Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed compared himself to former President John F. Kennedy during a Saturday “MS NOW Reports” interview with Ali Velshi, likening questions about his family’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood ties to scrutiny Kennedy faced over his Catholic faith.
El-Sayed invoked Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign while arguing that questions about his family were intended to cast doubt on his allegiance to the United States.
“I also know that I tread a long history of this: when John F. Kennedy ran for president, he was asked about whether or not his allegiance would be to the Constitution or to the pope and the Vatican…” he began.
“The Constitution guarantees me the right as I choose to pray or any of us, to pray as we choose to pray or not to pray at all,” he continued. “Nobody understands how important that document is like somebody who has their rights constantly threatened and so I will stand for that constitution. And it’s a crazy thing to assume that somehow I’d have dual loyalties as somebody who’s avidly running to protect the right to choose, who’s running to protect LGBTQ rights, who’s running to protect religious freedom…”
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Ted Goodman, communications director of the Michigan GOP, pushed back on El-Sayed’s comparison in a statement to Fox News Digital, arguing that the allegations involving the Democrat’s relatives were fundamentally different from the religious scrutiny Kennedy faced.
“Abdul El-Sayed’s comparison of scrutiny over his Muslim Brotherhood ties to the questions JFK faced about the Vatican is a false equivalence,” Goodman said. “The Catholic Church and the Muslim Brotherhood are not analogous.”
“The actual evidence against Abdul El-Sayed is not hearsay based on his faith, but actual facts as reported by numerous reputable news outlets,” he continued.
Velshi asked El-Sayed how he responded to questions involving the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorism and radical Islamism. El-Sayed suggested the scrutiny was designed to raise doubts about his loyalty.
“Look, at the end of the day, the whole reason this question is being asked is to insinuate that somehow I have dual loyalties,” he said.
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The controversy followed reporting on social media posts uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon in which El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, described her family’s history with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In one 2012 post, Abdelhadi described a conversation with her and El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Elkomy, about her involvement with the organization during college in Egypt.
“Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect.”
In another post, Abdelhadi characterized her family’s history with the organization.
“My family has long been MB, but I’ve always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.”
El-Sayed previously denied that he or his family had ties to the organization during an Oct. 11 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Days later, he was pressed by NBC’s Tom Llamas about his half-sister’s statements and whether he had discussed the allegations with his mother.
El-Sayed maintained that he had no personal connections to the group and disputed the significance of his sister’s posts.
“I have never had these conversations with my mother. I wasn’t raised by my mother…” he said.
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Goodman cited El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, whose involvement with the Islamic Society of North America and CAIR’s Michigan chapter was documented by the Washington Free Beacon. The outlet also reported that Jukaku contributed $200,000 to a super PAC supporting El-Sayed. The organization was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case.
The Treasury Department designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as Specially Designated Global Terrorists in January for providing material support to Hamas.
The allegations involving El-Sayed’s relatives have not established that he personally belonged to the organization. El-Sayed’s campaign previously rejected accusations involving his family in a statement to Fox News Digital, accusing Republican opponent Mike Rogers of using the controversy to attack his faith.
“Independent fact-checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family,” the campaign said.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed and Rogers for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.