Ted Cruz Says Abdul El-Sayed Lied to Kristen Welker on Muslim Brotherhood Ties
El-Sayed has called the main piece of evidence, his half-sister's 2012 posts, "hearsay" from a tweet, and Michigan's Senate race is within four points.
Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, said Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed lied on NBC's Meet the Press when he denied that he or his family has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Cruz also called Kristen Welker's interview with him "one of the greatest acts of journalistic malpractice I think we have ever seen."
"So understand, number one, what Abdul El-Sayed did right there is a lie. It is a flat out provable lie," Cruz said on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz. The episode first aired after the October 11 interview and was rebroadcast on Wednesday, as Cruz campaigned in Michigan with Republican nominee Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed denies any connection to the group. His campaign has called the attacks "bad faith attacks on Abdul's faith and family."
What Abdul El-Sayed Told Kristen Welker
Welker asked a compound question: "Can you set the record straight about whether you or your family have any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?"
"No, but let's talk about this," El-Sayed answered. Welker followed up, "No, you don't have any ties and your family doesn't," and he again said no.
Cruz's co-host, Ben Ferguson, said Welker should have confronted El-Sayed with the reporting: "notice how Kristen Welker just said, do you have it? And he says no, and she's like, okay, I've done my job."
Cruz said that "Tim Russert has got to be spinning in his grave." Russert moderated Meet the Press from 1991 until his death in 2008.
The Evidence Cruz Cites
Cruz's main exhibit was a set of posts by El-Sayed's maternal half-sister, an academic at the University of Chicago. In a June 24, 2012, post first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, she wrote, "My family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively." Cruz also read out a July 2013 post he attributed to her.
Cruz then turned to El-Sayed's own record. He said a January 2011 HuffPost op-ed was "a robust defense" of the Brotherhood, adding: "Now, mind you, the protesters were the Muslim brotherhood." The label is Cruz's. The op-ed, titled "Why the U.S. Should Support the Protesters in Egypt," urged backing for the movement against Hosni Mubarak. It argued that comparing a possible Brotherhood government to Iran or Hamas was misleading.
His third exhibit was a November 25, 2012, Arabic-language statement on Al-Ahram Gate. In it, 46 Egyptian American "community leaders" backed Mohamed Morsi's new decrees and called on him "to purge the media and the police as quickly as possible." A "Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Sayed" of New York is listed 33rd. The campaign declined to answer questions about the letter.
How the Record Lines Up
| Cruz's claim | Source he cites | What the record shows | El-Sayed's response |
|---|---|---|---|
| His family "has long been Muslim Brotherhood" | Half-sister's 2012–13 posts | A 2012 post reads "My family has long been MB" | Called it "hearsay evidence from a tweet" |
| He wrote in defense of the Brotherhood | 2011 HuffPost op-ed | The op-ed backs Egypt's protesters and calls Iran and Hamas comparisons misleading | Denies any Brotherhood ties |
| He urged Morsi to "purge" media and police | 2012 Al-Ahram Gate letter | Signatory No. 33 is "Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Sayed" of New York | Campaign declined to comment on the letter |
| His denial to Welker was a lie | Meet the Press, Oct. 11 | He answered "No" to a question covering himself and his family | Calls the claims "bad faith attacks" |
The claims have not gone away since the episode first aired. On October 14, NBC's Tom Llamas asked El-Sayed about his half-sister's posts. "Like, you're using hearsay evidence from a tweet. This is not serious," he replied, adding, "I have never had these conversations with my mother."
Cruz also cited donations from El-Sayed's father-in-law and ties to Muslim groups. He argued that a Senator El-Sayed could reach classified material because "There is no separate security clearance for a Senator." Those are Cruz's arguments. El-Sayed's campaign has described him as "a dad and a doctor" who has spent his career keeping Michiganders healthy and safe, according to the Daily Wire.
Michigan Senate Polling
"The polls coming out of Michigan show the race roughly tied," Cruz said. PolitiKool's polling average gives El-Sayed 48.4 percent to Rogers' 45.1 percent, a 3.3-point lead. Rogers has faced his own questions on the subject: he sidestepped Welker on his 2012 remarks about reaching out to "moderate" Brotherhood members.
Michigan is one of several races that will decide a Senate that PolitiKool's polling average rates a toss-up. Cruz named El-Sayed and James Talarico, the Texas Democrat, as "the two most dangerous candidates running in the country today."
"What I pray is that at a minimum, Abdul El-Sayed is not elected to the Senate," Cruz said. Election Day is Tuesday.
Sources
- Abdul El-Sayed's family 'has long been' in Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, sister said in unearthed posts — Text and date of the half-sister's 2012 post; El-Sayed's repeated 'No' on Meet the Press
- Why the U.S. Should Support the Protesters in Egypt (HuffPost, Jan. 30, 2011) — Primary text of the op-ed Cruz describes as a defense of the Brotherhood
- Abdul El-Sayed called on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to purge the media and police — Content, date and signatory position of the November 2012 Al-Ahram Gate statement
2 more sources
- 'Hearsay': Abdul El-Sayed Dismisses Sister's Claims — El-Sayed's Oct. 14 response to NBC's Tom Llamas
- Michigan's El-Sayed denies family ties to Muslim Brotherhood; his sister's posts don't — El-Sayed campaign spokesman's statement