'Stunning Embarrassment' for FBI: Translator Wed ISIS Terrorist

She soon had second thoughts after sneaking off to Syria to marry Denis Cuspert
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2017 12:11 PM CDT

An ex-FBI translator was accused of endangering US security because of the person she married—an ISIS terrorist once called "the pop star of jihad" by the Fader. In a just-publicized story that ex-State Department spokesman John Kirby calls a "stunning embarrassment for the FBI," CNN reports on court records revealing Daniela Greene, a bureau translator with top-level security clearance, traveled to Syria in June 2014 and married Denis Cuspert, a German rapper-turned-ISIS propagandist. She also reportedly lied to the FBI about her destination (she'd noted "Vacation/Personal" on a required travel form, claiming she was going to Germany to visit family) and, apparently, to the husband she was still married to in the US. She soon had second thoughts about her union with Cuspert, however, and fled Syria about a month later. She was arrested in the US in August 2014.

Greene had been assigned in January 2014 to investigate Cuspert (called "Individual A" in court records and identified by CNN as Cuspert), who once went by the rapper name Deso Dogg; in 2006 he went on tour with US rapper DMX. Cuspert is said to have converted to Islam in 2010 after a serious car accident and became known for praising Osama bin Laden and appearing in ISIS promotional videos. Greene pleaded guilty to making false statements involving international terrorism and served two years in a reduced sentence after cooperating with authorities, CNN notes, adding that details of that cooperation are "shrouded in court-ordered secrecy." Greene was released from prison in August 2016 and now works as a hotel lounge hostess. All she would say to CNN when contacted: "If I talk to you my family will be in danger." (Does this Twitter account belong to James Comey?)

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