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El-Sayed, Rogers Clash Over Muslim Brotherhood and Guns in Senate Debate
Confirmed
In Short: In a heated Senate debate, Michigan candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Peter Meijer Rogers clashed over El-Sayed's past support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Rogers' stance on defunding the police.
During the second and final Michigan U.S. Senate debate, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed faced intense scrutiny over his alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed received over $25,000 from at least six men who co-signed a letter supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and calling for the organization to ‘purge’ media and police in Egypt.
Hany Saqr, identified as part of the ‘Egyptian Association in America,’ contributed at least $1,000 to El-Sayed’s senate campaign.
In 2012, El-Sayed signed a letter as a member of the ‘Egyptian Foundation’ and contributed at least $7,000 to his senate run and nearly the same amount in the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
The letter, signed by 46 ‘leaders of the Egyptian community’ in the United States, supported the ‘revolutionary actions’ of then-Egyptian president Mohamad Morsi and derided voices in America and Europe that opposed the new regime.
Republican candidate Peter Meijer Rogers accused El-Sayed of lying about his stances on positions, saying, “He lied about some of his stances on these positions as he’s flipped again.”
El-Sayed criticized Rogers' stance on the war, arguing that continued conflict is driving up everyday costs for Americans and accusing Rogers of being ‘bought off’ by weapons manufacturers and PACs.
Rogers also pointed out that El-Sayed had called for defunding the police, saying, “He did call for defunding the police.”
At a town hall in Michigan, El-Sayed confronted a heckler who asked him to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed denied any connection to the group, saying, “He keeps raising this question about this association with an organization I’ve never been a part of … because my mom who is a nurse in Missouri. It doesn’t make any sense and it’s actually quite beneath you, Mike. It’s really quite beneath you.”
What this adds
El-Sayed's half sister's social media posts from over a decade ago have been discovered, raising further questions about his family's connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The debate was marked by substantive exchanges rather than fireworks, focusing on key issues in the race.
Background
In a heated debate, Michigan Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Peter Meijer Rogers clashed over El-Sayed's past support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Rogers' stance on defunding the police.
What's confirmed
- The second and final Michigan U.S. Senate debate was missing the fireworks of the previous one, but made up for it in substance.
What's still developing
- Another signer, Ahmed Shehata, criticized the attack on the Muslim Brotherhood in an opinion article for Roll Call in December 2013 and called on the United States to reinstate Morsi.
- “Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Sayed” of New York was the 33rd signature on the letter, the publication of which coincided with his time attending medical school at Columbia University, the Free Beacon reported.
- Saqr was listed in a 1990s phone directory of U.S.-based Muslim Brotherhood leaders in a filing by federal prosecutors in a terror financing case.
- He blasted current Egyptian president Abdel el-Sisi as a “dog of the Jews” because of his opposition to the group.
- "He's got a war for everything, and he won't back off the war now. He supports this war," El-Sayed said.
- “It shows the success of the Muslim Brotherhood network over multiple decades. It achieved what they said they were going to achieve, which was to normalize support for Hamas and normalize support for terrorism,” Shideler said.
- A document that accompanied the vote claimed “there is substantial evidence that CAIR is engaging in terrorist activity” and accused the group of having connections to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- While El-Sayed has denied connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Washington Free Beacon reported that it discovered social media posts from over a decade ago from the Michigan candidate’s half sister who has the same mother as him.
- El-Sayed and Rogers are in a toss-up race, according to Cook Political Report, and the growing animosity between them on the campaign trail has dominated the contests’ fourth-quarter dynamics.
- Viral moments from the campaign trail often crystalize both the key issues in a race and how the candidates are responding to them.
- NEW YORK (VINnews) – Michigan’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race is drawing national attention as Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed faces growing scrutiny over allegations involving his family’s Muslim Brotherhood connections, his relationship with controversial commentator Hasan Piker, and his positions on Israel.
- “I’d like to be a part of the debate, too,” Albin said.