Personal attacks are nothing new in politics, but Michigan’s U.S. Senate race has added a new wrinkle: accusing a candidate’s mother of supporting terrorism.
In a debate earlier this month in Grand Rapids, Republican Mike Rogers accused Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s birth mother of working for an organization that helped al-Qaida.
The allegations follow a pattern for Rogers. He’s accused El-Sayed and his family of being linked to Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood, but has not provided evidence.
The Republican former congressman denies it has anything to do with the former Detroit and Wayne County health director being a Muslim.
“It’s not about the way he prays,” Rogers said. “It’s about the way he thinks.”
Do Rogers’ allegations withstand scrutiny? No.
No Ties to al-Qaida
El-Sayed’s parents divorced when he was 3 years old. The Democrat was largely raised in Rochester, Michigan, by his father and stepmother.
The accusation by Republican Mike Rogers is that Abdul El-Sayed’s birth mother, Fatten Elkomy, helped funnel money to a host of terrorist groups while working for a charity in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Elkomy worked as a nurse in a Kenyan orphanage for the humanitarian aid organization Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA-USA) based in Missouri.
It was an offshoot of the Islamic African Relief Agency based in Sudan. Leaders of the latter group – who were also board members of IARA-USA – were later convicted of violating sanctions by funneling money to Iraq through someone thought to be a terrorist.
When that happened, IARA-USA had its assets frozen and aid stopped.
Detroit-based attorney Shereef Akeel worked on behalf of IARA-USA and others like them. He said for the cases he handled, there weren’t direct ties to terrorism.
“I saw violations of tax filings, violations of where aid was distributed in violation of some sanction, like blankets or things of that nature,” Akeel said.
The impact of the frozen assets was devastating for the kids in Kenya. Many children wrote letters to the court explaining how their families could no longer afford schooling and had to go back to scavenging for food.
After several years, the organization ultimately pleaded guilty to violating sanctions on Iraq, transferred its remaining assets to another charity and dissolved.
“Eventually, through this whole process, the funds were unfrozen, and they ended up being … transferred to a humanitarian organization in Africa,” Akeel said.
However, by then IARA-USA had been disbanded.
Barbara McQuade is a University of Michigan Law professor and a former U.S. Attorney. She prosecuted cases similar to the one involving IARA.
She said financial crimes are often easiest to prove because of documentation.
“If you can instead put together a case that's clean on paper because of some financial transaction that is prohibited, whether it's a tax charge or financial support that violates sanctions – that certainly can dismantle a terrorist pipeline of money,” McQuade said.
It should be noted that El-Sayed’s birth mother does not appear in any indictment surrounding this case.
McQuade said it’s unlikely Elkomy, in her role as a nurse, would have known what was happening in a different organization in a different country.
“Just because you work for a particular charity – I don't know, hypothetically the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, some organization that's doing great work overseas – if you've got some corrupt members at the highest level, it certainly is not an indictment or guilt by association of everybody who works in the organization,” McQuade said.
One of IARA-USA’s biggest champions was Republican former Congressman Mark Siljander of southwest Michigan. He worked as a lobbyist for the charity in the mid-2000s, but later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and failing to register as a foreign agent.
Siljander spent one year and one day in prison.
The judge in his case said “this is not a case about somebody aiding a terrorist.”
In 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned Siljander.
No Ties to Muslim Brotherhood
There have also been efforts by Mike Rogers and conservative media to link Elkomy – and El-Sayed – to the Muslim Brotherhood while she was living in Egypt in the 1970s.
That mostly comes from three social media posts made by El-Sayed’s half-sister in 2012 and 2013.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s, and helped the rise of former Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi following the pro-democracy Arab Spring movement in 2011.
The U.S. Department of Treasury designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization earlier this year.
El-Sayed has repeatedly stated his family has no ties to the group.
“To the best of my knowledge, nobody in my family's been a member of this organization. It's, like, an insane thing to assume,” El-Sayed said.
And yet questions persist.
At a recent El-Sayed campaign stop in Caro the Democrat was again asked to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood by an audience member named Tommy.
El-Sayed did, but the video went viral, because Tommy continuously stopped short of saying why he’s asking the candidate the question.
The whole exchange felt a bit manufactured.
It was.
Independent journalist Marisa Kabas of The Handbasket was the first to report that Tommy Teepell isn’t from Michigan, is the son of a well-known Republican operative, and was working for U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, earlier this year.
Why Link to Terrorism? Fear.
Midterm elections are generally good for the political party not in power.
Democrats have an edge in enthusiasm.
Republican former Congressman Mike Bishop of Michigan served on the Homeland Security subcommittee and said the GOP was looking for an answer to Democrats’ momentum.
“I think there is an enthusiasm gap, and that happens when you've got a president at his midterms,” Bishop said.
Bishop doesn’t think Rogers’ efforts are Islamophobic, but admits something needed to be done to fire up the Republican base.
“I think there is fear and anger out there, and there are folks out there that are stoking that furnace,” Bishop said.
With the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel and President Donald Trump’s approval ratings at all-time lows, Democrats are feeling confident. But fear and anger could still propel Rogers to victory – or they might leave him short in the Senate race.
