In a junkyard dog-like debate on Thursday night in Michigan, US Senate candidates Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (D) and Mike Rogers (R) tore into each other repeatedly, with Rogers saying everything but the “T(errorist)” word, dragging El-Sayed’s birth mom into the argument.
During a portion of the debate centered on Flock Safety cameras, Mike Rogers, a former FBI agent and Congressman, said that Flock cameras could be useful in the capture of terrorists.
“Why would that bother you?” Rogers mused aloud. “Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on the, on the watch list …”
El-Sayed, of Egyptian descent and poised to become the first Muslim senator, responded, “Are you going to go ahead and say I’m a, I’m a – go ahead and say it – you’ve been tiptoeing around it the whole time,” El-Sayed interrupted. “Just say it. Say it. Go ahead and say it.”
“Let’s do this, let’s open up this can of worms,” Rogers replied. “I’ll tell you what my mother did, she was a small…”
“Are you going after my mom?”
“I’m not going after your mom.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“What your mom was working at, I was going after that organization — that was indicted for funneling money to Al-Qaida. That’s your mom. My mom worked at a local chamber of commerce,” Rogers said.
The fact check:
El-Sayed was raised in metro Detroit by his Egyptian-born father and Michigan-born stepmother, after his parents divorced when he was young.
His birth mother, Fatten Elkomy, who worked at an Islamic relief agency for orphaned children, was accused by conservative shithole The Midwesterner of financially supporting Osama bin Laden, Hamas, and the Taliban through the agency.
According to Snopes:
The Islamic African Relief Agency (IARA) was deemed a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization in 2004 by the US Treasury.
While the Department of Justice convicted several of IARA-USA’s former officers for engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Iraq, no charges of terrorism or knowingly supporting terrorism were ever brought against IARA-USA or its officers.