Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Sen. Mike Rogers clashed Wednesday night during a Michigan U.S. Senate debate after Rogers tied El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood during a discussion of law enforcement funding.
“[El-Sayed] was passionate about defunding the police,” Rogers said. “As a matter of fact, he asked the Muslim Brotherhood, excuse me, head Morsi in Egypt, to defund the police there, too. I mean, it’s unbelievable.”
Rogers was referring to a 2012 letter, reported by The Washington Free Beacon, that El-Sayed signed calling on then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, to purge the country’s police force.
El-Sayed pushed back hard. “To bring into question my commitment to the Constitution is really beneath you,” he said. “I am proud of America. I’m proud to be an American. I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray. And the question — that you would ask that — I think is actually really quite shameful. As somebody who’s actually served under that Constitution, it is shameful.”
The exchange followed renewed attention to social media posts from El-Sayed’s half-sister alleging their mother had been involved in Muslim Brotherhood activism in the 1970s. El-Sayed has denied any personal or family connection to the organization and says he was not raised by his biological mother.
“He keeps raising this question about this association with the organization,” El-Sayed said at the debate. “I’ve never been a part because my mom, who’s a nurse in Missouri, it doesn’t make any sense. And it’s actually really quite beneath you, Mike. It’s really quite beneath you.”
There is no evidence that El-Sayed has any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rogers did not back down. “I know you want to make this about you being a victim,” he said. “This is about an ideology. An ideology that’s banned in five Muslim countries, an ideology that’s banned in another six different countries. An ideology that is very concerning to law enforcement in the United States because they use it for funding overseas operations.”
