El-Sayed Denies Muslim Brotherhood Family Ties Amid Dispute

Abdul El-Sayed denied on Meet the Press that he or his family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, while social-media posts attributed to his half-sister described family members’ affiliation and support for the group. The posts have become part of a dispute in the Michigan Senate campaign, but they do not establish that El-Sayed himself belonged to the organization. Host Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed whether he or his family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. He answered no, repeating the denial when Welker separately asked about his own connections and those of his family. El-Sayed said his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, was raising the issue to focus attention on his Muslim faith. The posts attributed to Eman Abdelhadi, a University of Chicago assistant professor, date to 2012 and 2013. In a June 24, 2012, post, she wrote, “My family has long been MB,” using an abbreviation for the Muslim Brotherhood, while criticizing the group’s political conduct. In another post that day, she described her mother’s activism in the group while attending college in the early 1970s.