Internal documents from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) show that the group actively tries to place interns in congressional offices and that the group specifically wants to influence policy coming out of committees on the judiciary, homeland security and intelligence.

These disclosures, in the book Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America, prompted four House Republicans to ask Sergeant at Arms Wilson Livingood to investigate whether CAIR has successfully placed interns in offices tied to those committees.

Disclosures in Muslim Mafia came in part from documents and undercover recordings by one of the author's sons, who posed as a Muslim and worked at CAIR as an intern under an assumed name. In addition to detailing the organization's political goals, the book offers examples of how CAIR seeks to impede terrorism-related law enforcement investigations and mislead the public about its stature.

Critics have accused the representatives of waging a witch-hunt for Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill. Their remarks, however, have focused on CAIR's role in placing interns, noting evidence from the successful prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development that placed CAIR's founders in the midst of a secret Hamas-support network in the United States.

On that point, Representatives Sue Myrick (NC) Trent Franks (AZ) Paul Broun (GA) and John Shadegg (AZ) wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking that he "provide each Member of Congress a summary of the evidence and findings by the DOJ and FBI which led them to name CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism trial."

Both letters note that the HLF evidence, and the questions it raises about CAIR, prompted the FBI to cut off communication with CAIR that isn't tied to a criminal investigation.

See the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder here and the letter to the House Sergeant at Arms here.