Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing fresh criticism from Republicans over federal investigators’ questioning of his mother more than 20 years ago. The questioning was part of an investigation into an Islamic charity where she worked.
His Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, says El-Sayed has misrepresented his views on the Muslim Brotherhood. Rogers has pointed to reported connections involving members of El-Sayed’s family.
El-Sayed has said he has never belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood and never will. No direct connection between him and the organization has been established. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
A Rogers spokesperson accused El-Sayed of misleading voters about his medical credentials, family and the cost of his policy proposals, and urged him to be truthful.
El-Sayed has not publicly discussed the specifics of his mother’s interview with federal agents or the search of the charity’s offices since reports about the episode resurfaced last month.
Federal authorities searched the Missouri office of the Islamic American Relief Agency in 2004. El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Elkomy, worked there, and a local newspaper reported that agents questioned her for about three hours.
The federal government shut down the charity in 2008 over alleged violations of sanctions and restrictions on terrorism-related financing. The allegations included claims that money had been directed to Islamic militants in Afghanistan and groups such as the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Elkomy was not charged in the investigation, according to published reports. No evidence has emerged that she arranged transfers of money to terrorist organizations. The Treasury Department did not respond to questions about the charity’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections or why investigators questioned Elkomy.
On the campaign trail, El-Sayed has sought to separate himself from his mother’s reported political associations, noting that she did not raise him. His parents divorced when he was three, and he grew up in Michigan with his father and stepmother.
“I have no ties. We have no ties,” El-Sayed said in an October interview. He added that he had never discussed the matter with his mother and was not raised by her.
Criticism has also focused on El-Sayed’s campaign events and fundraisers with Islamic leaders, some of whom have been reported to have Muslim Brotherhood ties or accused of antisemitic or hateful remarks. His appearances with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker have also drawn scrutiny.
Former Democratic primary rival Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday, raising concerns about El-Sayed’s approach to protecting Michigan’s Jewish community and his repeated appearances with Piker. Piker has previously said that “America deserved 9/11.”
Stevens said she objected to a Democratic Senate nominee campaigning alongside someone who had made that statement. El-Sayed declined to comment on Piker’s remarks in an April interview, but later distanced himself from them during an August television appearance.
Amy Mek, who leads the RAIR Foundation, said El-Sayed’s silence about his mother’s questioning raised national-security concerns. Mek, who has testified to Congress about terrorism-related threats, suggested his silence may reflect political calculations.
Mek also cited social media posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. In 2012, Abdelhadi wrote that members of their family had “long been” part of the Muslim Brotherhood. In another post the following year, she said she was “praying for all my family that supports the #MB.”
Abdelhadi later described her family’s fear of FBI surveillance in a 2016 article. El-Sayed has not addressed her posts in detail. In an interview, he called them “not serious” and criticized the interviewer for relying on a tweet as evidence when asking about alleged family connections.
