Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers accused the national press of shielding his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, during a tense exchange with CNN host Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday.
Bash repeatedly pressed Rogers to respond to President Donald Trump’s description of El-Sayed as a “jihadist.” Rogers said he has never personally called El-Sayed a terrorist, but argued there are legitimate concerns about El-Sayed’s ideology and his family’s alleged past support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
“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.”
When Bash began to interject, Rogers said reporters should be focused elsewhere. “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,” he said.
The two also disagreed over a viral clip in which El-Sayed was asked whether he disavows the Muslim Brotherhood following scrutiny of his family’s alleged ties to the group. Bash said El-Sayed had responded “Sure, yes.” Rogers disputed that characterization, saying the issue went beyond a single answer.
“No, that’s not true. Dana, listen —” Rogers said.
“I don’t want to debate with you,” Bash replied.
“I don’t know why the press is so eager for him to protect this guy,” Rogers said.
“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.
Background on the dispute
El-Sayed has faced renewed scrutiny after social media posts from his half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, surfaced suggesting their mother was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed’s campaign has denied the claims, calling Rogers’ accusations “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 campaign said in a statement.
A review of transcripts found that several national news organizations were initially slow to report the allegations, and when they did cover the story, coverage often focused on El-Sayed’s denial rather than the underlying claims.
Fox News Digital, which first reported on the CNN exchange, said it had reached out to both CNN and Rogers’ campaign for additional comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login