Posted on 07/09/2026 3:34:46 AM PDT by DFG
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed defended his decision to delay filing his financial disclosure forms, arguing that the process was “complicated” due to his wife’s family owning overseas assets.
El-Sayed has been under fire from his Democratic primary opponent, Representative Haley Stevens, after he requested an extension to file his 2026 financial disclosures until after the Senate primary. Stevens has argued that voters should have access to the information in the disclosure before choosing a candidate.
Speaking with journalist Mehdi Hasan, El-Sayed dismissed the criticism, saying the delay stemmed from complicated tax documents.
“My wife and her family own property abroad, so getting all those tax forms is a thing,” he said.
He also responded to criticism by Stevens of him being a millionaire, saying, “Well, if, if you take my assets and her, my, my wife's assets together, then I guess they add up to something like that.”
The Democratic primary between El-Sayed and Stevens has become one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the 2026 midterms. El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, is seeking to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. His campaign has earned support from the Democratic Party’s far-left wing, including an endorsement from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“We are proud to endorse Abdul El-Sayed to be Michigan’s next senator,” Team AOC posted on social media. “Abdul is building a winning coalition by putting forward an agenda that speaks directly to working people.”
Stevens has argued that El-Sayed would be a weaker candidate in the general election because of his progressive politics. She has also claimed that the GOP is “spending thousands of dollars to prop up (El-Sayed’s) campaign, because they think it will make it easier for Mike Rogers to win.”
The Michigan Democratic Senate primary is scheduled for August 4.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Only the terminally stupid would accept such an obvious obfuscation.
Huh. I didn’t know Barbara Millicent Roberts was running for Senate in Michigan.
Following tax laws is for little people.
Yeah, I would imagine that failing to report your overseas generated income for years is creating complications such as hiring a legal team, hiring media types to try to get ahead of the story, planning an escape to a non-extraditing country...
I guess he never heard of H&R Block.…and yet, as a democrat, he would vote to make them even more complicated.
Give Abdul one month. Plenty of time. Meanwhile, it should be brought up every day until then.
” ... it should be brought up every day until then.”
Sadly, half of the voters won’t care that he’s a tax cheat. Half of the voters see it as resume enhancement.
I have to laugh at these people who cannot figure out tax forms. They don’t know what assets they own? I would imagine that 99% of us around here could put out a financial statement in hours that would stand up to scrutiny.
And running for office, these people aren’t prepared to complete a financial statement? Like it’s a surprise?
They think we are stupid.
This is why foreigners, naturalized or otherwise, shouldn’t be allowed to run for public office, especially federal.
I think Ilhan Omar might be available to help.
”Assets”. Is that what they call slaves nowadays? Yes, those assets and any income generated by them or their sales would be complicated to report on a first world financial statement.
I understand entirely. He just decided to run last week and it takes time to get the data pulled together. Just caught him by surprise.
Such lying, gross ineptitude and chicanery should be an automatic DQ from office.
Yeah, we have our own inexhaustible native collection of card sharps to elect before we start hiring foreigners
Yeah, Ilhan knows how to make $30 million fortunes go “pfffttt”, just like that!
I am an Enrolled Agent.
He is probably referring to the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) also called FinCEN Form 114 which is filed separate from the tax return and is due April 15 but has an automatic 6 month extension to October 15. Taxpayers with foreign assets with a balance for any day of the tax year exceeding $10,000 are required to file the FBAR and there can be steep penalties for not filing it. The Form 1040 Schedule B foreign assets questions is filled out to indicate that the taxpayer is required to file the FBAR.
Married taxpayers living in the US with foreign assets exceeding $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or $150,000 on any day of the tax year must also include form 8938 on the tax return.
The 2025 tax return extension deadline is October 15. He probably has filed an extension and has not filed his 2025 return yet.
I have filled out the FBAR and form 8938 for clients before. They have the same information including bank account number, bank name, bank address, currency exchange rate, and highest balance during the tax year. These forms are informational only and do not affect the bottom line on the tax return. There can be stiff penalties for not filing them (greater of $100,000 or 50% of the foreign asset balance on date of violation if willful).
He’s complaining about tax forms his party created?.............
When I lived overseas my wife and I hit the threshold and had to file those. She didn’t even have a SSN or ITIN. When she got her Green Card visa we gave per parents the bulk of the money to buy a rental property. Supposedly she will inherit it. I do trust them. It wasn’t a ton of money. But it was enough to trigger these requirements. But now that we have liquidated then we no longer meet the threshold anymore.
I can imagine that this guy and his wife could be facing some tough scrutiny on this topic if he wins. Those deadlines are strict and penalties huge. And I would bet that they are not in compliance.
Gee, I want to help run the country but math is hard.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.