Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as “foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.” “This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down,” Abbott said. “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” he continued. “Today, CAIR sent a letter to Texas Governor @GregAbbott_TX reminding him that we beat him in federal court the last three times he tried to shred the First Amendment to protect the Israeli government from criticism,” CAIR National stated. “And we are prepared to, God willing, beat him again in response to his defamatory and lawless publicity stunt,” it added. The Hill has more: CAIR is a Muslim Civil Rights Group that focuses on advocacy. The organization responded to Abbott’s measure with a fiery statement threatening to invoke its legal right to challenge the declaration if it becomes policy. “Although we are flattered by Greg Abbott’s obsession with our civil rights organization, his publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation has no basis in fact or law,” the CAIR group said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “By defaming a prominent American Muslim institution with debunked conspiracy theories and made-up quotes, Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas,” they added. The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt that now provides social services such as pharmacies, hospitals and schools, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Past events undertaken by the group have been previously linked to violence, although its originators renounced brutal attacks in the 1970s. The U.S. State Department does not list the Muslim Brotherhood or CAIR as terrorist groups. The proclamation signed by Abbott claims that CAIR is an Islamist organization that, according to the FBI, was founded as a “front group” for “Hamas and its support network” in the United States. The proclamation also claims that Hamas “was formed in 1987 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is designated by the United States government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, kidnapped and murdered American citizens in its surprise assault against Israel on October 7, 2023.” Fox News shared: In a statement to Fox News Digital, CAIR described itself as “an independent American civil rights organization that has spent 30 years protecting free speech, advancing religious freedom, and promoting justice for people here and abroad.” “We have consistently condemned all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism. In fact, we condemn terrorism so often that ISIS once put a target on our national executive director,” the organization said. Read the full proclamation below:

President Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States will designate Saudi Arabia as a “major non-NATO ally.” “Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that we are taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally,” Trump said at a White House dinner honoring Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “I’m just telling you for the first time because I wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” Trump added. More from the New York Post: The defense agreement “reinforc[es] America’s role as a regional security enabler, enhancing our US military partnerships to better allow partners to deter and defeat threats,” the White House said in a statement. “The SDA is a win for the America First agenda, making it easier for US defense firms to operate in Saudi Arabia, securing new burden-sharing funds from Saudi Arabia to defray US costs, and affirming that the Kingdom views the United States as its primary strategic partner,” the White House said. Trump also secured an agreement for Saudi Arabia to buy nearly 300 American military tanks, “enabling Saudi Arabia to build up its own defense capabilities and safeguarding hundreds of American jobs,” according to the White House statement. Trump thanked the crown prince for “the role he played in the transformational peace deal that was achieved last month and so many of the other things that happened to end the war in Gaza.” The Hill shared: The agreement is the latest overture between Washington and Riyadh during the crown prince’s visit. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump and bin Salman announced Saudi Arabia would be investing $1 trillion into the U.S. Additionally, administration officials said on Tuesday that an agreement to export semiconductor chips to Saudi Arabia could come as soon as this week. Trump also said he could see a nuclear civil cooperation deal between the two countries in the future. Read more about the $1 trillion investment below: TRUMP SECURES $1 TRILLION From Saudi Arabia — The Biggest Foreign Investment in U.S. History

In a fiery exchange on the House floor, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer called out Democrats for their direct and indirect involvement with pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — noting how House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' fundraising team solicited him for donations and a private meeting in 2013 — five years after being convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution.

A three-judge District Court panel has ruled against implementing Texas’ new congressional maps for the 2026 midterms, dealing a major setback to Republicans who were looking to net more seats and maintain their narrow House majority in the upcoming election.