Several legacy news organizations largely avoided [1] allegations involving the family of Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, even after social media posts from his half-sister appeared to challenge his denial of any family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
ABC and CBS had not mentioned the allegations on their morning or evening broadcasts as of Thursday, Oct. 15, according to a Fox News Digital review of Grabien transcripts. CBS finally raised the matter Friday morning, but only while noting that El-Sayed denied claims from Republican opponent Mike Rogers.
CNN and MS NOW also had not aired dedicated reports about the controversy as of Thursday, despite broadcasting hours of daily programming. A conservative panelist briefly mentioned the subject Monday on “CNN This Morning,” but host Audie Cornish did not acknowledge the comment.
CNN’s Abby Phillip disputed concerns raised Thursday night by another conservative guest. She argued that the allegations did not establish a connection between El-Sayed himself and the Muslim Brotherhood.
“He said to his knowledge, he is not aware of any connections with the Muslim Brotherhood. And you know what? You can take that up with him, but the insinuation is that he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Phillip said.
On Friday morning, conservative guest Jesse Arm told CNN viewers that El-Sayed’s family had “deep ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood. Anchor Erica Hill pushed back, pointing to CNN fact checking involving his mother and brother.
MS NOW made its most direct reference Monday night. Guest host Jacob Soboroff criticized Rogers for focusing on what Soboroff called “smears” against the Muslim Democrat, including attempts to tie El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The New York Times had not published a report on the subject during the week, according to search results on its website. NBC was the only broadcast network identified by the review as having covered the allegations through direct questioning of El-Sayed in two interviews.
During Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked El-Sayed whether he could “set the record straight” regarding allegations that he and his family had Muslim Brotherhood connections. El-Sayed answered, “No,” and suggested that his Republican rival was using Islamophobic attacks against him and his family.
WATCH: NBC’s Tom Llamas asks the basic follow-up questions Kristen Welker did not, cooks Abdul El-Sayed like shawarma over familial MoBros ties and equating Israel to Iran https://t.co/TYj4xJQNPB
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 14, 2026 [2]
Social media posts from El-Sayed’s half-sister, University of Chicago professor Eman Abdelhadi, fueled questions about that response. In a 2012 X post first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, Abdelhadi wrote, “Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect.”
Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect
— Eman Abdelhadi (@emanabdelhadi) June 24, 2012 [3]
Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, attended Egypt’s Alexandria University. A Brookings Institution report said the university had strong Muslim Brotherhood activity during the 1970s.
Abdelhadi made additional statements about family involvement in the organization. “My family has long been MB, but I’ve always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively,” she wrote in another 2012 post.
In a 2013 post, Abdelhadi wrote, “Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.” Those posts prompted further scrutiny because they appeared to conflict with El-Sayed’s response to Welker.
Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in #Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.
— Eman Abdelhadi (@emanabdelhadi) July 3, 2013 [4]
NBC’s Tom Llamas confronted El-Sayed about the discrepancy during Wednesday’s “NBC Nightly News.” El-Sayed emphasized that he was born in 1984 in Rochester Hills, was raised in Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, and led local health departments.
El-Sayed accused Llamas of relying on “hearsay evidence from a tweet” and said he had not discussed his mother’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood activity with her. When Llamas asked whether El-Sayed had been truthful, the candidate responded, “Are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking,” Llamas replied. El-Sayed answered, “And I’m telling you that I was not.”
Representatives for ABC, CBS, CNN, MS NOW, and The New York Times did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. The muted coverage stood in sharp contrast to NBC’s decision to question El-Sayed directly about the allegations and his repeated denials.