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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is pushing for answers from the Biden administration on how Malik Faisal Akram, the British-born suspect in the Texas synagogue hostage standoff, was allowed to get into the country — as revelations about his criminal and radical past come to light.
Akram was shot dead last week after allegedly taking four people hostage in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, where he is reported to have demanded the release of a Pakistani national in prison for trying to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
22.1.19 Johnson Letter to DHS FBI by Fox News on Scribd
Johnson, in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray, commends the actions of law enforcement “who successfully worked to ensure the safety of all hostages.” He then notes recent reports that raise red flags about why Akram got into the United States in the first place.
“In the aftermath of the attack, information on Akram’s background and criminal history has come to light,” Johnson, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, wrote. “Akram was a British citizen whose criminal record apparently dated back several decades.”
While American authorities have released little information on Akram’s travels, British news outlets have reported that he entered the U.S. earlier this month via John F. Kennedy Airport, possibly via the Visa Waiver Program. The FBI has declined to comment on Akram’s travels, citing the ongoing investigation.
The U.K. Telegraph reported that he had spent three terms in prison, had been a member of radical Islamist group Tablighi Jamaat and been banned from a magistrates court in 2001 for telling an official he wished they had been killed in the 9/11 attacks.
British authorities confirmed to Fox News that he did in fact have a criminal record. His last brush with the law was in 2012 when he was convicted of theft and harassment.
During the time he was in prison for that conviction, Akram, who had prior criminal offenses, reportedly conducted himself in an “extreme” manner when attending the jail’s mosque, and one observer noted he was “obsessed” with Islam, according to the British official.
Johnson, in his letter, also noted reporting that British intelligence identified Akram as a subject of interest as recently as 2020 but closed the investigation after it found there was no indication of a terror threat.
“According to reports, when Akram entered the U.S. on a tourist visa on Dec. 29 2021 — about two weeks before the attack — he was “not on any [U.S] watch lists. Yet given Akram’s prior placement on a British intelligence watch list, it is concerning that he was able to enter the country without triggering any alarms,” Johnson wrote.
The Wisconsin senator asks the administration whether Akram was ever included on the Terrorist Screening Database, whether it had any information or awareness of Akram before the Jan. 15 attack and information about the visa on which he arrived.
Johnson also asks: “To what extent has the FBI’s decision to deploy is full investigative resources into the Jan. 6 Capitol breach hindered its ability to detect and investigate terrorists like Akram?”
The letter is the latest push by Republicans to get answers on Akram by Republicans on the committee. Sen. Rob Portman, the ranking member on the committee, has requested briefings from both the FBI and DHS.
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Sen. Josh Hawley, who also sits on the committee, wrote to both Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for answers and tied the attack to an alleged failure in vetting by the administration, also noting Akram’s radical past.
“How is anyone with this background allowed to enter our country?” he asked. “Either your Departments knowingly allowed entry to someone with demonstrated sympathies for terrorist organizations and predilection toward violence, or they failed to conduct even a cursory background check.”
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Greg Palkot contributed to this report.
