Republican Mike Rogers is questioning Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s lack of public comment about his mother’s questioning by federal investigators more than two decades ago. The episode concerned an investigation of an Islamic charity where she worked. The dispute has become part of broader Republican criticism of El-Sayed’s views and reported family associations with the Muslim Brotherhood.
According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, federal agents raided the Missouri office of the Islamic American Relief Agency in 2004 and questioned El-Sayed’s mother, Fatten Elkomy, for about three hours. The charity was shut down by the federal government in 2008 in connection with alleged violations of sanctions and restrictions on terrorism-related financing. The allegations included funding for Islamic militants in Afghanistan and groups such as the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The source material says Elkomy was not charged in connection with the investigation. Fox News Digital reported that it found no evidence she facilitated transfers of funds to terrorist organizations. The Treasury Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for information about the government’s findings on IARA’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections or the reasons investigators questioned Elkomy.
Rogers, a former congressman, accused El-Sayed of misleading voters about his views and family associations. A Rogers campaign spokesperson also made broader claims about El-Sayed’s physician credentials, family life and policy costs. Those accusations were not independently substantiated in the supplied reporting. El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the story.
El-Sayed previously told Fox News he has never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and never will be. Fox News Digital said it was not aware of direct ties between El-Sayed and the organization. In an October interview with NBC’s Tom Llamas, El-Sayed said he had no ties and had not been raised by his mother. He said his parents separated when he was 3 and that he grew up in Michigan with his father and stepmother.
The scrutiny also involves social media posts by El-Sayed’s half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. In a 2012 post, she wrote that members of their family had long been Muslim Brotherhood members. In another post from 2013, she referred to family members who supported the group. Abdelhadi later wrote about her family’s fear of FBI surveillance in a 2016 article. El-Sayed called the tweets “not serious” in the NBC interview and criticized the questioning as relying on hearsay. The report says he has not addressed his half-sister’s statements in detail.
Other campaign controversies mentioned in the reporting involve El-Sayed’s appearances with Islamic leaders and left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. Former Democratic primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers on Sunday, citing concerns about El-Sayed’s approach to the safety of Michigan’s Jewish community and his campaign appearances with Piker. Stevens criticized El-Sayed for standing with Piker after Piker said, “America deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed declined to comment on the remark in an April interview with POLITICO and later disavowed it during an August appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Amy Mek, founder of the RAIR Foundation, told Fox News Digital she shared concerns about national security and El-Sayed’s silence. Mek said she viewed the silence as politically motivated. That is her assessment, not an established finding. The available reporting does not establish that El-Sayed or his mother had direct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or that Elkomy was involved in wrongdoing.
