post-election interview with Tucker Carlson, RFK, Jr. recounted the time he witnessed Trump draw from memory an accurate map of the Middle East, including troop strength of each country. It’s apparent from this one exchange that Trump has a sharp understanding of the geopolitical and strategic military dynamics of the Middle East.
This means he also knows that stability in the region can never be taken for granted. I would urge him to look at the movements happening between Israel, Turkey, and Azerbaijan and take stock of the Pan-Turanic vision being cooked up by these parties.
If he’s serious about helping the Christians of the Middle East, there’s no getting around it.
Vice President Kamala Harris further enflamed tensions with Muslim Americans after her campaign kicked a prominent doctor and former Democratic congressional candidate out of a Detroit-area event earlier this week.
On Monday afternoon, Dr. Ahmed Ghanim and approximately 200 other guests arrived at a Harris rally held at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, a trendy suburb located about 15 miles north of Detroit.
Ghanim, a 49-year-old native of Egypt who received an invitation to the event, claimed he entered the facility, passed through security, and arrived at his seat without a problem. About 10 minutes later, someone from the venue approached him and asked him to follow her.
"I followed her," Ghanim told FOX 2. "I thought they are changing my seat or doing something."
The venue was not changing his seat. Instead, the woman led Ghanim to the theater lobby, where members of the Royal Oak Police Department and U.S. Secret Service were standing. The group of officials then asked him to leave the premises or risk detention in the back of a cop car.
Ghanim filmed his conversation with venue staff and members of law enforcement. According to the footage he captured, one officer said, "I'm not kicking you out. The venue's kicked you out."
When Ghanim pressed further, demanding to know why they were removing him, a woman stated, "Unfortunately, this is no longer a conversation."
"This is my city," Ghanim explained to WXYZ. "So if this happens to me in my city where I should feel safe ... how do you think that is going to make me feel other than being an outcast?"
When FOX 2 asked whether he believed his Muslim faith played a role in the incident, Ghanim replied, "I think so."
"They kicked me out without providing [a reason]," he told the Detroit News. "I didn't have anything. There is no provocation. I didn't even have any, like, a Palestinian kaffiyeh, any signs, or a banner, nothing. None of that is allowed inside."
A spokesperson from ROPD confirmed to WXYZ that a representative from the theater issued the order to remove Ghanim. Secret Service confirmed to the outlet that none of the attendees, including Ghanim, were considered a security threat.
The Harris campaign, likely recognizing that someone had bungled the situation, immediately issued an apology.
"Our campaign regrets this action and its impact on Dr. Ghanim and the community, and he is welcome at future events," Naomi Savin, deputy communications director for the Harris team in Michigan, told FOX 2. "We value our relationship with the Muslim American community."
'If you were kicked out of her campaign, would you vote for her?'
Thus far, that apology has apparently done little to quell the anger in the Muslim community, which is still frustrated with the response from the Biden-Harris administration to the war in Gaza. Some feel affronted that no one spoke on behalf of Palestinians on the main stage at the Democratic convention in August.
"We have seen this repeated pattern of disregard and disrespect towards Muslim and Arab Americans unfold before," said Rex Nazarko, of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network, according to FOX 2.
Basim Elkarra, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in another state, called for an investigation into the incident in Royal Oak.
In addition to his work in health care management, Dr. Ghanim also recently attempted to oust Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the 2024 Democratic primary. Stevens won overwhelmingly with 74% of the vote.
Ghanim, described by the Detroit News as a Democratic "activist," now says he will likely not vote for Harris in the 2024 presidential election. "If you were kicked out of her campaign, would you vote for her?" he asked FOX 2 rhetorically.
"I guess that’s how the Democratic Party deals with Muslims. They’re not important to them. ... Maybe the Democratic Party doesn't want people like me and my kind in the party," he added to the Detroit News.
Amer Ghalib, a fellow Muslim and the Democrat mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, has already endorsed former President Donald Trump, calling him "the right choice for this critical time."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Importing a large number of people from nations where liberty does not thrive and making no demand of assimilation doesn't create a melting pot. It creates a powder keg.
This kind of 'journalism' is not meant to inform -- it is meant to redirect sympathy.
Kaya Hudgins, now 22, testified in a deposition that she was told participation in a 'Quiet Time' of Transcendental Meditation was mandatory.
In his belated Easter message, King Charles III praised Islam as 'caring for the stranger and those in need.'
thefederalist.com
www.theblaze.com