Rogers spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet calls El-Sayed's apology fake
Alyssa BrouilletSpokesperson for Mike Rogers's U.S. Senate campaign
Asked by PolitiFact to support Rogers's claim, Rogers campaign spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet said El-Sayed issued a fake apology five months later only because polling told him to, and called it an insult to Michigan's Jewish community.
Responding to
El-Sayed's immediate response should have stopped at an unqualified condemnation; adding causal context at that moment was a mistake.
“The only reason he issued a fake apology five months later is because the polling told him to”
Analysis
Where this statement fits
Abdul El-Sayed's cycle of violence framing after the Temple Israel attack
After an armed assailant attacked Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed condemned the attack and antisemitism but connected the assailant's actions to an Israeli airstrike that killed members of his family, describing violence as a cycle. Critics said the framing rationalized an antisemitic terrorist attack or shifted responsibility toward Israel and Jews. El-Sayed denied justifying the attack and later apologized for introducing context when the victims needed an unqualified condemnation.
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
PolitiFact fact-check of Rogers's September 24, 2026 claim that El-Sayed could not condemn the Temple Israel attacker. It reviews El-Sayed's March 12 and March 13 statements and his August apology.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
On or before October 1, PolitiFact asked the Rogers campaign for information to support Rogers's claim that El-Sayed could not condemn the Temple Israel attacker.
After the quotation
PolitiFact reports that Brouillet called the apology an insult to Michigan's Jewish community. PolitiFact rated Rogers's claim Mostly False.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is El-Sayed's cycle-of-violence framing of the Temple Israel attack. Brouillet rejects his August apology for that framing as insincere and an insult to the Jewish community, which keeps condemning the original response. We used Condemned. Mixed or conditional loses because she accepts no part of the apology. The quote is from PolitiFact's fact-check.
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- People and groups discussed
- Abdul El-Sayed
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“He can't condemn a terrorist act that happened on our soil in the state of Michigan.”Read statement
Rogers tells Hannity that El-Sayed could not condemn the Temple Israel attacker
“could not condemn the terrorist who tried to attack and kill 140 Jewish children right here in Michigan”Read statement
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- Rogers spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet calls El-Sayed's apology fake
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The Dispute Index. "Rogers spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet calls El-Sayed's apology fake". First published: 2026-10-06. Last updated: 2026-10-06. https://disputeindex.com/events/4822-asked-by-politifact-to-support-rogers-s-claim