DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL:
Conservative political commentator, radio talk show host, columnist, and attorney
Schlussel’s unique expertise on radical Islam/Islamic terrorism and a host of other issues make her a popular speaker and television and radio news talk show guest, both nationally & internationally. (Her online fan club is the Internet’s second largest for a political personality–behind only Ann Coulter.) She is a University of Michigan graduate and holds both Law and MBA degrees from the University of Wisconsin.
As both an attorney and a frequent New York Post and Jerusalem Post columnist, Schlussel’s writings/commentary on radical Islam and her legal actions against radical Islamic parties have gotten a great deal of attention — and results. Columns she’s written in the New York Post and appearances she’s made on “O’Reilly Factor”:
* caused FBI Director Robert Mueller to revoke an award to an American citizen who was a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist and was involved with a group with Al-Qaeda and Hamas ties (October 2003);
* caused Caribou Coffee to have its worst financial quarter ever, when Schlussel exposed the coffee chains radical Islamic ownership and leadership of Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (a supporter of homicide bombings), and caused Starbucks to have its best quarter, when Schlussel exposed the radical Muslim boycott of the Jewish-led chain (June/July 2002). Caribou Coffee’s then-CEO, Don Dempsey, credited Schlussel with driving down sales and profits at his national coffee chain by calling him to the mat on Qaradawi, and her work on this issue was cited in Newsweek and Business Forward magazines;
* exposed Detroit’s U.S. Attorney (the Justice Department’s chief official in the heart of Islamic America), his secret dealings with Hamas money-launderers and terrorists the U.S. government had fought to deport (November 2003), and his efforts to overturn a guilty verdict against members of Detroit’s Al-Qaeda sleeper cell and set them free (December 2003); and
* exposed billionaire hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s political/voter registration efforts on behalf of not only Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, but also radical Palestinian and anti-Semitic, anti-Israel activists and groups.
In 2002, radical Muslim University of Michigan Regent Candidate, Ismael Ahmed, credited Schlussel for his election defeat–when she exposed his tax-funded Arab organization’s financial and moral support of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists.
In 1998, Schlussel went undercover, dressed as a religious Muslim woman, to the Islamic Center of America, North America’s largest mosque, and reported, in The Detroit News on its support for terrorism, and anti-American, anti-Semitic hate. She was interviewed and quoted by Rolling Stone about the mosque and its radical imam, Hassan Qazwini, who is frequently consulted by President Bush and was invited to his Crawford, Texas ranch.
Qazwini was embarrassed by the radical speakers and anti-Semitic hate he fostered in his mosque, and refused to address it in newspaper interviews. Schlussel was even attacked for her work on terrorism by movie critic Roger Ebert in a 2005 syndicated movie review.
Schlussel, who speaks Hebrew, Arabic, French, and Russian, works closely with several Federal law enforcement agencies, consulting on fighting the domestic War on Terrorism, and has provided them with much useful information. She has gone undercover, infiltrating many Muslim organizations in the Detroit area (the heart of Islamic America), exposing their radical nature and support for terrorism. Schlussel continues to represent a very valuable Muslim confidential informant to several federal government agencies, who has been responsible for putting hundreds with terrorism connections behind bars. She also represented several whistleblowers who exposed terrorist operations now under investigation.
Schlussel was also the first journalist/columnist to expose Indicted Islamic Jihad frontman, Sami Al-Arian’s visits to the Bush White House and photos with President Bush, as well as his campaign contributions to prominent U.S. Congressmen, including House International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde. Al-Arian blamed Schlussel (because of her series of columns on Al-Arian in 2001) and FOX News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly (on whose show Schlussel appeared, in October 2001, regarding Al-Arian) for his dismissal from the University of South Florida.
As an attorney, Schlussel represented University of Michigan students in a lawsuit against the University when it hosted Al-Arian as a speaker at a radical conference (a conference urging divestment from Israel) on campus, exposing him and other radical speakers, and putting them and their supporters on campus on the defensive.
You can read her popular twice-weekly online column, “Debbie Does Politics,” on the Internet, at www.PoliticalUSA.com, where she is a Contributor/Columnist and her own website, debbieschlussel.com. Schlussel is also a frequent New York Post, Jerusalem Post, and Vancouver Province columnist. Her columns have often been read on the air by Rush Limbaugh, on whom she broke the Monday Night Football story. Schlussel’s columns have also frequently appeared on the Knight-Ridder Newswire and in several major newspapers, including The Washington Times, The New York Post, The Jerusalem Post, The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Wisconsin State Journal. She has also written columns for FOXNews.com.
Schlussel has often been quoted in quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, USA Today, New York Post, New York Daily News, New York Newsday, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Sports Business Daily, The Washington Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Indianapolis Star, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Kansas City Star, The Arizona Republic, San Jose Mercury News, The Austin Statesman, The Wisconsin State Journal, Charlotte Observer, National Post of Canada, McLean’s of Canada, Daily Telegraph of London, The Guardian U.K., The Vancouver Province, The Jerusalem Post, The Age of Australia, The Irish Times, The Irish Examiner, Associated Press, Knight-Ridder Wire, CanWest Global Wire, Golf World, CNN.com, and many other mainstream press publications.
Attacked as “Enemy #1” by Ms. Magazine (“Women to Watch . . . and Watch Out For,” February/March 2001), Schlussel is a frequent guest on ABC’s “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher,” CBS’ “Early Show,” FOX News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity & Colmes,” “FOX News Live,” “Beyond the News,” and “Judith Regan Tonight,” Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “Buchanan & Press,” “The Abrams Report with Dan Abrams,” “Scarborough Country,” and “MSNBC Live,” CNN’s “Crossfire,” “Talk Back Live” and “Weekend Wrap,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” FOX Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” and the Nationally Syndicated “America’s Black Forum” (hosted by NFL on FOX’s James Brown).
The Hotline, politics’ and talk shows’ most influential newsletter and online website, called Schlussel a “rising GOP pundit,” and The Hotline’s influential former columnist (and current “Hardball” producer) Howard Mortman wrote in his “Extreme Mortman” column that Schlussel is “one of the fastest rising young TV pundits today.” The site’s webcast of Schlussel was The Hotline’s most viewed webcast ever.
In 2002-2003, Schlussel was the host of her own show, “The Debbie Schlussel Show,” on 97.1 FM, Detroit’s FM Talk Station (Infinity/CBS)–#1 in its time-slot. A regular on the nationally syndicated “The Howard Stern Show” (audience: 20 million every morning), Schlussel has frequently appeared on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” the Sean Hannity, Mitch Albom, Larry Elder, and Tom Leykis nationally syndicated radio shows, ESPN Radio, Sporting News Radio, and has been a frequent contributor to nationally syndicated FOX Sports Radio.
On Election Night 2000 through 2001, Schlussel was the political analyst for Detroit’s CBS and UPN Television affiliates, and was a regular political commentator on the weekly series, “Flashpoint,” on Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV-TV. In the past, Schlussel was a daily political commentator on the nationally syndicated (in 23 states) morning radio show, “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse,” a top Chicago morning show, where she successfully predicted John McCain’s win of the Michigan Republican Primary.
The granddaughter of immigrant Holocaust survivors, Schlussel’s mother was born in the former Nazi concentration of Bergen Belsen in Germany, and her father is a Vietnam-era Army Veteran. A frequent speaker at conservative, pro-Israel, and Jewish conferences, gatherings, college campuses, and events around the U.S. Schlussel was a featured speaker at the 2004 National Board Meeting of JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), 2004 National Conference of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), 2001 and 2002 NRA Annual Meetings, 2002 Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) Fraternity National Convention, and 2000 Toward Tradition Conference.
In 1988, Schlussel was the youngest female and youngest Jewish delegate to the Republican National Convention, a National Youth Vice Chairman of George H. W. Bush’s 1988 Presidential campaign, and a Youth Chairman of his 1989 Inauguration. An avid athlete who works out regularly, Schlussel won several medals in tennis, track and cross country running in the 1984 Maccabi Games (the Junior Jewish Olympics). In 1985, she was a finalist to represent the U.S. in tennis at the Maccabiah Games (Jewish Olympics) in Israel.
Schlussel worked for Fred Barnes, Editor of The Weekly Standard Magazine, host of FOX’s “Beltway Boys,” and Mort Kondracke, also of the “Beltway Boys” when Barnes and Kondracke were Senior Editors of The New Republic. Schlussel also worked in Washington for several Congressmen–including Rep. Phil Crane, Chairman of the powerful House Trade Subcommittee.
A lifelong conservative Republican activist, at the age of 21 and with all odds against her, Schlussel ran for the Michigan House of Representatives from the suburban Detroit area and lost by just one vote, the closest election in Michigan political history. In 1986-’87, Schlussel was awarded the title of “Outstanding Teen Age Republican in the Nation” and was honored by President Ronald Reagan. You can often hear or read Schlussel’s insightful commentary on various political and sports-related issues in many publications and on many major radio and television stations in many major-market cities.
Schlussel has literally worked on campaigns for conservative Republican candidates since she was in the sixth grade, when she worked on Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for President. A long-time member of Mensa, the high IQ society, Schlussel was a National Merit Scholar Finalist. She is the only female member of the Advisory Board of the Motor City Bowl, an NCAA Division I college football bowl game, played at the Pontiac Silverdome and Ford Field and has been featured in both “Who’s Who of Outstanding Young Americans” and “Who’s Who of Executives.”
