NBC presses Democrat Abdul El-Sayed over alleged family ties to Muslim Brotherhood
The Michigan Senate candidate denied misleading viewers after his half-sister’s past posts described their mother’s activism in the Islamist group.
Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed clashed with NBC’s Tom Llamas on Oct. 14 over the politician’s denial of family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, facing questions about past social media posts in which his half-sister described their mother’s involvement in the organization during the early 1970s.
The exchange followed El-Sayed’s Oct. 11 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where moderator Kristen Welker asked him about allegations that he and his family had connections to the Islamist group, which has been accused of being linked to Hamas and whose Egyptian branch has faced terrorist designations by multiple governments.
El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan to parents who emigrated from Egypt in 1978, denied the allegations and accused Republican opponent Mike Rogers of targeting his faith and family.
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During their exchange, Llamas, the “NBC Nightly News” anchor, read the posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister and asked him to explain the apparent contradiction.
“Can you just explain it?” Llamas asked.
“It's funny to me,” El-Sayed responded. “I was born in 1984 down the street in Rochester Hills. I was raised here in Michigan, went to the University of Michigan, rebuilt the health department in this city, led the health department in this county — and you want to ask me about what's happening in Egypt in 1970? Are you serious?”
“I get it, but you were asked a question, and you gave an answer,” Llamas responded.
“I’m telling you. I have no ties,” El-Sayed said. “We have no ties.”
When Llamas asked specifically about his mother, El-Sayed said he had never discussed the matter with her and noted that she did not raise him. He accused Llamas of using “hearsay evidence from a tweet.”
The exchange grew more pointed when Llamas brought up El-Sayed’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s truthfulness, saying, “But you’ve also gone after the President for truthfulness and when people ask you a question, do you expect the truth?”
“Are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?” El-Sayed asked.
“I don't know, that's why I'm asking,” the NBC anchor responded.
“And I'm telling you that I was not,” El-Sayed said.
The questions centered on posts Eman Abdelhadi published more than a decade ago, which the Washington Free Beacon resurfaced after the “Meet the Press” interview.
“Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect,” she wrote in a 2012 X post.
In another 2012 post, she wrote: “My family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.”
“Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe,” she wrote in 2013.
The Free Beacon also reported that their mother, Fatten Elkomy, attended Egypt's Alexandria University. A 2012 Brookings Institution commentary described Muslim Brotherhood dominance of the university’s Islamic Group in 1977.
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The U.S. Treasury Department designated the Muslim Brotherhood’s Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists on Jan. 13, citing material support for Hamas. The State Department also designated the Lebanese branch as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
El-Sayed’s campaign has rejected allegations of family ties. In a statement previously provided to Fox News, a campaign spokesperson said independent fact-checkers “have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family.” The spokesperson accused Rogers of trying “to distract from Trump’s agenda that is terrorizing Michigan families at the pump and at the grocery store.”
Separately, an August Fox News Digital review of El-Sayed’s campaign finance records found that the Democrat received more than $115,000 from at least 41 donors affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim organization that has faced allegations of ties to Hamas, as Zeale News previously reported. CAIR has rejected allegations of terrorist ties.
>> Report: El-Sayed protested against ‘ex-terrorists’ who converted to Christianity in 2007 <<
The exchange comes amid a closely contested Senate race. El-Sayed led Rogers by 2.7 percentage points, 48.4% to 45.7%, in the RealClearPolling average as of Oct. 15. The site rates the race a toss-up.
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