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Abdul Rahman El-Sayed signed a statement backing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s power grab, then demanded that the M*slim Brotherhood get rid of the media and the police. Morsi was the M*slim Brotherhood’s man in Cairo. The prosecutions of journalists for “insulting Islam” and “insulting the president” followed in the months after. That letter was signed by El-Sayed in 2012 in an Arabic-language statement was published in the online arm of Egypt’s state-linked Al-Ahram newspaper. The headline framed it as American Morsi supporters backing his decisions and calling on him to purge the media and police. Morsi had issued his constitutional declaration, putting his decisions above the law and firing the prosecutor general. Liberal Egyptian lawmaker Amr Hamzawy called it “an absolute presidential tyranny.” Human Rights Watch said it undermined the rule of law. All of it was not only backed but encouraged by El-Sayed who signed the statement that said in part, “Support the revolutionary decisions taken by the president, and we demand a purging of the media and the police as soon as possible.” Abdul Rahman El-Sayed of New York is listed as the 33rd of 46 signers. That name and location match El-Sayed’s years at Columbia University’s medical school. Sources familiar with Arabic-language media confirmed the signer is the same man now running for U.S. Senate in Michigan and campaigning on abolishing ICE and defunding the police The letter signed by El-Sayed defends Morsi’s demand to place himself above the law, and the purge of media and police. El-Sayed has written about Egyptian politics and signed a group letter defending Morsi, who came from the Brotherhood. What happened in Egypt after the letter: 🔻Morsi won the presidency in June 2012 with just over 51% of the vote 🔻The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party dominated parliament. Its long-stated project is a state ordered by Islamic law. 🔻After the Nov. 22 decree, The M*slim Brotherhood and Salafist supporters took down Cairo’s Media Production City, chanting for the media to be “cleansed.” 🔻Journalists were assaulted from August 2012 to Morsi’s fall on July 3, 2013, mostly by Brotherhood members and supporters. 🔻One reporter, Al-Hosseiny Abou Deif, was k*lled. 🔻Criminal complaints piled up for “insulting the president,” “insulting Islam,” “spreading false news,” and “disrupting peace.” 🔻Freedom House documented a sharp rise in blasphemy and insult-to-religion cases aimed at non-Islamist journalists and commentators. Morsi’s gamble failed. Mass protests returned. The military under Abdel Fattah El-Sisi removed him on July 3, 2013, banned the M*slim Brotherhood, and then ran its own press crackdown against M*slim Brotherhood-aligned outlets. Critics say this is what's in store for the U.S. if El-Sayed gets elected and other M*slims continue to be elected. Should a man who once asked an Islamist government to purge the press and police be elected and trusted with American intelligence?