Trump on Sunday called Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist without evidence. El-Sayed called questioning his loyalty shameful.
President Donald Trump on Sunday called Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist” and a Muslim Brotherhood member at a rally in Port Huron, making the allegations without evidence.
Trump said he was in Michigan to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator. He opened the rally by referring to El-Sayed as “Mohammed,” CNN reported. He said El-Sayed would be the only senator who would have to go through a metal detector to enter the Senate. He suggested that Christmas would be canceled if El-Sayed won and compared the race to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying Michigan needed to stand up and fight to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol. David Beamer, whose son Todd died on Flight 93, spoke at the rally. Some attendees shouted “traitor” when El-Sayed’s name was mentioned, Al Jazeera reported.
Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s opponent, attended the rally and appeared on stage with Trump. Rogers told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he has never called El-Sayed a terrorist. El-Sayed, who said before the rally that questioning his loyalty is shameful, has been the target of similar attacks from Trump and Vice President JD Vance at earlier rallies, including being called a communist and a “weasel,” the Michigan Advance reported.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, and Rogers, a former congressman, are in a dead heat for the state’s open Senate seat, which is seen as crucial to control of the Senate. If he wins, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. Republicans have not won a Senate race in Michigan since 1994. The election is Nov. 3. Gubernatorial candidate John James, a Republican, also appeared at the rally.
Information for this report was provided by CNN, NBC News, Al Jazeera, CNBC and the Michigan Advance.