OUT IN THE COLD

Trump Administration Pushing to Designate Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Group: NYT

The Brotherhood has millions of members across the Middle East.

The Trump administration has decided to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization, the New York Times reports. The move would hammer the Islamist political movement—which has millions of members across the Middle East—with harsh economic and travel sanctions. The newspaper says Trump's desire to ostracize the group came after a White House visit earlier this month from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi—a political opponent of the Brotherhood who has already branded it a terrorist organization. However, the move is reportedly being fought against by the Pentagon which believes the Brotherhood is a loose-knit movement spread across several countries, parts of which abhor extremism. It would also further strain relations with Turkey whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, supports the Brotherhood. It was founded in 1928 and renounced violence in the 1970s to embrace democracy, but some offshoots and former members have engaged in terrorism.