El-Sayed defends Slotkin over remarks targeted by right

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed (D) is standing by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) after the lawmaker sparked the GOP’s ire with a recent comment that she wants young professionals to rethink accepting a job with the Trump administration. 

In a Wednesday radio interview with “The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent,” El-Sayed accused Republicans of attempting to “manufacture” a controversial moment over Slotkin’s remark.

“The way that Donald Trump has wound himself around the justice system is frankly unprecedented. It’s ugly and it’s antidemocratic,” the Democratic nominee said. 

“And so I’ll take seriously what they’re up in arms about when they start taking themselves seriously around what Donald Trump is doing and every other congressional Republican just looks away,” El-Sayed continued, adding, “They’re not serious people.”

The Democratic candidate is running in a closely watched midterm race against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) for Michigan’s open Senate seat. 

President Trump this week criticized Slotkin over the comment she made during an event at the University of Chicago over the weekend and accused her of having “weaponized government.” 

“What they’re doing is really discouraging people from going into politics,” Trump said in comments to reporters outside the White House on Monday. “They weaponized the government, the Democrats — that’s what they’ve done.”

In her remarks at the Chicago event, the senator expressed her interest in investigating not only the president, but also the “people who enabled him” for alleged crimes. 

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like, that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity,’” she said. “I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want. And so, let me avoid participating in that.’”

“I want that deterrence message sent,” Slotkin added.

In a Monday post on the social platform X, the Democrat said her point was to warn young graduates that “there will be accountability for people who commit crimes on his [Trump’s] behalf.”

“It’s simple. If you break the law, then you should be held accountable,” Slotkin continued. “If you are stealing taxpayer money and enriching President Trump or his family, then you should be held accountable.”

Trump’s Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers over their participation in a controversial video last fall, in which they urged military service members to defy illegal orders. A grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers in February.