El-Sayed spats with Baier over Muslim Brotherhood question: ‘Be a journalist’

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed pushed back at Fox News’s Bret Baier in an interview that aired on Friday evening over questions about his alleged ties to an Islamist political group.

After Baier began asking the candidate about accusations repeatedly made by his opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), that the Democrat has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Sayed cut him off.

“Let me just stop you right there,” the Democrat said. “You are asking this question to raise a question about whether or not I have dual loyalty.”

The journalist replied, “I’m not,” and returned to reading the campaign’s accusations.

El-Sayed interrupted him again and accused Baier of trying to take things “out of context” and asked him to “be a journalist.”

“As a journalist, if you’re asking about my allegiance to the constitution, I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood,” El-Sayed said.

“I’m interested in serving the United States,” he continued. “I’m interested in swearing an oath to the constitution that every senator has sworn an oath to.”

In an appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” after the interview with El-Sayed aired, Rogers repeated his claim that El-Sayed “has adopted the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

El-Sayed would be the first Muslim senator if he wins Michigan’s open Senate race. He has faced numerous attacks on the campaign trail about his family background and faith, including past comments made by his mother and half-sister.

Rogers and other Republicans have pointed to a 2012 open letter signed on to by the Michigan Democrat to then newly elected Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, whose political party represented the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing.

The letter’s signatories urged Morsi “to purge the media and police as quickly as possible.”

El-Sayed’s campaign has repeatedly denied that the Democrat has any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, and he has publicly disavowed the group.

President Trump notably designated Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations in the U.S.