Tuesday, during an appearance on FNC's "Hannity," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) commented on Michigan Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and his alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The post Cruz on El-Sayed: ‘It’s Not Complicated — He Hates Israel, He Hates Jews’ appeared first on Breitbart.
On Tuesday, during NewsNation’s special “John Stossel Confronts Socialism,” NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas said that Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has gone “a step further” than what socialism has mostly come to mean by advocating for government takeover
The post NewsNation’s Vargas: El-Sayed’s ‘a Step Further’ than Most Socialists appeared first on Breitbart.
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Abdul El-Sayed’s past support for Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Egypt is raising eyebrows in Congress after a former staffer for the left-wing Michigan Senate candidate says he's angling for a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if elected in November.
Two Republican panel members said there is no place on the committee for "radical views" held by El-Sayed, who has associated with controversial streamer Hasan Piker but has attempted during his bid for office to distance himself from the socialist arm of the Democratic Party.
"A man with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, who cheered their takeover of Egypt 15 years ago, and who campaigns with people saying America deserved 9/11, should not come anywhere near the U.S. Senate — and especially not the Foreign Relations Committee," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who serves on the power panel, told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., another member of the committee, responded to the controversy on X over the weekend.
TRUMP LINKS MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED TO MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: 'HE'S A CON MAN'
"El-Sayed says he’s running on affordability, so why does he want a seat on @SenateForeign?" McCormick wrote. "I sit on that committee, and someone with El-Sayed's radical views has no business on it."
McCormick’s post came in response to a report by The Midwesterner that featured comments from Jordan Domingue, who worked as El-Sayed’s security chief during his 2018 campaign for Michigan governor.
"It is extremely difficult to comprehend how dangerous this can be if he is elected," Domingue wrote on X. "It’s especially troubling knowing that despite no foreign policy experience, he REALLY wants a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
In 2011, while working as an assistant professor at Columbia University, El-Sayed wrote an op-ed for The Huffington Post urging the Obama administration to support protesters associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed argued that supporting the protesters was in the U.S. interest and wrote that even if the Muslim Brotherhood overthrew Egypt’s government, the resulting state would not necessarily resemble Iran.
"It is in America’s interest to support Egyptian protesters’ efforts to achieve the ability to speak their mind and have a say in how they are governed," El-Sayed wrote . "If the U.S. truly wants to be the beacon of justice and liberty that it claims it does, it would behoove the Obama administration to fall decisively behind the protesters in Egypt."
In a recent town hall, however, El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrant parents, said he does disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. His campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request about his 2011 op-ed about protesters.
The Muslim Brotherhood-backed government took power in Egypt in 2012 but was ousted by the military in 2013.
'POD SAVE AMERICA' HOSTS WARN EL-SAYED TO TONE DOWN 'CONDESCENSION' ON MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD QUESTIONS
El-Sayed has throughout his campaign emphasized healthcare, lowering gas and grocery prices and addressing the cost-of-living crisis, as noted by McCormick in his post about the candidate's reported interest in the Foreign Relations Committee.
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"It shouldn’t be this hard to get by in the richest, most powerful country in the world," El-Sayed said during his primary campaign against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
McCormick wonders why, given that context, El-Sayed would be gunning for a spot on a committee that deals solely with issues related to U.S. foreign relations.
At a town hall in Midland, Michigan, on Saturday, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) said the 2nd Amendment boils down to protecting "equal rights to a musket."
The post Democrat Abdul El-Sayed: Second Amendment Protects ‘Equal Rights to a Musket’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Former Obama staffers who host the "Pod Save America" podcast debated Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s handling of a recent question about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
While Tommy Vietor and his co-hosts sympathized with El-Sayed over questions they considered "bigoted," Jon Favreau warned that El-Sayed must keep in mind that he is speaking not just to the questioner, but also to voters who may be concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood itself.
Concerns about alleged ties between El-Sayed's family and the Muslim Brotherhood emerged after the Washington Free Beacon reported on social media posts in which El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, described her family's history with the organization, including her and El-Sayed's mother.
At an October 17 town hall, El-Sayed bristled when an audience member asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. After disavowing the organization, El-Sayed turned the scrutiny back on the audience member, saying, "You’re asking the question because, implicitly, you assume that I’ll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that I wouldn’t disavow, or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution, correct? Tommy, is that what you imply?"
'THE VIEW' CO-HOSTS DEFEND EL-SAYED COMPARING HIMSELF TO JFK OVER MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SCRUTINY
Favreau criticized Republican attempts to tie El-Sayed to the organization through his family connections, but argued that the GOP was using the issue to sway voters.
"It's somewhat smarter for them to throw out the Muslim Brotherhood thing because it's like, ‘This is a new piece of information that people might have no idea what the Muslim Brotherhood is,’" he said, appearing to frame the tactical mindset of Republican operatives. "'Sounds pretty scary, doesn't it? Terrorist organization. Maybe you don't know the history of the Muslim Brotherhood. Maybe it's got foreign ties to Egypt and he, you know, his family, his family's from Egypt.'"
"So, to respond to that, as bulls--- as it is, and of course, he like knocked it down. But you've got to forget about the a--hole asking you the question," Favreau continued. "You've got to give the answer as if someone who might have a question about a Muslim Brotherhood tie is not necessarily like totally Islamophobic and like that kid or like Trump or like Mike Rogers, but like might have a question, and you don't want — and you don't want to condescend to that person or be like, ‘No, you're an a--hole for asking.’ Right?"
"And I'm not saying he did," he added. "I thought it was a good — I thought he could have used like 20% less condescension in the answer."
Vietor agreed that El-Sayed’s tone could have been better, and replied, "There’s a slightly more empathetic version of that."
Fellow co-host Jon Lovett said, "Stop fighting with that guy and speak to the people that are not."
Favreau recalled his experience working for former President Barack Obama and said that, regardless of whether a characterization of a candidate's statements is fair, candidates and public officials have to be careful about rhetoric and tone when speaking to voters.
"You can say this from the cheap seats, because I am sure when you are Abdul, and you're going around doing this and there are people who are f---ing just calling into question your loyalty to your country that you love, it must f---ing infuriate you," Favreau said. "And it's not fair that what he has to do in response is to eat s--- and just give a nice answer with a smile."
"But like we were there when Barack Obama had to do it, and you know Zohran Mamdani had to do it and like, unfortunately, there's a double standard, and it's unfair, but you still have to do it to win an election anyway and it f---ing sucks," he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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Jesse Arm, vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute and a former pollster who has followed the Michigan Senate race, suggested El-Sayed's confrontational demeanor may be a key reason he is not doing as well against his Republican opponent as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee is doing in her race in Michigan.
"The ‘Pod Save America’ guys are partisan hacks who bend over backward to excuse El-Sayed’s radicalism and dismiss legitimate scrutiny as bigotry. But even they recognize that his nastiness and condescension are deeply off-putting," Arm told Fox News Digital.
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"And if even his most sympathetic defenders can see it, imagine how he comes across to ordinary Michigan voters," he added. "This is a big part of the reason he’s poised to dramatically underperform the state’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee."
Investor Bill Ackman called the Democratic Party "crazy, radicalized and anti-American" during an interview on Tuesday, arguing that the party is "in a very bad place."
"I think the Democratic Party is in the worst place it's ever been, in the 250-year history of the country," Ackman told Katie Miller, host of the "Katie Miller Podcast." "I think it's become like this crazy, radicalized, you know, anti-American thing. I think it's — and by the way, I think there's some very high-quality Democrats, you know, senators and, sure, some congressmen — but the party itself, I think, is in a very bad place."
Ackman specifically named Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as someone he used to be friendly with but now believes has "compromised" on his values.
FORMER BERNIE SANDERS OPERATIVE WARNS RADICAL LEFT HAS 'OVERTAKEN' THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY FROM WITHIN
"And I think the problem with people who've chosen to be a politician for a career, you either have to get with the party in order to continue, or you get primaries," Ackman said. "You know, actually, Senator Schumer, I had a good relationship with him over the years. I thought he was a good man. But in recent years, I felt he's just trying to keep his job."
"And, you know, that's the really low point for politicians when they'll compromise on their values, and they'll support, you know, a quasi-terrorist, perhaps running for Senate in Michigan, because they have to for the party," Ackman said. "Stuff like that to me is, or terrorist supporter, is not, that's, I find that pretty, deeply concerning."
Schumer's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
"Chuck Schumer has been in Washington long enough to know exactly what’s happening to his party. The question isn’t whether he sees it. It’s whether he’s willing to do anything about it," Y. David Scharf, chair of Morrison Cohen’s government strategies and controversies practice, told Fox News Digital of Ackman's remarks.
"There’s something remarkable about watching one of the most powerful Jewish Democrats in America struggle to stand up to the very people in his party who are alienating Jewish voters," he continued. "Bill Ackman isn’t asking Schumer to become a Republican. He’s asking him to act like the Democrat he spent decades telling us he was."
EX-DSA MEMBER RIPS ABDUL EL-SAYED AND WARNS FAR-LEFT ADOPTING POLITICS OF FOREIGN TERROR ORG
Ackman appeared to reference Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has faced questions over his family's alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The controversy followed a Washington Free Beacon report about social media posts 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," she posted to X.
El-Sayed has denied any family connections to the group. During a recent interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," El-Sayed rejected the assertions when asked to set the record straight.
"I have no ties; we have no ties," El-Sayed said.
During a town hall on Saturday, El-Sayed responded to a man identified as Tommy, asking him whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
"Sure," El-Sayed said. "Yeah, absolutely. But I want to ask the question that you're asking: Why are you asking the question?"
Ackman has also previously voiced his opposition to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, criticizing his policies as harmful to the city.
"I'm not a fan," he responded. "He's very smart, very charismatic, very good at politics, but I think the decisions he's making are very bad for New York."
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When asked if he'd consider running for mayor, Ackman responded, "I would say possibly, but I think I could achieve a lot more by helping a very talented person do that job."
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