Michigan Debate Gets Heated as Rogers Calls El-Sayed a ‘Risk to Our National Security’

The Michigan U.S. Senate debate between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers got heated this week as the two candidates exchanged jabs over accusations that El-Sayed has links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Rogers’s ties to President Donald Trump.

At one point during the debate, the moderator asked El-Sayed if Iran is a strategic threat to the U.S. and how he would deal with it.

El-Sayed argued, “There’s no doubt that Iran has posed a threat. Here’s the problem with it, though: That threat had been contained back during the Obama administration, when he used diplomacy and not war to contain the threat. It was called the JCPOA.”

“And Donald Trump, when he came in his first term, decided to rip that agreement up. And then in his second term, decided to make war. Now, mind you, Mike Rogers has been promoting this war since before he was in Congress. He’s got a war for everything, and he won’t back off the war now. He supports this war,” El-Sayed continued, adding:

And I want you to understand exactly what happened now. The consequences of this war are that you are paying nearly $5 in gas. You’re paying more in groceries because of the price of diesel. He has cheerled this war all along because he stands hip-to-hip with Donald Trump.

And if you don’t believe me, I want you to pay attention on Sunday when Donald Trump comes here at the invitation of Mike Rogers to remind you that, in fact, Donald Trump is on the ballot. Through Mike Rogers. They are hip to hip on this war, and you are paying the cost.

The moderator then turned to Rogers, “Thank you, Dr. El-Sayed. Congresswoman Rogers, I’ll repeat the question for you. Do you believe Iran poses a significant threat to U.S. national security, and what should America’s strategy be moving forward? You have 60 seconds.”

“Yeah, absolutely, it’s a threat. My opponent can’t even condemn the IRGC, which is the terrorist enforcement arm of Iran, and doesn’t believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel,” Rogers replied, adding:

This is an absolute non-starter if you’re going to send somebody back to the United States Senate. They had the capability. I left Congress in 2014. At that time, they had all three components of a nuclear program. The big debate was how do you put those things together and how long would it take to do that. Obviously, something triggered that where they needed to stop them from developing and putting those three pieces together to get a nuclear weapon.

I absolutely believe, if you want to pay $8 a gallon of gas, let Iran get a nuclear weapon. You lose control of that whole region. They have also created Hamas, financed it, trained it. Same with Hezbollah, same with the Houthis. Hamas is the one that went across the border on October 7th. That operation was funded by Iran. They are still a threat to the United States of America.

“Congressman Rogers, thank you. You have the first 30-second rebuttal. Dr. El-Sayed,” followed up the moderator.

“He just had an opportunity to make clear what he thought about this war, and he’s still cheerleading the war that you are paying for. A war we never should have fought in the first place. You send this man to the U.S. Senate, do not be surprised when we fight more wars,” El-Sayed replied, adding:

We accrue more national debt. And he does not stand up for you or the price of your gas or the price of groceries. Why? He’s bought off by the same weapons manufacturer as AIPAC, we just heard, is going to… Well, that’s what you get when you have an AIPAC-backed politician.

“Time. Thank you, Dr. El-Sayed. Congressman Rogers, second rebuttal, 30 seconds,” the moderator continued.

“So being bought off by the Muslim Brotherhood, having donors to his campaign from Hamas, that support Hezbollah, is not a problem? If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know: are you for America, or are you for these terrorist groups overseas? You can grin, and you can smile, and you talk real pretty,” Rogers replied, adding:

But I’m going to tell you what, that is a risk to our national security. Matter of fact, The New York Times gave him an option to condemn his comments in support of Egypt’s Morsi.

Later in the debate, El-Sayed fumed that Roger’s accusing him of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood above the U.S. was “quite beneath you,” as Rogers hit back, “I know you want to make this about you being a victim.”

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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