How Laura Loomer and Trump allies amplified ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ lie dogging Abdul El-Sayed

Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is being painted by Republicans as a Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer, but the Guardian's review finds the charge rests on a misreading of a 2012 Arabic-language letter. Its text never names the group. As a Columbia medical student, El-Sayed was one of several prominent Egyptian Americans who urged Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's newly elected president, to protect the country's young democracy by clearing police and state media of officials loyal to the old regime, according to Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy.

Trump adviser Laura Loomer first recast the letter as a pledge of allegiance to the Brotherhood after El-Sayed entered politics in 2018. Opponent Mike Rogers adopted the line in August and built his closing television ad around it, calling El-Sayed a supporter of terrorists. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Robert F Kennedy Jr have echoed it. Yet the Brotherhood has no armed wing and is absent from the State Department's terrorist designations. In 2012, Rogers, then chairing the House intelligence committee, told Reuters that engaging moderate members would be necessary.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →