A staffer for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed was recorded on undercover video calling Americans “idiots” for scrutinizing El-Sayed’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and saying he has no issue with the Islamist group.

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From The Daily Wire:

T.J. Wolfgram, El-Sayed’s independent and conservative outreach captain, made the remarks during a conversation with an undercover operative on October 15, according to video obtained by the Midwesterner.

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Wolfgram’s comments come after weeks of controversy over El-Sayed’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, including the 2012 letter El-Sayed signed supporting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, whose government was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The statement called for the “purging of the media and the police.” El-Sayed declined to answer questions about the letter following a recent Senate debate when asked by the Midwesterner.

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“Absolutely. Yeah, I don’t have any issue with the Muslim Brotherhood, and if I knew more about it, it might support some of what they do,” Wolfgram said.

In the same footage, Wolfgram acknowledged that an El-Sayed victory could embolden “problematic leaders” in some Muslim communities, then shrugged off what they might do with that influence. He excused the Brotherhood’s treatment of women as a matter of other nations’ self-determination. On El-Sayed’s Medicare for All plan, he said taxes would “certainly” rise, without estimating how much. Perhaps most telling for voters, he suggested that what El-Sayed says now matters less than what he does once in office. The report did not include a response from the El-Sayed campaign, and the remarks are a staffer’s, not the candidate’s.

El-Sayed has pushed back on the broader controversy. When a town hall attendee asked whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, he said he would. He has compared the scrutiny to questions John F. Kennedy faced about whether his loyalty would lie with the Constitution or the Vatican as a Catholic candidate. His opponent, Republican Mike Rogers, has argued the real issue is El-Sayed’s personal and family relationship with the Brotherhood, which he notes is banned in five Muslim countries.

The stakes are high with Election Day one week away. A Marist poll conducted October 15-18 found El-Sayed at 50% and Rogers at 48% among likely voters, with a margin of error of 4.3 points.

Let’s pray that the full truth about El-Sayed’s associations and convictions comes into the light before Michigan voters cast their ballots, and that unsubstantiated accusations will not obscure the facts. Let’s pray that voters weigh not only campaign promises but what a candidate and his team actually believe and intend to do in office. Every woman is made in the image of God, and her oppression is never a “judgment call” to be excused in the name of self-determination; let’s pray that America’s leaders reject every ideology that treats women otherwise. And let’s pray for Michigan’s Muslim neighbors, that they would encounter the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

Are you praying for Michigan’s Senate race? Share your prayers and scriptures for the state’s voters in the comments.

(Excerpt from The Daily Wire. Photo Credit: Conlan Houston – https://www.flickr.com/photos/197161005@N08/54882675890/, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=177428656)