President Donald Trump repeatedly called Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Michigan, a “jihadist” who should not be allowed in the halls of Congress unless he goes through metal detectors.
“I’m here to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator,” Trump said at a rally Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan — adding later that El-Sayed should not earn the Senate seat because “anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane.”
If El-Sayed wins the Nov. 3 election against Republican Mike Rogers, he would be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate. Trump and his allies have repeatedly linked El-Sayed, without any evidence, to radical militant Islamic ideology while casting Rogers as “apple pie” and “perfect” for the state. El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan, has denounced the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rogers appeared to distance himself from Trump’s previous comments in an interview earlier Sunday after a back and forth with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”
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“I’ve never called him a terrorist,” Rogers said after Welker asked if he agreed with Trump’s comments calling El-Sayed a “violent terrorist.”
Trump’s Michigan rally comes the day after former President Barack Obama campaigned alongside El-Sayed to shore up last-minute support for the Democrat ahead of the midterms.
El-Sayed responded to the rhetoric from Trump and other Republicans during a campaign rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Sunday night, but the Michigan Democrat largely focused his remarks on the economic pressure Americans are currently facing.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance, their whole campaign, Mike Rogers’ whole campaign, is to point at me and my name and my faith. But my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas. My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your groceries. My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t see a doctor,” El-Sayed said.
Sanders echoed El-Sayed’s remarks that centered the economy, but the Vermont senator strongly denounced the president’s comments.
“The reason that they are using Islamophobia against Abdul is because they have nothing to say about the real issues facing working people,” Sanders said. “Mr. President, instead of slandering Abdul and his family, what are you going to do about the health care crisis in America?”
El-Sayed has explicitly pushed back on any attempts to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group founded in Egypt in 1928 which has been seen as a precursor to some prominent fundamentalist Islamic groups.
During the rally, Trump demanded that El-Sayed, if elected, go through security measures before entering the Capitol similar to those required by TSA at U.S. airports.
“He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate. I want him to have a metal detector,” Trump said. “If Abdul gets to the Senate, he would have access to our nation’s most closely guarded national security secrets, and his vote would wield power over our military, our borders, our homeland security, and much more than that.”
Trump spoke alongside David Beamer, whose son Todd Beamer died on United Airlines Flight 93 during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks after he and fellow passengers foiled part of the terror plot and forced the aircraft into the ground.
David Beamer, like Trump, made several comments attempting to tie El-Sayed and left-leaning Democrats to support to terrorism.
“What’s different this time is the enemy has not come from abroad,” Beamer said. “The enemy is right here among us, local terrorists, local citizens that want to demolish our country. They call themselves Democratic Socialists of America.”
El-Sayed has denied having any connection to DSA, telling The Wall Street Journal earlier this year that he is “not technically or practically” a part of the political group.
This story has been updated with comments from El-Sayed and Sanders.
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