Vice President J.D. Vance highlighted a strange lie that Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed once told about whether he was an American.
Speaking at the Michigan Democratic Party’s spring 2017 convention, El-Sayed, who was born in a suburb of Detroit in 1984 to Egyptian parents, said, “I’m done with this notion that certain kinds of people cannot rise up to be a part of leadership in this society,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.
“We have an opportunity to rethink the way we do government, despite the fact that I may be an immigrant from North Africa,” the then-gubernatorial candidate added.
In 2017, Abdul El-Sayed called himself “an immigrant from North Africa.” https://t.co/gNOO5ONXhL
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) October 13, 2026
Vance told podcast host Mark Halperin in a clip posted Monday on social media that if he had the opportunity to ask El-Sayed a question, it would be, “Why would you lie and say you didn’t come from America, when you did?”
“And what does it say about the prevailing social attitudes of American elites that a person would actually feel compelled to lie about whether they had come from this country, as if it was something to be ashamed of?” the vice president added.
“Why would you lie and say that you didn’t come from America when you did?”@JDVance asks about Abdul El-Sayed. “I think it goes to the thing that really bothers me about him… He seems to have a real sense of revulsion towards native born Americans. I don’t get it.” @MarkHalperin
— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) October 20, 2026
Vance went to observe, “The lack of gratitude he shows to the United States of America, the fact that he was raised by a couple of white step-grandparents but seems to have a real sense of revulsion toward native-born Americans, I don’t get it. I don’t know where it comes from, and it makes me think that there’s something very dark.”
The Free Beacon noted, “It’s the most recent example of El-Sayed suggesting he is something other than a full-blown American-born citizen. El-Sayed stated on his academic résumé in 2014 that he had American and Egyptian citizenship… Two years later, in 2016, he told an audience in Detroit, where he served as city health director at the time, that he had ‘dual citizenship’ in Egypt and the United States.”
What do you think motivates politicians like El-Sayed to downplay their American identity?
Fear of backlash
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Desire for vote appeal
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However, “El-Sayed’s campaign said El-Sayed spoke in ‘error’ after being misinformed by an unnamed relative that he was a citizen of Egypt and the United States. El-Sayed has ‘never’ had dual citizenship, according to the campaign, which has declined to say when he learned of the mistake and who informed him of it,” the news outlet added.
In 2012, El-Sayed signed a letter by 46 Egyptian leaders in the U.S. in support of then Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi, a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, to “purge the media and police.” Morsi granted himself broad powers shortly after taking power. He was ultimately deposed by the Egyptian military in 2013, having served just over one year as president.
In a 2011 piece for the Huffington Post, El-Sayed wrote that Americans have nothing to fear from the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
“Even if the Muslim Brotherhood were to take power [in Egypt], there are several reasons why the ensuing state would look nothing like Iran,” El-Sayed insisted, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood definitely would not resemble Hamas.
El-Sayed was accused of lying earlier this month during an interview with NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker when he claimed his family had no ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Can you set the record straight about whether you or your family have any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?”
Abdul El-Sayed: No.
“No, you don’t have any ties?”
El-Sayed: No
“And your family doesn’t?”
El-Sayed: No https://t.co/ZJhAxfzOOe
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) October 11, 2026
However, his half-sister Eman Abdelhadi, a University of Chicago assistant professor, proudly boasted in 2012, days after Morsi took office, “My family has long been MB.”
“Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, was active in the Brotherhood in college in Egypt in the 1970s, Abdelhadi said,” according to The Free Beacon.
“I have had family jailed for being a part of it,” she added in a separate X post published on July 3, 2013. “Praying for all my family that supports the #MB in Egypt. Lie low, stay safe.”
Vance is right. El-Sayed has been caught in lies, and they are lies that are anti-American in nature. He does not belong anywhere near the levers of power in Washington, D.C.
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