El-Sayed denies Muslim Brotherhood family ties as sister's posts surface
Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed denied having any personal or familial connections to the Muslim Brotherhood during an NBC interview, a statement that conflicts with public posts by his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," NBC's Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed to set the record straight regarding allegations that his family had ties to the group. El-Sayed answered, "No," and repeated the denial when Welker specifically asked if his family did not have ties. He suggested that his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, was using Islamophobic attacks against him and his family.
Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed denied having any personal or familial connections to the Muslim Brotherhood during an NBC interview, a statement that conflicts with public posts by his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," NBC's Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed to set the record straight regarding allegations that his family had ties to the group. El-Sayed answered, "No," and repeated the denial when Welker specifically asked if his family did not have ties. He suggested that his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, was using Islamophobic attacks against him and his family.
According to a 2012 post on X, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Abdelhadi described a conversation with their mother about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 1970s while she was in college. Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, attended Egypt's Alexandria University. A report from the Brookings Institution states that the university had strong Muslim Brotherhood activity in the 1970s. In another 2012 post, Abdelhadi, a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote that her family had long been associated with the group, though she felt it navigated the political sphere poorly. A third post from 2013 showed her praying for family members who supported the group in Egypt.
An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson told Fox News that El-Sayed is a father and a doctor who has spent his career keeping Michiganders healthy and safe. The spokesperson stated that independent fact checkers have debunked claims made by Rogers, whom they accused of using bad faith attacks on El-Sayed's faith and family to distract from President Donald Trump's agenda regarding costs at the pump and in grocery stores. The campaign characterized the Muslim Brotherhood accusations as racist and untrue. NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.