Dearborn Heights — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed contended Friday that Republican President Donald Trump’s administration was treating people differently based on their political causes, citing indictments against a group alleging they attempted to pressure University of Michigan leaders to cut ties with Israel.
This week, federal prosecutors charged eight people linked to UM and accused them of conspiring to threaten university leaders and businesses. One of the eight individuals had previously worked for El-Sayed’s Senate campaign.
At a campaign event in Dearborn Heights Friday night, El-Sayed was asked by someone in the crowd about the indictment and connected it to Trump’s decision to pardon people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s a lot more about what you’re advocating for that gets you indicted or not indicted, rather than what you did,” El-Sayed said.
Last year, Trump pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that unfolded as Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost.
After the event on Friday, El-Sayed, a progressive candidate from Ann Arbor, told reporters that targeting individuals, businesses, or property is wrong.
However, he added, “I don’t love watching our justice system treat people differently … based on what it is that they were advocating for. So I just want to be clear that’s what we’re seeing out of the Trump administration.
“Yes, targeting people, their families, properties, businesses (is) wrong. Of course, it’s wrong. But it’s also wrong when Jan. 6 terrorists do it.”
The group of defendants in the UM cases is accused of targeting numerous university officials from October 2023 through April 2025, including the university president, who was Santa Ono at the time; the chief investment officer; the provost; members of the Board of Regents and others.
“In the dead of night, masked and hooded defendants allegedly threw noxious chemicals through the windows of families’ homes and taped demand letters to their front doors,” said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “At every step, they attempted to cover their tracks and delete evidence of their crimes.
“Those who engage in coordinated campaigns of threats and intimidation should expect to be held fully accountable under federal law,” Runyan said.
The charges, which included conspiracy to transmit a threat, came after top UM officials and their homes had been vandalized in the past few years as protesters demanded that the university halt its endowment investments in military contractors and Israeli companies because of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Among the eight defendants was Mariam Odeh of Dearborn, who worked for El-Sayed’s Senate campaign as recently as April.
El-Sayed has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s support of Israel’s recent military actions in the Middle East.
He’s been holding a series of campaign events in places that voted for Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020 but for Trump for president in 2024.
That tour brought him to Dearborn Heights on Friday, where someone in the crowd asked him what he would do to fight the charges against people at UM.
“It’s rich that Donald Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 terrorists and then tried to give them $1.8 billion of your tax dollars in a weaponization fund, right?” El-Sayed said. ” And now, they want to talk about terrorism. Rich.”
About 60 people attended the event at the Richard A. Young Recreation Center.
El-Sayed is in a three-person Democratic primary race for an open U.S. Senate seat. His Aug. 4 primary opponents are U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak.
They’re campaigning for a seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township. He decided against seeking reelection.
The Republican candidate this fall will be former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township.
Staff Writers Robert Snell and Sarah Atwood contributed.
