El-Sayed tangles with Bret Baier in testy round: ‘just stop’

THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly interrupted Fox News anchor Bret Baier when confronted about a 2012 letter urging Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president to purge the media and police.
El-Sayed accused Baier of doing Republican opponent Mike Rogers’ bidding, telling him, “Don’t be Rogers’ campaign. Be a journalist.”
The confrontation came amid renewed scrutiny of the letter, including reporting that several fellow signatories subsequently contributed to El-Sayed’s political campaigns.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appeared on Fox News Friday to discuss his campaign. But when Bret Baier brought up a 2012 letter calling on Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president to purge the media and police, the interview suddenly became a contest over who could finish a sentence.

Spoiler alert: Bret had some difficulty getting one out.

El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee facing Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race, repeatedly interrupted the Special Report anchor as Baier attempted to question him about his signature on a controversial letter addressed to former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

“No, no, no. Let me just stop there,” El-Sayed interjected, accusing the host of raising questions about his loyalty to the United States.

Abdul El-Sayed’s interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier got feisty over a question about El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood.

El-Sayed would not let Baier ask the question at the start, but eventually, he responded, “I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood,” and he was “interested in swearing an oath to the constitution.”

— Nick (@nspin310) October 23, 2026

Baier insisted he was asking about specific allegations raised by the Rogers campaign.

El-Sayed responded that his loyalty would be to the Constitution, adding that he would take the same oath required of every United States senator.

But Baier was attempting to get at something considerably more specific.

In November 2012, El-Sayed was among 46 Egyptian-American community leaders who signed a statement supporting Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician then governing Egypt.

The letter called for Morsi to “purge the media and the police as quickly as possible” of supporters of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.

That’s quite a sentence to have attached to your name when you’re running for the United States Senate and being interviewed by a journalist.

The letter, originally published in Arabic by Egypt’s Al-Ahram Gate, surfaced in reporting by the Washington Free Beacon in September. Its publication followed Morsi’s move to claim sweeping presidential powers, a decision that triggered protests and intensified concerns about his increasingly authoritarian government.

As Baier attempted to discuss the document, El-Sayed grew increasingly combative.

He insisted the anchor was taking the 2012 statement out of context and accused him of pursuing a political attack rather than conducting a legitimate interview.

“Don’t be Rogers’ campaign,” El-Sayed demanded.

“I’m asking a question,” Baier replied.

“Be a journalist,” El-Sayed shot back.

“I am,” Baier answered.

The candidate then offered an unequivocal denial of membership in the organization.

“I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I never will be,” El-Sayed declared.

He also accused Rogers of attempting to turn his Muslim faith into a campaign issue, calling the line of attack beneath both Rogers and President Donald Trump.

Rogers, meanwhile, has argued that the controversy concerns El-Sayed’s past political statements and associations, rather than his religion.

And the story has developed beyond the letter itself.

On Thursday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that six other men who signed the 2012 statement had contributed at least $25,850 collectively to El-Sayed’s political campaigns, including his current Senate bid and previous gubernatorial campaign.

The report examined campaign-finance records and identified contributors who had joined El-Sayed in endorsing the statement.

That gives the controversy another dimension beyond a 14-year-old document: some of the people who signed alongside him have also provided financial support for his political ambitions.

Friday’s interview wasn’t limited to the Muslim Brotherhood controversy.

Baier also challenged El-Sayed over his support for Medicare-for-All, pressing him on whether Michigan workers with union-negotiated private health insurance would lose their coverage under his proposal.

El-Sayed insisted he supported guaranteed public insurance while allowing people who wanted private plans to keep them. Baier questioned how that position squared with the candidate’s earlier remarks.

But the temperature really rose when the subject turned to the 2012 letter.

El-Sayed gave an emphatic defense of his allegiance to the Constitution and denied membership in the Muslim Brotherhood. The specific question about why he signed a letter advocating a purge of Egypt’s media and police, however, remained largely unexplored when Baier moved to another subject.

With Michigan voters heading to the polls November 3, that document — and the candidate’s televised reaction to questions about it — have become another flashpoint in the Senate contest.