Skip to content
Sign in
↑Part of: El-Sayed denies ties as Michigan Senate race debate revisits family claims
Politics · North America

Rogers raises Muslim Brotherhood allegation against El-Sayed in Michigan debate

At a Michigan Senate debate on Wednesday, Mike Rogers accused Abdul El-Sayed of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, citing a 2012 open letter El-Sayed reportedly signed. El-Sayed said questioning his commitment to the Constitution was beneath Rogers.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 5 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 1 of 5 outletsHow it's made

View timeline · 9 entries
5 outletsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: MixedL 2 · C 1 · R 2
Updat3 graphic: United States
Updat3 graphic · Map data: Natural Earth Natural Earth (public domain)

What happened

Key facts

  • At their Wednesday debate, Mike Rogers raised alleged ties between Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • Rogers cited an open letter to the Muslim Brotherhood that El-Sayed reportedly signed in 2012.
  • The New York Times had asked El-Sayed about the letter, and he declined to comment, according to the report.
  • El-Sayed said that questioning his commitment to the Constitution was beneath Rogers.
  • Rogers is a former Republican congressman and retired FBI agent; El-Sayed is a former public health official.

The brief

Mike Rogers accused Abdul El-Sayed of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood during a Michigan Senate debate, citing an open letter that El-Sayed reportedly signed in 2012. The New York Post reported that Rogers raised the allegation at the candidates’ second and final debate.

The letter’s alleged signature and the connection Rogers asserted were claims raised in the debate, not established findings in the account. Rogers questioned whether El-Sayed’s campaign had received money from donors he linked to Hamas and Hezbollah.

He asked whether that was “not a problem?” and challenged El-Sayed over whether he supported the United States or what Rogers called “these terrorist groups overseas.” The New York Post’s account does not provide evidence for the donor claim, and it presents the allegation as Rogers’s accusation.

El-Sayed answered that questioning his commitment to the Constitution was “really beneath you.” The New York Post also reported that The New York Times had previously asked El-Sayed about the letter and that he declined to comment. The account does not describe a separate explanation from El-Sayed about the letter itself.

The debate was the candidates’ second and final one, according to the New York Post. Its account describes the exchange as part of a U.S. Senate contest in Michigan, with Rogers, a former Republican congressman and retired FBI agent, challenging El-Sayed, whom it describes as a former public health official.

The New York Post said the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls gave El-Sayed a 2-percentage-point edge over Rogers. That polling figure offers a snapshot of the race, while the account does not provide the poll’s underlying numbers or other details about the average.

The debate headlines from MS NOW and The New York Times also describe Rogers and El-Sayed facing off; Fox News characterizes El-Sayed’s reaction as an eruption over the Muslim Brotherhood accusation. CBS News presents its headline as a preview of the debate. Those headlines provide no further details about the exchange.

The New York Post’s account leaves the allegation and El-Sayed’s response as the central documented elements of the debate.

Why it matters

  • The allegation concerns El-Sayed’s campaign and alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood; Rogers also raised claims about donors he connected to Hamas and Hezbollah.
  • The exchange directly concerned El-Sayed’s commitment to the Constitution, which he defended in response to Rogers.
  • The New York Post reported a 2-percentage-point El-Sayed lead in the latest RealClearPolitics average, putting the debate exchange in the context of a closely measured Senate race.

What to watch next

  • Whether Rogers provides evidence for his claims about the 2012 letter and campaign donors.
  • Whether El-Sayed makes a further public statement about the letter he reportedly signed.
  • Whether later RealClearPolitics polling averages continue to show El-Sayed ahead of Rogers.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
6 source articles · 5 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Mixed· 2 Left · 1 Center · 2 Right· Wide spread of viewpoints
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 100%
Outlet political mix
MixedWide spread of viewpoints
Left
Center
Right
2 outlets
1 outlet
2 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. Wide spread of viewpoints: the outlets covering this story sit far apart politically, so read it with that in mind.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
5 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among outlets based in US/Canada (5 of 5 geographically-identified sources).
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.
Wide spread of viewpoints

The rated outlets covering this story span both Left and Right, with the outermost outlets far apart politically. It highlights divergent source perspectives, where framing may differ.

Left-leaning (2)
ms.nowLeans left
The New York TimesLeans left
Center (1)
CBS News
Right-leaning (2)
Fox NewsLeans right
New York PostLeans right
At a Michigan Senate debate on Wednesday, Mike Rogers accused Abdul El-Sayed of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, citing a 2012 open letter El-Sayed reportedly signed. El-Sayed said …

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna as an Islamist social and political movement.
    Background · from our historical context
  2. Egypt’s government banned the organization in 1954 under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, though Brotherhood-linked activity continued clandestinely.
    Background · from our historical context
  3. Abdul El-Sayed was born in Michigan to Egyptian immigrant parents.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. El-Sayed’s half-sister posted tweets alleging that his mother and family had long been affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  5. Abdul El-Sayed reportedly signed an open letter to the Muslim Brotherhood.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. Egyptian authorities declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  7. Abdul El-Sayed lost the Democratic primary for Michigan governor to Gretchen Whitmer.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  8. Mike Rogers lost Michigan's U.S. Senate election to Democrat Elissa Slotkin.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  9. Abdul El-Sayed entered the Democratic primary for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

The immediate historical reference was a 2012 open letter to the Muslim Brotherhood that Abdul El-Sayed was reported to have signed; the letter’s reported existence became part of the public record years before the Michigan debate.

El-Sayed served as Detroit’s health director from 2015 to 2017, then ran for Michigan governor in 2018, losing the Democratic primary to Gretchen Whitmer. Mike Rogers represented Michigan’s 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015, after serving as an FBI special agent, and lost the 2014 Republican Senate race to incumbent Gary Peters.

Related developments1 story

Original sources

6 articles from 5 outlets

Every story links to the reporting it was built from. How we choose sources

Spotted a factual error, a broken link or a misleading summary? Tell us.