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A Democratic organizer was fired after he alleged that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is accepting overseas campaign contributions, potentially in violation of federal law.
“You know, [El-Sayed] has people from overseas that donate to him,” Abdoul Beckwith told an undercover O’Keefe Media Group reporter, who was surreptitiously filming their conversation.
The undercover reporter responded to the shocking claim by noting that he believes such contributions would violate federal campaign finance laws.
Beckwith, who is described by the O’Keefe Media Group as a regional field organizer for the Michigan Democratic Party, agreed.
“No, it is not allowed,” he said.
Under federal law, it is strictly illegal for foreign nationals to directly or indirectly make political contributions to candidates in federal, state or local elections.
However, US citizens and green card holders living abroad are not barred from giving money to political campaigns.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who is running against El-Sayed in the hotly-contested Senate race, has made the Democrat’s alleged ties to overseas terror groups, like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, a central part of his messaging to voters.
Rogers has accused El-Sayed of refusing to disavow such groups.
In his hidden camera conversations with the reporter, Beckwith seemed to shed light on why.
“He can’t just say, you know, ‘No, I don’t support Hamas,’ you know, ‘I reject all of them,’ because he’s going to lose the people that brought him up in the first place,” Beckwith said.
“So when Abdul is going to denounce that, they’re going to think that he is siding with the genociders,” he added, seemingly referring to Israel.
A spokesperson for El-Sayed’s campaign dismissed Beckwith’s claims.
“This junior staffer has never been employed by the Abdul for Senate campaign – his comments here are untrue, wildly misinformed, and not reflective of the campaign,” Roxie Richner told the O’Keefe Media Group.
“The Abdul for Senate campaign is fully in compliance with FEC regulations,” Richner added.
The Michigan Democratic Party similarly downplayed Beckwith’s comments and noted that the organizer has been fired.
“This individual has no knowledge of the Abdul campaign’s internal operations and his claims are categorically false. He is no longer employed with the coordinated campaign,” the party said in a statement shared by O’Keefe Media Group.
El-Sayed’s campaign reported raising $30.7 million last quarter, which is about triple what Rogers raked in – $9.7 million – over the same period.