Trump repeats accusations against Democratic candidates at Iowa and Kansas rallies
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President Donald Trump accused Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Ilhan Omar of extremist ties while urging supporters to vote ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
President Donald Trump held campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas on Sunday, reiterating accusations that Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is linked to extremist groups and that Rep. Ilhan Omar has personal ties to her brother. The events, scheduled just days before the November 3 midterm elections, were the last in-person appearances on his campaign trail.
At the Iowa rally, Trump joked that a special metal detector would be needed for El-Sayed if he entered the Senate, saying, "> We’ll have a hundred senators, and most of them will go directly [into the Senate]… We’re gonna have to get a special metal detector for Abdul," drawing laughter from the audience. He also suggested that El-Sayed is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
The president urged attendees to vote, asking them to "pretend I’m on the ballot" as a way to motivate Republican voters. He also expressed a desire that Democratic Representative Haley Stevens, who lost to El-Sayed in a primary, would switch parties after she endorsed a Republican opponent.
In Kansas, Trump targeted Democratic Senate hopeful Adam Hamilton, a pastor, criticizing his support for transgender rights and describing him as a "stiff" who reads sermons from teleprompters. He also repeated an unverified claim that Omar was previously married to her brother and had children with him.
Other topics in the speeches included the conflict between Israel and Iran, cost-of-living concerns, immigration, perceived media bias, and the administration of former President Joe Biden. Both rallies experienced interruptions from hecklers and had been rescheduled after an earlier cancellation.