Abdul El-Sayed tried to shut down Bret Baier Friday as the Fox News host attempted to ask the Michigan Senate hopeful a question about the Muslim Brotherhood.

The polarizing Democrat immediately got defensive and repeatedly interrupted Baier during an interview on “Special Report” as the newsman pressed him on a 2012 letter addressed to the leader of the extremist group in Egypt that was signed by El-Sayed. 

“Bret, Bret … no, no, no … let me just stop there,” El-Sayed interjected, cutting off Baier before he could finish the question. 

Abdul El-Sayed refused to even listen to Bret Baier’s question about a letter he signed addressed to a leader of the notorious Muslim Brotherhood.

“You are asking this question to raise the question about whether or not I have dual loyalty,” the former public health official assumed. 

Baier shot back: “I’m not, this is specific.” 

“My loyalty will be to the Constitution of the United States, and as as every senator who’s ever served, I will swear an oath to that Constitution,” El-Sayed said, interrupting the host again. 

Undeterred, Baier attempted to ask the question once more, but El-Sayed, again, started talking over the journalist.  

“I’m not interested in anything you’re going to pull out from a 2012 statement, a letter, you’re going to pull that out of context, you’re going to ask questions about my allegiance,” he said. 

“Don’t be Rogers’ campaign. Be a journalist,” El-Sayed snapped. 

Baier attempted to ask the question once more, but El-Sayed, again, started talking over the journalist.  Getty Images

“So as a journalist,” he told Baier condescendingly, “if you’re asking the question about my allegiance to the Constitution: I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I am interested in serving the United States. I’m interested in swearing an oath to the Constitution that every senator has sworn oath to.” 

The 2012 letter, signed by El-Sayed and more than 30 others, urged Mohamed Morsi, the then-newly crowned president of Egypt and a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, to “purge” the media and police, the Washington Free Beacon first reported last month. 

The letter was published on Egyptian news site Al-Ahram Gate and was followed by a cruel crackdown on journalists in Egypt by Morsi’s government. 

El-Sayed was adamant that he would be loyal to the Constitution.

In a separate interview with Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, the former congressman argued that El-Sayed didn’t “disavow” the Muslim Brotherhood in his contentious conversation with Baier. 

“He’s been dancing around this issue for a while,” Rogers said. 

“When you support an organization and say you’re going to purge the press and purge the police, not to say it, encourage them to do it …  he has adopted the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood,” the Republican argued. 

Abdul El-Sayed speaks to the media in the spin room following the US Senate debate against Republican nominee for US Senate Mike Rogers on Oct. 22, 2026, in Southfield, Mich. REUTERS

The Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terrorist organization by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — but not the US. 

The group is controversial in part because of its radical offshoots such as Hamas.

El-Sayed’s parents were Egyptian immigrants and the Democrat’s half-sister touted their family’s ties to the Brotherhood in resurfaced tweets from 2012. 

El-Sayed has accused his opponent of making his Muslim faith a campaign issue, which Rogers has denied. 

“It is not how he prays; it’s how he thinks,” Rogers told Baier.