Former Obama staffers who host the "Pod Save America" podcast debated Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s handling of a recent question about his family’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.While Tommy Vietor and his co-hosts sympathized with El-Sayed over questions they considered "bigoted," Jon Favreau warned that El-Sayed must keep in mind that he is speaking not just to the questioner, but also to voters who may be concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood itself.Concerns about alleged ties between El-Sayed's family and the Muslim Brotherhood emerged after the Washington Free Beacon reported on social media posts in which El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, described her family's history with the organization, including her and El-Sayed's mother.At an October 17 town hall, El-Sayed bristled when an audience member asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.After disavowing the organization, El-Sayed turned the scrutiny back on the audience member, saying, "You’re asking the question because implicitly, you assume that I’ll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that I wouldn’t disavow, or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution, correct? Tommy, is that what you imply?"'THE VIEW' CO-HOSTS DEFEND EL-SAYED COMPARING HIMSELF TO JFK OVER MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SCRUTINYAbdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S.
Senate, has been scrutinized for alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.(Anadolu via Getty Images)Favreau criticized Republican attempts to tie El-Sayed to the organization through his family connections, but argued that the GOP was using the issue to sway voters."It's somewhat smarter for them to throw out the Muslim Brotherhood thing because it's like, ‘This is a new piece of information that people might have no idea what the Muslim Brotherhood is,’" he said, appearing to frame the tactical mindset of Republican operatives.
"'Sounds pretty scary, doesn't it?' 'Terrorist organization...