President Donald Trump used the Muslim Brotherhood as a campaign attack in Michigan on October 25, calling Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member” during a rally, the Associated Press reported. Trump’s claim placed the transnational Islamist movement into a US election contest, but the article distinguished the accusation from verified evidence.
AP reported that there was no evidence El-Sayed had any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. It noted that Republicans had sought to connect him to the movement during the final weeks of the campaign. El-Sayed was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents and was raised by his father, AP reported. A half-sister’s old social media posts about her own family and the organization were among the material cited by political opponents; those posts do not establish that El-Sayed belonged to or supported the movement.
Campaign claims and documented record
The remarks followed earlier attacks from Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who questioned El-Sayed’s loyalty and repeated claims about the Brotherhood. El-Sayed rejected the framing as shameful, according to AP. The story also records criticism from Arab American leaders and Senator Bernie Sanders, who described the rhetoric as divisive. These are their attributed responses, not findings about the organization.
The distinction matters because “Muslim Brotherhood” refers to a movement with national branches, and legal designations vary by government and branch.AP’s reporting found no evidence of such a tie in El-Sayed’s case.
Why the episode matters
The campaign episode shows how a named organization can be invoked in domestic political messaging even when reporting does not substantiate a personal connection. The verifiable event is Trump’s public allegation and the political response it generated. No claim by the Brotherhood itself was reported in this account, and the story does not establish any organizational role in the campaign.
Read the Associated Press report for the remarks, campaign context and responses.