Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly interrupted Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday as Baier tried to question the Michigan Senate candidate about the Muslim Brotherhood.
During an interview on “Special Report,” the polarizing Democrat became visibly defensive as Baier pressed him about a 2012 letter to the leader of the extremist group in Egypt that El-Sayed had signed.
“Bret, Bret … no, no, no … let me just stop there,” El-Sayed said, cutting off Baier before the host could finish his question.
“You are asking this question to raise the question about whether or not I have dual loyalty,” El-Sayed said, assuming Baier’s intent.
Baier pushed back. “I’m not, this is specific,” he replied.
“My loyalty will be to the Constitution of the United States, and as every senator who’s ever served, I will swear an oath to that Constitution,” El-Sayed said, interrupting the host again.
Baier tried once more to ask about the letter, but El-Sayed again spoke over him.
“I’m not interested in anything you’re going to pull out from a 2012 statement, a letter, you’re going to pull that out of context, you’re going to ask questions about my allegiance,” El-Sayed said.
“Don’t be Rogers’ campaign. Be a journalist,” El-Sayed snapped.
“So as a journalist,” he told Baier, “if you’re asking the question 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. I am interested in serving the United States. I’m interested in swearing an oath to the Constitution that every senator has sworn oath to.”
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The 2012 letter was signed by El-Sayed and more than 30 other people. It urged Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s newly installed president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader, to “purge” the country’s media and police, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon last month.
The letter was published by the Egyptian news website Al-Ahram Gate and was followed by a harsh government crackdown on journalists under Morsi.
In a separate interview with Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, the former congressman argued that El-Sayed had failed to “disavow” the Muslim Brotherhood during his contentious exchange with Baier.
“He’s been dancing around this issue for a while,” Rogers said.
“When you support an organization and say you’re going to purge the press and purge the police, not to say it, encourage them to do it … he has adopted the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Rogers argued.
The Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a terrorist organization by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but it does not have that designation in the United States.
The group remains controversial, in part because of radical offshoots such as Hamas.
El-Sayed’s parents were Egyptian immigrants, and his half-sister highlighted the family’s ties to the Brotherhood in resurfaced 2012 tweets.
El-Sayed has accused Rogers of turning his Muslim faith into a campaign issue, an allegation Rogers has denied.
“It is not how he prays; it’s how he thinks,” Rogers told Baier.
