EXCLUSIVE — Mike Rogers Warns of Abdul El-Sayed’s Radical Ideology: ‘This Is About the Heart and Soul of America’

Former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and Michigan Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers told Breitbart News Saturday that his campaign is attracting support from longtime Democratic voters as he seeks to defeat Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in November, while raising concerns about his opponent’s alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and positions on national security.

“This is about the way you think. It’s not about the way you pray,” Rogers said. “I wore the uniform of the United States. My family, my son wore the uniform in the United States, so that you can pray any way you want, and we’re proud of that.”

Rogers discussed a 2012 letter El-Sayed signed concerning Mohamed Morsi, who became Egypt’s president that year.

“The letter that he wrote in support of Morsi when he took over the Egyptian presidency in 2012 and 13, he was, A, supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood, but, B, calling on them to purge the police and purge the press,” Rogers said. “And so it wasn’t just a casual thing.”

Rogers also pointed to El-Sayed’s previous leadership role in the Muslim Student Association at the University of Michigan, which he described as having alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Muslim Brotherhood, on his August primary win, celebrated exactly one race in the entire United States, and that’s Abdul El-Sayed,” Rogers said. “So they came out on their website and praised it and celebrated the fact that he won the primary.”

“And the very fact that he lied about it once, and now he won’t answer questions about it, should give people pause,” Rogers added.

Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle also questioned Rogers about campaign contributions from at least six other signatories of the 2012 letter, who Boyle said had collectively contributed more than $25,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign.

“People who have openly supported Hamas financially support his campaign. People who financially support Hezbollah are financially supporting his campaign,” Rogers alleged.

Rogers also discussed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as well as individuals he described as a former economic adviser and former U.S. spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood who were supporting El-Sayed’s campaign.

“The Council for American Islamic Relations is a group that is headed up by his father-in-law, at least was at one time, has funneled about $400,000 into his campaign,” Rogers said. “That group is openly supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Rogers then turned to El-Sayed’s responses to terrorism and foreign policy issues, including a Hezbollah-inspired attack on a Michigan synagogue.

“This is the guy that cannot condemn a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist attack on a synagogue here in Michigan, where they tried to kill 130 schoolchildren,” Rogers said. “If you can’t figure out that that’s a bad idea for America and dangerous and wrong, you have no business being in the United States Senate.”

“He won’t condemn Iran. Matter of fact, he puts Iran on the same footing as Israel, which is our ally in the Middle East,” Rogers continued. “He wouldn’t even condemn the Iranian Republican Guard, the IRGC.”

Rogers also questioned El-Sayed’s suitability for national security responsibilities in the Senate, citing his opponent’s interest in serving on the Foreign Relations Committee.

“He says he wants to go on Foreign Relations,” Rogers said. “This guy could not even get a security clearance, just from what I told you.”

The interview then turned to El-Sayed’s medical qualifications, with Rogers questioning his use of the title of physician.

“So he went to Columbia Medical School, paid for by the Soros family, which I find interesting, and then he never took his residency, never took his board, so he is not a practicing physician,” Rogers said.

“He continues to try to allude to the fact that he’s a doctor, as we would think of as a physician. He’s not,” Rogers added.

Rogers also accused El-Sayed of misrepresenting his Egyptian citizenship and cited criticism from a former campaign staffer who had worked with the Democrat during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign and part of his Senate campaign.

“He even had a staffer,” Rogers said. “Came out and said, ‘Listen, this guy will lie at the drop of a hat. He would lie even if the truth were for a better story.’”

Rogers further criticized what he characterized as El-Sayed’s adherence to the Muslim Brotherhood’s interpretation of Sharia law.

“When you marry that Muslim Brotherhood ideology with the Democrat socialists, I tell you, it just makes a very dangerous concoction,” Rogers said.

The discussion then shifted to opposition El-Sayed has faced from fellow Democrats, including former Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson and his wife, a former fundraiser for President Barack Obama.

“As a result, we will not vote for Abdul El-Sayed,” Johnson and his wife wrote in an opinion piece, according to a passage Boyle quoted during the interview.

Rogers also identified CNN commentator Van Jones and a Democratic senator from New Jersey as national Democratic figures who had criticized El-Sayed.

“You have Van Jones, who’s a liberal commentator on CNN, you know, was an Obama guy, came out and said, ‘This guy’s policies are, quote, insane,’” Rogers said. “The other guy that kind of came out around the same time was the Democrat senator from New Jersey who met him and said, ‘Hey, this guy is — he’s a fringe candidate.’”

Rogers said some Michigan Democratic officeholders had also declined to support El-Sayed, including a Saginaw County sheriff who endorsed Rogers.

“We had a sheriff up in Saginaw County, you know, kind of blue-collar county for us here,” Rogers said. “He came out and said, ‘Can’t do it. I’m supporting Mike Rogers.’”

“We’ve had state representatives, Democrats, come out and say, ‘I’m not going to say I’m endorsing Mike Rogers, but I cannot vote for Abdul El-Sayed,’” Rogers continued. “How much of this has to happen before people go, ‘Something’s wrong?’”

Rogers also discussed his campaign’s outreach to African American communities.

“We’re doing very well in African American communities in Detroit, in Pontiac, in Flint,” Rogers said. “We don’t expect to win Detroit or Pontiac, but we don’t need to. We just need a movement of the numbers, and we’re seeing a movement of the numbers.”

He also expressed frustration with national news organizations over what he described as insufficient attention to Democratic voters publicly supporting his campaign.

“It’s really seismic in its implications here in the state, and we just can’t get the national media interested in it,” Rogers said.

“If we get 40 to 50,000 Democrats that say, ‘I used to be a Democrat, still am,’ they might vote Democrat down the ticket, but they’re going to vote for Mike Rogers,” he continued. “That’s kind of earth-shattering.”

With Election Day approaching November 3, Rogers outlined his campaign’s final strategy, including a statewide bus tour and an extensive door-to-door canvassing operation.

“We started our bus tour a few days ago and we’re working our way down in the state,” Rogers said. “We just had a nice rally here in Lansing, Michigan. A whole bunch of canvassers getting ready to hit the doors. This is how we win.”

“Seven million doors, and so we started that last year. This didn’t happen just in this fall cycle,” Rogers said. “We started last year, even went through the wintertime in Michigan. That’s how committed our canvassers have been, going door to door, talking to people, dropping off literature, reminding them, hitting them again, seven million doors.”

Rogers also outlined his campaign’s efforts to attract Jewish Democrats, estimating that approximately 70,000 voters in that demographic would otherwise support Democratic candidates.

“We think we can get half, about 35,000 of those votes, to vote for Mike Rogers, so they’ll vote down ticket Democrat, but they’ll vote for Mike Rogers,” Rogers said.

He also estimated that his campaign could attract an additional 10,000 to 20,000 African American votes statewide.

“We think we can get maybe 10-20,000 new African American votes across the state,” Rogers said. “This race is only going to come down to 30 to 40,000 votes for a win. You can see how the math starts working in our favor here.”

Rogers contrasted his campaign’s voter outreach with El-Sayed’s college campus events, which he characterized as staged productions.

“We are out where people live, where they work, and we’re having these conversations and good crowds,” Rogers said. “The excitement is high, and all the information we have coming off the doors is people are fired up and ready to vote.”

As the interview concluded, Rogers encouraged supporters to get involved in the final days before the election.

“This really isn’t about left or right anymore,” Rogers said. “This is about the heart and soul of America, given this guy’s ideology and his policies. So this is the place that you can show up and actually make a difference. And we’d really appreciate the help.”