May 12, 2015, - 5:07 pm
Saul Anuzis: Meet Ted Cruz’s Hezbollah-Lovin’ Michigan Campaign Chief – UPDATED
**** UPDATE, 05/13/15: Forgot to mention that Ted Cruz Michigan campaign chief Saul Anuzis is tight with Jihad Grover Norquist–you know the guy that took money from Al-Qaeda front groups (which were raided by U.S. Customs) and got an Al-Qaeda fundraiser’s son a job in the Bush White House. Fabulous! ****
I thought Ted Cruz was the best of the likely Republican choices for President. But his choice of Saulius “Saul” Anuzis to run his efforts in Michigan is very disturbing and raises serious questions about the kinds of people a President Cruz would appoint. It’s also stark evidence that despite all of the tough talk, Cruz really isn’t that tough on Islamic terrorism. As I’ve noted on this site, Anuzis has a long record of reaching out to Hezbollah’s American agents and supporters
I’ve known Saul Anuzis for decades, and I used to like and respect him. I worked with him and his brother on the Jack Kemp for President campaign. But Saul’s actions after 9/11, when Anuzis was Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party were scary. (To be accurate, Anuzis wasn’t “Chairman” of the Michigan GOP. He was “Chair,” since the Michigan GOP wants to be multi-sexually inclusive and run by a piece of furniture).
As Chair of the Michigan Repubs, Anuzis made it a point to “reach out” (translation: pander) to Shi’ite Muslims in Dearbornistan who were and are open supporters of Hezbollah. Anuzis’ butt-snorkeling of this newly “prized” GOP demographic was so bad that he was eagerly recruiting and actively pimping Republicans on Nasser Beydoun (see also here) as GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate. Nasser Beydoun led anti-Israel, pro-Hezbollah and pro-HAMAS rallies and protests in Dearbornistan, including one at the Bint Jbeil Hezbollah Social Club, during which he cheered when a speaker said Jews had diseased brains and were sick in the head. Leading a rally in support of Hezbollah in front of Dearbornistan City Hall, Beydoun called Hezbollah–which murdered more Americans than any other terrorist group except Al-Qaeda–“freedom fighters” and asked protesters to pause “for a moment of prayer for the Hezbollah martyrs.” I was at both of these events, but his comments at the second event were documented in many mainstream news sources, including the Wall Street Journal.
A Dearbornistan-based charity Beydoun headed and co-founded was under investigation for sending money to Hezbollah in South Lebanon. One of his two co-founders and fellow officers in the foundation, Kayed Bazzi, was a business partner of indicted fugitive Hezbollah financier Talal Chahine. After American soldiers did Beydoun’s and other Shi’ites’ bidding in Iraq by losing life and limb to take out Saddam Hussein and hand it over to Iranian-supporting Shi’ites like Mr. Beydoun, he became a vocal critic of our soldiers who continued to be picked off by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is now ISIS.
Later, Mr. Beydoun spent a few years in Qatar, where he allegedly embezzled countless funds from his employer and was detained as he tried to flee. Sources showed me financial and banking records, generated while Mr. Beydoun was in Qatar, documenting wire transfers and financial dealings in which Mr. Beydoun was apparently involved in fund transfers to Iran and Hezbollah, in violation of several federal laws. The feds are aware of these dealings.
Prior to his stint in Qatar, Beydoun was Chairman and Executive Director of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, and when he led a delegation to Egypt, he stated that he co-founded the organization to get America to change its pro-Israel foreign policy. To that end, Beydoun repeatedly signed anti-Israel letters to federal officials, on behalf of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, such as a 2008 anti-Israel letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
When I questioned Saul Anuzis about his one-sided, unrequited mancrush on Nasser Beydoun and documented recruiting of the man, Anuzis made repeated excuses and denials, none of which were consistent with each other and all of which were phony. And when I asked Saul Anuzis in writing if he, as Michigan Republican Chair, would continue to reach out to Shi’ite Muslims who openly support Hezbollah, he wrote me that he, indeed, would, so long as he could get them to vote Republican. Then, he would repeatedly tell me, “But I support Israel,” as if that means anything when he is promoting enemies of BOTH America and Israel and seeking them as an audience.
Saul Anuzis ran for Chairman of the Republican National Committee, a position which he lost to Reince Priebus. But when he was running, my previous articles about Saul Anuzis and his Hezbollah-pandering on this site (including here, here, here, and here) came back to bite him. So, to combat that and rescue his campaign for RNC chief, Anuzis concocted a phony, neverbefore told (because it was only recently fabricated) story about how his late father “saved Jews from the Nazis.” But, not only does the story ring phony, the Anuzis family belonged to a Lithuanian church where “former” Nazis hiding from the feds belonged in droves. I know this because as a teenager, I used to attend my Congressional District’s Republican Party meetings, and they were held at this same church (Saul’s brother was an official of the District Republican Committee for some of that time). I was told by other Republicans, “Hey, did you know that so-and-so Nazi war criminal belongs to this church?” I later learned that the Justice Department Office of Special Investigations was looking into several of the church’s attendees. Nonetheless, Anuzis got his suckup buddy Joel Mowbray to write a kiss-ass column on Townhall, touting the unverifiable and unlikely (but newly discovered!) “My Dad Saved Jews” (but we belonged to a Nazi War Criminal Church) story.
This is the kind of person that Ted Cruz has hired to run his Michigan efforts. Thus, this is also a nice preview of the kind of person that Ted Cruz would hire in the White House. If Ted Cruz has no problem hiring an ends-justifies-the-means Hezbo-panderer to run his Michigan campaign, he will have no reservations to hire that kind of person in his potential Presidency. And, if you tell me, well maybe Ted Cruz didn’t know about these things, that’s even more worrisome because it tells you Ted Cruz and his staff don’t do their homework. They could have Googled Saul Anuzis and read plenty of this. They clearly chose not to or knew about it and hired him anyway. Either scenario doesn’t tell us good things about a Ted Cruz Presidency.
I hope Saul Anuzis is an anomaly in the Cruz camp. I’ve praised Ted Cruz for some of the things he’s said and done to fight the jihadist threat, and he is a strong supporter of America’s most loyal ally, Israel. His Deputy Chief of Staff, Paul Teller, is the exact opposite of Saul Anuzis. Teller, a true conservative, understands jihad and its threat in America and is behind a lot of Cruz statements and legislative efforts on that. The question is, if the hiring of Saul Anuzis evidence that those statements and legislative efforts are just window dressing, when he has no problem hiring people like Saul Anuzis.
And if Ted Cruz wins, he will likely hire Anuzis in some capacity at the White House or appoint him to some position. That’s what most winners do with their campaign staff. And, in this case, it’s not a good thing.
By the way, although Saul Anuzis used to be a staunch conservative, he’s changed and become a political fatcat establishment Republican. He’s not as much of a conservative as he used to be. He was a strong supporter of Mitt Romney from the beginning of the 2012 race when Romney was among the most “moderate” candidates running for the GOP nomination. He recruited an ambulance-chasing abortion trial lawyer to be Michigan’s Supreme Court nominee (thankfully the guy lost). Anuzis has also shown a lot of contempt for the real conservatives in the party, including the Tea Party folks.
The question is, is Ted Cruz as conservative as he says he is? And if so, why would he hire Saul Anuzis to run his Michigan campaign?
Remember, when you support a candidate for President, he won’t be the guy running the show at any point in his political career and never has been. It’s his staff–guys like Saul Anuzis–who are running the show.
Would you support Saul Anuzis for President? If you support Ted Cruz for President, Saul Anuzis is part of the package.
Exit Question: If Ted Cruz gets elected Prez, does Saul Anuzis bring Nasser Beydoun as his date to the White House Christmas Party? Or maybe Beydoun brings Anuzis as his date to the White House Ramadan Iftar Dinner.
Tags: GOP Islamo-panderers, Hezbollah, Nasser Beydoun, Saul Anuzis, Saul Anuzis Hezbollah, Saul Anuzis Nasser Beydoun, Saul Anuzis Ted Cruz, Ted Cruz
Good question.
I’ve been inclined to support Ted Cruz and I hope this is an anomaly.
I’m not expecting perfection from a candidate and his campaign staff and if there are more things like this, then I will have to reconsider my support.
We badly need someone like Ronald Reagan in the White House and we may not get it. Would be a shame if we end up with a weak GOP nominee AND Hillary Clinton in the White House.
NormanF on May 12, 2015 at 5:54 pm