Democratic Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia, Joe Crowley of New York, and Keith Ellison of Minnesota headed to the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Northern Virginia on Friday. The mosque once featured deceased terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki as an imam. Convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan also attended services there.

“Intolerance and hatred have no place in American society,” Beyer said Wednesday in a press release. “We are a diverse nation of immigrants whose shared cultural heritage is one of openness and inclusion. We must celebrate this diverse thread of our cultural cloth, not tear it apart.”

“Yesterday does make it a little harder. It’s just another unfortunate data point. So, I think it’s more necessary than ever to go talk to the people who have nothing to do with that,” Beyer told the ...