Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Federal Courts Subcommittee said Tuesday that they plan to boycott a hearing Wednesday examining networks of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) argued that the hearing’s purpose is to attack Muslims in general, which is dangerous and inflammatory given the current climate in which anti-Muslim violence has increased.

In a statement, the senators said, “Scapegoating Muslims may be a Texas Republican strategist’s idea of ‘solid gold’ to whip up their voters, but Democrats have no intention of indulging this political creepshow, particularly after the recent violence targeting places of faith. Our focus is the costs families face thanks to rampant, non-stop Trump corruption.” 

Republicans at both the state and federal levels have been agitating to take meaningful action against the group, including designating it as a terrorist organization. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) organized the hearing, which is called “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America.”

Cruz implied that he wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Democrats on the committee are boycotting the hearing in an interview with Jewish Insider.

“Of course they are,” he said.

Several prominent witnesses are expected to take the stand: Lara Burns, a former FBI special agent and senior research fellow at The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism; Arielle Klepach, senior counsel at the National Jewish Advocacy Center; and Kyle Shideler, a senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy.