President Donald Trump has taken federal steps to follow Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead by initiating the process to label certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, directing the State and Treasury departments to report and act within a tight timeline.
This move signals a firm national-security stance aimed at cutting off resources and operations tied to groups deemed threats, while aligning federal policy with state actions targeting organizations accused of supporting extremist aims.
The White House posted on X that “America will not tolerate those who fund and fuel radical terrorism.” The announcement added, “Today, President Trump took decisive action to secure America from terrorist threats by initiating the process to designate certain Muslim Brotherhood entities as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.”
An executive directive sent duties to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to evaluate specific chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood. The order requires consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to determine whether chapters in places like Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan meet the legal standard for designation.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to consider whether certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs),” the press release read.
The order sets a clear timetable: the secretaries must deliver a report and then have 45 days after that report to take designation action if warranted. The legal framework cited includes 8 U.S.C. 1189 for FTOs and 50 U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224 for SDGTs, creating a path for rapid administrative steps once determinations are made.
The stated goal of the measures is to “eliminate the designated chapters’ capabilities and operations, deprive them of resources, and end any threat such chapters pose to U.S. nationals and the national security of the United States.” That language frames the effort as preventive and focused on cutting off financing, logistics, and influence abroad that could reach U.S. interests.
Gov. Abbott’s recent action in Texas declared the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations within that state, describing both groups as tied to Islamic extremism and alleging an intent to “forcibly impose Sharia law.” The governor’s move was aimed at barring those named from acquiring property and engaging in certain activities within Texas.
The governor’s statement read in part: “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’ The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable. Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
Those remarks reflect a wider Republican argument that state and federal governments must move aggressively to confront organizations with alleged extremist ties. Supporters of the Trump directive argue that designations are practical tools for choking off financial channels and cooperation that could harm Americans.
Critics will predictably argue about due process and diplomatic fallout, but the directive builds on prior actions by the administration to label violent groups and to use sanctions and legal mechanisms as instruments of national security. In October, a similar cabinet directive targeted Antifa for designation, showing a pattern of prioritizing aggressive naming-and-shaming plus legal restriction of groups viewed as threats.
The administration frames these steps as part of a broader agenda: restore secure borders, deport illegal immigrants more robustly, and crack down on crime, all presented as efforts to return the country to a safer footing than what its backers view as the prior administration’s failures. For conservative policymakers, this kind of designation power is a key lever to protect citizens without resorting to broader military action.
Under the executive timeline, agencies will now be tasked with collecting evidence, coordinating intelligence assessments, and recommending whether targeted chapters meet the statutory criteria for terrorism designations. If the secretaries move forward, the practical consequences would include U.S. asset freezes, travel bans on leaders tied to designated chapters, and heightened legal penalties for those who materially support them.
What unfolds next will test how quickly the administration can translate political resolve into enforceable designations and whether those designations withstand legal, diplomatic, and public scrutiny. For now, the announcement marks a clear, public intensification of federal efforts to tackle organizations that some Republicans view as covert threats to American security and legal order.
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