Shapiro’s claims about El-Sayed donors and organisational links

AI summary

What donation claims does Shapiro make? Shapiro says Abdul El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayyab Joukaku, gave up to $300,000 to a super PAC supporting El-Sayed. He also says Joukaku was alleged to be a Muslim Brotherhood member and was a founding figure in ISNA, which federal prosecutors named an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror-financing trial. Shapiro further cites Fox News’s identification of more than $115,000 in El-Sayed campaign donations from at least 41 current or former CAIR employees or leaders.

[Evidence 0, 281.28s; Evidence 1, 296.24s; Evidence 2, 310.56s] Which organisations or donors does he cite? Shapiro cites Joukaku, ISNA, CAIR and the Detroit-area Democratic Socialists of America. He says El-Sayed spoke at six DSA events between 2017 and 2020, was introduced at one fundraiser as a longtime friend of Detroit DSA, and that every member of the “Squad” endorsed him. He says Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for him.

He also says El-Sayed spoke at an ISNA convention and appeared three times with an imam who worked as a propagandist for Iran’s government. [Evidence 0, 281.28s; Evidence 3, 354.639s; Evidence 4, 531.319s] How does Shapiro connect the donations to El-Sayed’s politics? Shapiro contrasts the reported donations and organisational associations with what he describes as El-Sayed’s repeated criticism of money in politics. He also asserts that El-Sayed’s family is connected to terror-supporting organisations and that El-Sayed acts as if his DSA relationship never happened.

The transcript records Shapiro making these claims but does not independently verify them. [Evidence 2, 310.56s; Evidence 5, 658.039s]