Incoming congressman refuses to categorize Iran as an adversary of U.S.

Congressman-elect Adam Hamawy of New Jersey.

A congressman-elect from New Jersey raised eyebrows on Tuesday after appearing on CNN and refusing to answer multiple direct questions about whether Iran is an adversary to the U.S.

Adam Hamawy, a Democrat who won election last week as a U.S. Representative from New Jersey's 12th district, appeared on CNN and was subjected to a surprisingly tough line of questioning from anchor Pamela Brown. "Do you see Iran as the adversary," Brown asked Hamawy.

“I see -- we pushed them into a fight. And so I think we both have to step back and say, ‘Is this helping either one of us?'” Hamawy replied.

"But are they the adversary?" Brown followed up.

“We’re making adversaries when we should be making friends,” Hamawy said, dodging the question again. Brown, seemingly surprised the incoming lawmaker couldn't answer the question, then pointed out that "Death to America" has been a decades-long slogan used by Iran. 

Hamawy's response: “We’ve been saying death to Iran for decades as well."

When Brown reminded Hamawy that Iran has "killed a lot of Americans" through state-sponsored terror and other means, the congressman-elect said, "And we’ve killed a lot of them as well.” Hamaway went on to say the U.S. should engage in deeper diplomacy with Iran, praising former President Barack Obama's Iran policy.

Hamawy notoriously has connections to the "Blind Sheikh," one of the terrorists who plotted the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. Hamawy testified for the defense at the Blind Sheikh's 1995 trial. The Islamic terrorist was eventually convicted and died in prison in 2017. Also in the 1990s, Hamawy, who is a plastic surgeon, interned with a group called the Benevolence International Foundation, which, according to The New York Post, had ties to al-Qaeda. 

Hamawy was born in Egypt in 1969 or 1970 -- birth records are unclear -- and is the first Muslim from to New Jersey to be elected to U.S. Congress. He'll take his seat when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2027. Watch the exchange on CNN below.