Abdul El-Sayed’s denial of family Muslim Brotherhood ties challenged after sister’s resurfaced posts claim connection

During his October 11 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, moderator Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed to address allegations about his family’s connections to the group.

“No,” El-Sayed answered.

“No, you don't have any ties, and your family doesn't?” Welker followed up.

“No,” he repeated. El-Sayed also suggested that Republican opponent Mike Rogers was using the allegations to attack his Muslim faith.

The denial drew renewed attention to older social media posts attributed to Eman Abdelhadi, El-Sayed’s half-sister and a University of Chicago professor.

In a 2012 post, Abdelhadi wrote: “Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect.”

Another post from that year stated: “My family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively.”

In 2013, she wrote: “Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.”

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported that he asked El-Sayed’s campaign whether it denied that the posts came from his sister and what explanation it had given the candidate’s statements on Meet the Press.

Campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner responded: “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 did not address whether Abdelhadi wrote the posts or explain how their descriptions of family involvement aligned with El-Sayed’s denial.

Melugin separately reported that the campaign said on background that claims El-Sayed and his family were part of the Muslim Brotherhood were as “racist” and “untrue.”

The controversy follows earlier reporting about the organizations associated with El-Sayed’s mother and father-in-law.

His mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, or IARA-USA, from 1999 through at least 2004, according to The Midwesterner. A federal trial exhibit list referenced her in connection with wire-transfer documents and recorded calls. On October 13, 2004, the US Treasury Department sanctioned IARA’s worldwide network and five senior officials. The Treasury Dept said the network’s international offices provided financial support to Osama bin Laden and that its overseas branches supplied him with hundreds of thousands of dollars in 1999. The department also described cooperation with the al-Qaeda precursor Maktab al-Khidamat, assistance to Taliban fighters, and financial support for Hamas and Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya.

El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, has held leadership positions in two organizations whose historical connections were examined in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case. The Washington Free Beacon reported in July that Jukaku served on the Islamic Society of North America’s founders committee since at least 2007 and was president of the Michigan chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Michigan) from 2005 to 2010. CAIR was listed by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terror-financing case in US history. The outlet reported that he remained on CAIR-Michigan’s board and had contributed $200,000 to Fighting for Michigan PAC, which supported El-Sayed’s candidacy.

In a July 2009 court order, a federal judge found sufficient evidence associating , ISNA, and the North American Islamic Trust with Hamas and the Holy Land Foundation. The order discussed internal Muslim Brotherhood documents identifying ISNA among the movement’s organizations or allied organizations.