CLF Issues Statement: What Is Abigail Spanberger Hiding

WASHINGTON – In a desperate attempt to prevent Virginia voters from learning about her record and background, Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Democratic nominee, Abigail Spanberger, today sent a letter to the Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC) – which her campaign then shared with select members of the media – threatening legal action over information about Spanberger that was obtained through legal channels. CLF is responding by releasing a copy of that letter to voters in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District as well as documentation from the Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) and the records that were obtained from the United States Postal Service as the result of that request.

This included information about Spanberger’s tenure working at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia, which the Associated Press reported was dubbed “Terror High” after 12 U.S. Senators and a federal commission wanted to shut it down. Spanberger’s former employer produced a number of well-known terrorists including Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, valedictorian of the academy in 1999, who was convicted in 2005 on charges of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. This led U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer to issue a press release in 2005 calling for a full-scale probe of the controversial Islamic school and questioning whether the Islamic Saudi Academy was “another madrassa.” In addition, CLF is redacting the document to exclude personal information such as home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and social security numbers, even though this information was released by the USPS as part of the response to the FOIA request.

CLF spokesperson Courtney Alexander made the following statement about Spanberger’s politically-motivated gambit today:

  • “It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. CLF follows the letter of the law in examining any candidate’s background and Ms. Spanberger was no different. That she’s threatening legal action, however, should raise serious questions for voters about what else she is trying to hide. For any interested parties, CLF is happy to provide redacted copies of the information Ms. Spanberger is trying to hide from voters in Virginia.”

BACKGROUND:

  • On July 9, 2018, America Rising Corp. submitted a FOIA request to the National Personnel Records Center “for access to certain records contained in the official civilian personnel file of former federal employee Abigail Spanberger. Specifically, this request seeks records reflecting Ms. Spanberger’s employment dates, annual salaries, title, and position description.”
  • By letter dated July 12, 2018, NPRC/NARA forwarded the America Rising Corp. request to the United States Postal Service.
  • On July 30, 2018, USPS responded to America Rising’s request with their complete personnel file (“entire official personnel folder”), which included Spanberger’s SF-86.