El-Sayed Compares Muslim Brotherhood Scrutiny to JFK's Catholic Faith Questions

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed drew a parallel between the scrutiny he faces over his family's alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the questions former President John F. Kennedy encountered regarding his Catholic faith.

During a recent interview, El-Sayed stated that questions about his family were an attempt to sow doubt about his loyalty to the United States. He referenced Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign, recalling that Kennedy was asked about his allegiance to the Constitution versus the Pope and the Vatican. "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," El-Sayed said. "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…"

The controversy stems from social media posts uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, in which El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, discussed her family's history with the Muslim Brotherhood. In one post from 2012, Abdelhadi wrote about a conversation with their mother, Fatten Elkomy, regarding her involvement with the organization during college in Egypt.

El-Sayed had previously addressed similar questions on NBC's "Meet the Press," denying personal connections to the group and disputing the significance of his sister's posts, stating he was not raised by his mother. During the recent interview, he suggested that such scrutiny was intended to imply dual loyalties.

Ted Goodman, communications director for the Michigan GOP, criticized El-Sayed's comparison, calling it a "false equivalence." Goodman stated that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Catholic Church are not analogous and that the evidence against El-Sayed is based on facts reported by news outlets, not his faith.

Goodman also pointed to El-Sayed's father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, whose documented involvement with the Islamic Society of North America and CAIR's Michigan chapter was reported by the Washington Free Beacon. The outlet also reported that Jukaku was a significant donor to a super PAC supporting El-Sayed. 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.

El-Sayed's campaign has previously rejected accusations involving his family, stating that independent fact-checkers have debunked claims and accusing opponents of using attacks on his faith and family in bad faith.