Trump blasts Tim Walz over ties to Muslim cleric who shared pro-Hitler film

Former President Donald Trump took aim at Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) on Thursday over the governor’s ties to a Muslim cleric who promoted a pro-Hitler movie.

“He’s praised a Hitler-supporting radical Muslim iman named Asad Zaman, calling him a ‘master teacher,’” Trump said in a speech in New Jersey to Jewish community leaders, citing exclusive reporting from the Washington Examiner.

“He knew him for a long time,” Trump said, referring to Walz’s relationship with Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota that the Harris campaign has sought to dismiss. “He’s a ‘master teacher.’ If Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are elected, the radical-left flag burners and Hamas sympathizers will not just be causing chaos on our streets. They’ll be running U.S. foreign policy in the White House, and Israel will be gone.”

This week, the Washington Examiner published footage showing that Walz praised the cleric at a 2018 event hosted by his group, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.

“I am a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it. Over the time we’ve spent together, one of the things I’ve had the privilege of is seeing the things in life through the eye of a master teacher, to try and get the understanding,” Walz said of Zaman at the event. “It was imam talking [saying that] ‘in those times is where we find who we are, in those times is where we really see.’”

Zaman has come under fire and been thrust into the national spotlight over his ties to Walz. Zaman said on Oct. 7, 2023, that he “stands in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli attacks” after 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas terrorists. Zaman once shared a link to an article on a website in 2015 for a pro-Hitler film called The Greatest Story Never Told, among other controversial posts.

In a Friday statement, the Anti-Defamation League said Zaman “has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel.”

Zaman released a statement on Wednesday blaming the “MAGA camp” for criticism of his prior comments but did not dispute the Washington Examiner’s reporting.