El-Sayed denies family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood
Abdul El-SayedDemocratic U.S. Senate nominee in Michigan, interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press
Asked on Meet the Press whether he or his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Sayed said no, and answered no again to each follow-up. He said Rogers's strategy was to single him out by his name and faith.
Responding to
Abdul El-Sayed's family has long been part of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“No. Let me ask you, though, why this is even a subject of debate. Because his only strategy is to point to me and my name and my faith and to say that we're different.”
Original video
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Mike Rogers’s allegation about Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign received funding from a terrorist organization
At a September 10, 2026 Republican National Convention midterm speech, Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers said Abdul El-Sayed was funding his campaign with money from “terrorist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.” Rogers did not name a donor, amount, or campaign-finance filing in the speech. The research documents an outside-support chain involving CAIR Action, Unity & Justice Fund, and a Super PAC supporting El-Sayed, while examining whether any record establishes the specific allegation.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Full Meet the Press interview with Kristen Welker. Asked whether he or his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Sayed answers no, then says Rogers's strategy is to point to his name and faith.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
Jewish Insider reports that El-Sayed denied on Meet the Press that he or his family have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and quotes his answer about Rogers's strategy. It also summarizes recent reports about his mother's former employer and his sister-in-law.
Before the quotation
Kristen Welker said Rogers had repeatedly tried to tie El-Sayed and his family to the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed first said Rogers only wanted to repeat the word Muslim. Asked to set the record straight on whether he or his family had any ties to the group, he said no. Welker asked again whether he had any ties, and he said no. She then asked whether his family did.
After the quotation
He said Rogers wants voters to suspect people because they pray differently, and that there are many more ways people are the same.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the allegations that El-Sayed and his family have terrorist or Muslim Brotherhood ties, El-Sayed says plainly that neither he nor his family has ties to the group. He adds an attack on Rogers's motive, but his direct answer is a denial.
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- Mike Rogers
More from this case
Read the full caseHasan Piker calls the accusations against El-Sayed slanderous
“But if you are a competent media organization, you don't raise the salience of heinous and slanderous accusations. Because when you present them as a serious media organization, you're offering legitimacy to the claim.”Read statement
Rogers calls El-Sayed's denial of Brotherhood ties a lie
“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.”Read statement
Trump says Rogers won the debate and calls El-Sayed a jihadist
“Mike Rogers, the great American Patriot and Republican Candidate for the U.S.Senate from Michigan, completely obliterated Mohammad El-Sayed in the big debate tonight. If this was a fight they would have stopped it. Mohammad is a Jihadist lunatic who hates our Country, the Black People of Detroit, and wants to see the U.S. fail.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "El-Sayed denies family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood". First published: 2026-10-13. Last updated: 2026-10-13. https://disputeindex.com/events/5659-asked-on-meet-the-press-whether-he-or