1. United States
2. S.C.
3. Letter

I am writing to condemn your recent public claim, made on Fox News, that Abdul El-Sayed's parents "funded Osama bin Laden." That statement is not supported by the public record, and it should be retracted. The documented facts are narrower. Mr. El-Sayed's birth mother worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency from roughly 1999 to 2004. The Treasury Department later designated that organization as a supporter of terrorism. However, she was never charged with a crime, never named as a co-conspirator, and no court record shows she knowingly supported terrorism. Nothing in the reporting implicates his father at all. Employment at an organization is not the same as personally funding a terrorist. When asked to clarify the bin Laden claim, you offered no additional evidence. A sitting senator, and the chair of the NRSC, should not assign guilt by association to private individuals who have never been accused of wrongdoing by any court or agency. I invite you to publicly provide the evidence that Mr. El-Sayed's parents funded Osama bin Laden. If that proof exists, the public deserves to see it. If it does not, I ask that you correct your statement and stop using rhetoric that appeals to people's fears in place of facts. Voters deserve vigorous debate on a candidate's record, grounded in what can be verified.