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Abdul El‑Sayed exposes heckler as ex‑GOP staffer with Christian nationalist ties

politicsOct 19, 202618988

While campaigning in the Republican-leaning city of Caro, Michigan, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed answered a shouted question from a man identifying himself as Tommy who asked whether El-Sayed would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed replied that he would “absolutely” disavow extremist violence, invoked John F. Kennedy’s 1960 defense of religious pluralism, and said “I’m running for the U.S. Senate and happen to be Muslim,” arguing the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Video of the exchange shows El-Sayed turning the question back on Tommy, asking whether Tommy would disavow violations of separation of church and state; Tommy said no. Subsequent reporting identified Tommy as Thomas Teepell and said he previously served as operations director for Sen. Josh Hawley until February, and that Teepell has ties to Christian nationalist organizations and election-denier circles, according to a Handbasket Substack post cited by RawStory. The initial exchange and the later identification were reported by HuffPost, RawStory and the Handbasket post, and the developments reinforced scrutiny over who staged or framed such audience confrontations on the campaign trail.

Justin Baragona
@justinbaragona.bsky.social

Of course Bari Weiss has pushed CBS reporters to pursue the James Talarico was in a mental hospital and Abdul El-Sayed is tied to the Muslim Brotherhoid stories. Of course she has. www.semafor.com/article/10/1...

4352h ago
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