El-Sayed denies that his family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, even though his sister claimed that their mother was a member of the organization

The controversial and radical Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Michigan in the upcoming midterms, Abdul El-Sayed, denied in an interview that he or his family had any ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the fact that his sister had previously stated that their mother was a member of the organization.

During an interview last Sunday on "Meet the Press" on NBC, host Kristen Welker asked the candidate if he could "set the record straight" regarding allegations linking his family to the Islamist group designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration. El-Sayed's response was a terse and emphatic "no."

"No, you don't have any ties whatsoever, and neither does your family?"

Welker was not satisfied and pressed the Democratic candidate on the issue: "No, you have no ties whatsoever, and neither does your family?" The candidate replied "no" again, though this time he suggested that this entire controversy stems from Islamophobic attacks that his rival for the seat, Republican Mike Rogers, was launching against him to derail his campaign.

The controversy erupted last week when the Washington Free Beacon dug up a post by Eman Abdelhadi, El-Sayed's half-sister, in which she stated that her mother was an activist with this organization during the 1970s.

"I had an incredible conversation with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood in the early '70s, when she was in college #respect"

The University of Alexandria, a major hub of MB activity in the 1970s

Her mother, Fatten Elkomy, studied at the University of Alexandria in Egypt. This fact reinforces the theory of family ties to the terrorist group, as this institution was a hotbed of Muslim Brotherhood activity in the 1970s, according to the Brookings Institution.

Furthermore, this is not the only publication in which Abdelhadi, a professor in Chicago, linked her family to the Muslim Brotherhood. Another post from 2012 stated that "My family has long been affiliated with the MB [the acronym for the Muslim Brotherhood in English], but I have always thought that it has operated in the political sphere in an ill-advised or even destructive manner."

A year later, she wrote that she was, "praying for my entire family who support #MB in #Egypt. Stay low-key, take good care of yourselves."