The Trump administration has appointed two former US jihadist operatives to the White House Advisory Board of Lay Leaders, including one who is allegedly associated with the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and involved in terrorist activities in Kashmir.
>Ismail Royer, one of the appointees, allegedly participated in terrorist activities in Kashmir, including shooting at Indian security posts, and attended a LeT training camp in Pakistan in 2000. In 2004, a US court found him guilty of aiding terrorist organizations, and he was sentenced to 13 years of a 20-year term.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ismail Royer and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, co-founder of Zaytuna College, were listed despite their alleged ties to Islamic Jihadists and banned terrorist organizations, according to Laura Loomer, an ally of US President Donald Trump.
Royer’s appointment was deemed “insane” by Loomer, who was instrumental in the dismissal of Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Royer is now the Director of the Religious Freedom Institute’s Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team, the White House said in a statement.
According to information shared in a post on X, Royer, who was formerly known as Rendell Royer before converting to Islam in 2000, was found guilty in 2004 by a US court of participating in terrorist attacks against Americans as a member of the “Virginia Jihadi Network.” Following an FBI investigation, he was charged with several terrorism-related offenses in 2003, including conspiracy to wage war against the United States and material support for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and al-Qaida. He entered a guilty plea to aiding and abetting the use of explosives and firearms in 2004. He served 13 of the 20 years he was sentenced to.
Royer acknowledged in his plea deal that he helped co-defendants Khwaja Mahmoud Hasan, Yong Ki Kwon, Muhammed Aatique, and Masoud Khan enter a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist training camp in Pakistan, where they were trained to use semi-automatic pistols and other weapons.
>As part of a plot to conduct military operations against India, Royer also acknowledged helping co-defendant Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi enter the LeT training camp, where he received training in the use of a rocket-propelled grenade.
“A second member of the advisory board, who was named by the White House as an adviser to the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union and co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States, also has a history associated with jihadist ideology,” Loomer said.