A trio of Congressional Republicans have asked that press credentials for journalists from Al Jazeera be suspended until the organization registers as a foreign agent.
Reps. Jack Berman (R-MI), Alex Money (R-WV), and Michael Waltz (R-FL) signed a letter — obtained by Politico — addressed to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) that without the network registering as a foreign agent, “operatives” could be planted throughout its organization and would pose a threat to security.
“We have no reason to doubt that most of Al Jazeera’s credentialed journalists in the Congressional galleries are legitimate reporters, but that is not the issue,” the letter read.
The letter called the outlet’s presence on Capitol Hill “startingly large”, noting that 136 employees of Al Jazeera International, Al Jazeera English, and AJ+ have been credentialed by Congress, while The New York Times only has 82 employees with credentials.
Under the request from the Republican lawmakers, Al Jazeera would register with Congress as an agent for the state of Qatar.
A report from The Associated Press claims that former CIA agents are working on behalf of Qatar and have tried to spy on Rep Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) after he introduced legislation to label the Qatari-backed Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
