Louis Farrakhan Confirms DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison Was In Nation of Islam

Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, confirmed Democratic Committee (DNC) Deputy Chair Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was in fact a member of the anti-semitic group. In a video first obtained by Wired Sources, the controversial and radical religious leader said Rep. Ellison only left the Nation of Islam before he wanted to run for office.

“Keith Ellison… You ain’t got a picture of Keith? Well, let me talk about him. Now Keith was in the Nation in 1995,” Mr. Farrakhan said in a keynote address this weekend, which drew responses of “that’s right!” from the crowd. “He was selling the Final Call newspaper. Beautiful brother. And, being in Minnesota, he wants to help his community. He’s a lawyer, so he wants to help his community. So, he wants to be a congressman.”

The Final Call is a newspaper published in Chicago. It was founded in 1979 by Minister Louis Farrakhan and serves as the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam. It is also the official communications, or propaganda organ of the Nation of Islam, used to recruit young college students.

The Minnesota congressman has repeatedly and recently denied having any membership in or relationship with the Nation or Mr. Farrakhan, despite widespread reports to the contrary. In the past, DNC Deputy Chair Ellison has defended the racist and anti-Semitic leader, whom he once called a “role model.”

It wasn’t only time he took the position, either. Joanne Jackson, the then-executive director of The Minneapolis Initiative Against Racism, came under fire in 1997 for saying Jews are the most racist white people and that Farrakhan was a racist, Ellison defended her.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which originally backed him over Tom Perez for DNC chair, bailed on his bid to be the new DNC chair after never before heard audio surfaced in which he made questionable comments about the state of Israel. However, big name Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate did not abandon him, nor did the leftist grassroot base.

Now, new revelations have surfaced indicating Rep. Ellison continued to have a relationship with Mr. Farrakhan even after he joined the U.S. Congress. His office has attacked the media for asking questions about the meetings between the two in 2013 and 2015. The Wall Street Journal reported a dinner meeting took place in September 2013.

Mr. Farrakhan later claimed that Rep. Ellison was one of three Democratic congressmen who attended a private dinner with him and with Iranian President Hassan Rohani in 2013.

“I’m not here to bash him,” Mr. Farrakhan said. “I’m not here to bash my brother. Let me tell you something. When you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.”

Recently, a never before seen picture of Barack Obama with Mr. Farrakhan also surfaced. The former president has also repeatedly denied having ties to the radical religious leader. Then-Senator Obama and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) met with him in 2005.

Askia Muhammad, a Nation member and photojournalist who took the picture, said a “staff member” for the CBC contacted him “sort of in a panic” after he took the photo.

“I sort of understood what was going on,” Muhammad told Talking Points Memo (TPM). “I promised and made arrangements to give the picture to Leonard Farrakhan,” the minister’s son-in-law and chief of staff.

“I was really, I guess, afraid of them.”