Trump faces backlash after invoking 9/11 in verbal assault on El-Sayed
The Democrat himself has hit back, as has Senator Bernie Sanders and a key Trump supporter from 2024.
Trump draws criticism after citing 9/11 in attack on El-Sayed
US President Donald Trump is under fire after bringing up 9/11 during a verbal attack on Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Michigan.
At a rally in the state on Sunday, Trump called El-Sayed "a jihadist". He also brought on as a guest speaker the father of a passenger who resisted the 9/11 hijackers.
Trump further said El-Sayed would "have to go through a metal detector before he's allowed to go into the Senate".
Critics denounced the remarks as Islamophobic. El-Sayed responded to Trump’s use of his middle name, Mohamed, by saying at a rally of his own: "I'll be Senator Mohamed to you, bro."
He added: "They think that by pointing at my name and my faith, that somehow you're going to ignore the fact that you can't afford your gas or your groceries, can't see a doctor."
Speaking with him, Senator Bernie Sanders said: "The reason they are using Islamophobia against Abdul is because they have nothing to say about the real issues."
El-Sayed is running against Republican candidate Mike Rogers on 3 November. The contest is expected to be among the tightest in the midterm elections and is turning especially bitter.
The seat is seen as one of only a few that could determine control of Congress. It is now held by the Democrats.
El-Sayed, a former public health official born in the US to Egyptian parents, would become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate if he wins.
He has repeatedly brushed aside attacks from both Trump and Rogers and denied any link to extremist groups.
In his remarks on Sunday, Trump said: "If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas."
Trump made several accusations against El-Sayed and members of his family, including claiming he was part of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He also introduced as a guest speaker the father of Todd Beamer, a Michigan man who was among the passengers who fought back against the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 before the plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania.
"Michigan needs to stand up and fight, just like Todd did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol," Trump said.
El-Sayed’s opponents have tried to connect him to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group founded in Egypt. Earlier this year, Trump designated some of its chapters as Foreign Terrorist Organisations.
Some of the attention on El-Sayed and his family’s affiliations stems from writings they produced more than a decade ago.
El-Sayed’s team has previously separated him from other remarks by Abdelhadi.
In that writing, he said he was concerned that "supporting democracy in Egypt might allow the country to fall to the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood".
A year later, he also allegedly signed an open letter from Egyptian Americans. In it, the group urged Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader, to "purge the media and police" after the authoritarian regime was overthrown in the Arab Spring. El-Sayed has not addressed this letter.
El-Sayed has long denied any connection to the Muslim Brotherhood and has emphasized his allegiance to the United States. When asked recently at a town hall whether he would renounce the organisation, he replied: "Absolutely."
Also in 2012, Rogers, now El-Sayed’s opponent and then a US representative and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, appeared to support careful engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood, telling Reuters: "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."
Among those condemning Trump’s remarks was one of his major supporters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
"The president's statements are out of line," Bishara Bahbah told the Associated Press. "They are crossing a red line. They are racist."
Bahbah founded Arab Americans for Trump, a group widely seen as helping the president reach a broader set of voters two years ago. The group later changed its name and dropped the Trump reference.
Trump won the White House in 2024 after victories in Michigan, which has a large Arab American population, and several other swing states.