 Safi accused the Custom Service agent who led the raids of relying heavily on information provided by the Steven Emerson's Investigative Project and his former assistant Rita Katz's SITE Institute.In July 2005, Michael Fichter, reporting for the "Tampa Tribune", made a vague reference to a conversation Safi had in 1995 with Sami Al-Arian.Fichter contended that Safi asked Al-Arian whether an Executive Order issued in early 1995 by President Bill Clinton would affect the latter.