Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed denied Muslim Brotherhood family ties on Meet the Press, even as the Free Beacon found his sister's posts claiming them.
On Sunday, Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly denied on Meet the Press that he or his relatives have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Washington Free Beacon found 2012 and 2013 social media posts by his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. Those posts discussed family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
That dispute is now inside Michigan's U.S. Senate race. Republican Mike Rogers is running against him, and Rogers says El-Sayed lied to a national audience.
Breitbart News reported the Sunday denials alongside the older family posts. El-Sayed is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan. Voters now have his television answer on one side and his half-sister's words on the other.
On June 24, 2012, days after Egypt elected Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi as president, Abdelhadi wrote, "My family has long been MB."
On July 3, 2013, she wrote, "I have had family jailed for being a part of it."
In another post, she wrote, "Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in Egypt. Lie low, stay safe."
Her University of Chicago profile said her interests are religion, gender, identity, and demography.
Sunday's television answer was a clean no. Her posts put the family inside the Brotherhood and said relatives had been jailed for it.
Rogers debated El-Sayed on Thursday. Breitbart News said El-Sayed failed to deny receiving money from terrorist groups during that debate.
Mike Rogers posted on Sunday after the Meet the Press interview.
"This morning, Abdul El-Sayed was asked about his family’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. And he denied it, an outright lie. The truth is, Abdul and his family have surrounded themselves with some of the most heinous organizations and anti-American actors in history. He is too extreme to get anywhere near the U.S. Senate."
Rogers put family ties and national security at the center of whether El-Sayed belongs in the Senate.
In November, President Trump designated certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.
Foreign terrorist organizations are groups on the U.S. government's official terror list. Specially designated global terrorists face American sanctions.
The order states:
"The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond. Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests."
The same order described the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel. It said that chapter's military wing joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch rocket attacks on civilian and military targets in Israel.
The order also said a senior leader of the Egyptian chapter, on October 7, 2023, called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests. It said Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas.
Those activities, the order said, threaten American civilians in the Levant, meaning the eastern Mediterranean, and other parts of the Middle East. They also threaten the safety and stability of regional partners.
That is the organization El-Sayed was asked about on Sunday.
But on Sunday, El-Sayed still told Meet the Press that he and his relatives have no such ties.
El-Sayed's campaign said in August that he still complies with Sharia law in his personal life. Sharia is Islamic religious law.
The Washington Free Beacon also reported that El-Sayed's mother, identified as Elkomy, at one point worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency. The Beacon said that agency was sanctioned for funding al-Qaeda.
Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer spoke in September about the Muslim Brotherhood in America.
"They’ve been doing it in Europe, and they’ve been doing it in the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood is alive and active in America today electing politicians"
El-Sayed spent Sunday telling a national audience that he and his relatives have no Brotherhood ties. His half-sister had already described a family that had long been in the group.
If the family record is harmless, a straight answer should be easy. A Senate campaign is a poor place to leave that conflict hanging.
