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By Emma Marsden
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Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers faced questions over his past apparent willingness to engage with the Muslim Brotherhood, as he continued to attack Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed over his alleged links to the movement ahead of Michigan’s November 3 election.
During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker challenged Rogers over President Donald Trump’s attacks on El-Sayed, questioned the evidence behind the allegations and confronted the Republican with his own comments from 2012 endorsing talks with some members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rogers did not directly answer several of Welker’s questions, instead focusing on allegations about El-Sayed’s political associations and arguing that the Muslim Brotherhood posed a threat to American interests.
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The exchange comes amid growing attacks on El-Sayed over the organization, with Trump also accusing the Democratic candidate of supporting the group. El-Sayed has denied having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and rejected suggestions that his background or religious beliefs raise questions about his loyalty to the United States.
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928. Some governments designate the organization or certain branches as terrorist groups, while others do not.
The U.S. government has designated several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. In January 2026, the U.S. designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the Lebanese branch as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. In March 2026, the Sudanese branch also received both designations.
Newsweek contacted El Sayed's campaign via email on Sunday for comment.
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Rogers Pressed Over Trump's Allegations
Welker opened the exchange by asking Rogers about Trump’s overnight attack on El-Sayed, in which the president described the Democratic candidate as a "Muslim Brotherhood jihadist" who "hates Jews and blacks and Americans." This is not the first time Trump has criticized El Sayed.
"As you know, there's no evidence to support any of those claims," Welker told Rogers before asking whether he agreed with the president’s remarks.
Rogers did not directly answer, instead alleging that El-Sayed had received financial support from groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
"There's a reason he is getting money from groups that support the Muslim Brotherhood, Money from groups that support Hamas and Hezbollah," Rogers said.
Welker pushed back, reminding Rogers that El-Sayed had denied having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and had publicly denounced the organization, including during a previous interview with her.
She also raised a 2012 letter signed by El-Sayed supporting Egyptians who had protested against former dictator Hosni Mubarak, arguing that support for the protesters should not be conflated with support for the Muslim Brotherhood as an organization.
The exchange then turned to Rogers’ own past comments about engaging with members of the group.
Rogers Confronted Over His Past Muslim Brotherhood Comments
Rogers appeared uncomfortable as Welker challenged him over the apparent contradiction between his attacks on El-Sayed over the Muslim Brotherhood and his own past comments expressing a willingness to engage with moderate members of the group.
Welker cited Rogers’ remarks from 2012, when he said: "Do I think there are moderate Muslim Brotherhood individuals we are going to have to reach out to and talk to? Yes but we are going to have to watch it carefully."
She asked whether Rogers was prepared to acknowledge that he had been willing at the time to engage with some moderate members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rogers did not immediately address the question, instead accusing Welker of twisting information to defend her own position. Welker responded that she did not have a position.
Rogers then explained his earlier remarks by referring to intelligence cooperation between Israel and Egypt, which he said the Muslim Brotherhood had sought to undermine.
"What happened was we had relationships where Israel and Egypt had relationships in their intelligence services that the Muslim Brotherhood was trying to undo, and what that would have meant is more violence in the region. So as chairman of the intelligence committee I said we're going to have to find a way to try to not sever that relationship, which they did by the way."
Rogers subsequently accused El-Sayed of misrepresenting his family connections and again suggested that Welker was attempting to defend the Democratic candidate.
Rogers Challenged Over Trump's Claims Against El Sayed
Welker later returned to Trump’s remarks, noting that the president had described El-Sayed as a violent jihadist despite what she said was a lack of evidence to support the allegation.
She also reiterated that El-Sayed had been directly asked whether he denounced the Muslim Brotherhood and had done so, before asking Rogers whether he agreed with Trump’s description of his opponent as a violent terrorist.
Rogers said he had never called El-Sayed a terrorist, shifting instead to criticism of the candidate’s political affiliations.
"This election is about me versus Abdul I mean he's a Democrat socialist of America aligned candidate who has these pretty radical support groups that don't like America," Rogers said.
He added that some Jewish Democrats, African Americans and other voters had told him they could not support El-Sayed because "this guy is too extreme for them."
Rogers’ comments came as he sought to frame the election as a choice between his own national security credentials and what he characterized as El-Sayed’s radical political associations.
The dispute has extended beyond the two candidates, with Trump also targeting El-Sayed. El-Sayed's supporters have criticized the attacks as attempts to portray his Muslim faith and background as grounds for suspicion.
The issue has become a prominent feature of the contest for Michigan’s Senate seat, with Republicans seeking to retain control of the chamber.
El-Sayed Responds With Campaign Ad
El-Sayed has used humor to push back against the attacks, releasing a campaign advertisement that mocks Rogers' relationship with Trump.
El-Sayed’s ad portrays Rogers as deferential to Trump and sycophantic in his efforts to align himself with the president.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Trevor Davies
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