Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers accused the press of being “eager” to protect his opponent, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
During his interview with host Dana Bash, Rogers criticized El-Sayed as Bash repeatedly pressed him to comment on President Donald Trump calling El-Sayed a “jihadist.”
Rogers denied ever referring to El-Sayed as a terrorist himself but argued that there were legitimate concerns over El-Sayed’s ideology and his family’s alleged past support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
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“He has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which, by the way, diminishes women’s role in society, just as they did when they took over in Egypt in 2012 and 2013,” Rogers said. “He supported that regime.”
Bash began interrupting, but Rogers remarked that the press should be more concerned.
“He called for the purging of the press. He called for purging of police. As a matter of fact, if I were the press, I would start looking at this,” Rogers said.
Later on in the segment, Rogers and Bash sparred again over a viral clip of El-Sayed responding to whether he disavows the Muslim Brotherhood after past scrutiny of his family’s alleged connections to the group.
Bash insisted that El-Sayed responded, “Sure, yes” when asked, but Rogers denied it, calling it a larger issue with his ideology.
“No, that’s not true. Dana, listen —” Rogers said.
“I don’t want to debate with you,” Bash interjected.
“I don’t know why the press is so eager for him to protect this guy,” Rogers remarked.
“Congressman, I just want to be factual,” Bash said.
“And it is. It’s an ideology. My argument is, is that ideology something we should worry about? I think it is,” Rogers said.
Fox News Digital reached out to CNN and Rogers’ campaign for comment.
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El-Sayed has faced increased scrutiny in his campaign over his family after unearthed social media posts from his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, implied that their mother was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed’s campaign has denied these claims in a statement to Fox News and argued that Rogers’ accusations are “racist and untrue.”
“Abdul is a dad and a doctor. He has spent his entire career working to keep Michiganders healthy and safe. Independent fact checkers have repeatedly debunked Mike’s lies, but their campaign continues to use bad faith attacks on Abdul’s faith and family. Mike wants to distract from Trump’s agenda that is terrorizing Michigan families at the pump and at the grocery store,” the statement read.
A Fox News Digital review of Grabien transcripts found that several legacy news organizations hesitated to report the initial allegations last week. When media reported on the claims, it was often limited to reporting on El-Sayed’s denial.