🚨The Islamophobic man who appeared in a viral clip asking Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood has been identified as Thomas Teepell. Teepell, who gave his name only as “Tommy,” asked El-Sayed the gotcha question at a town hall in Caro to raise suspicion about El-Sayed’s Muslim background. El-Sayed said the question carried an implication of dual loyalty. He compared it to the doubts once raised about John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism. He told the room he was running for the Senate and “happen[s] to be Muslim.” El-Sayed then asked whether Tommy would disavow any attempt to read religious doctrine into American law. Tommy said he would not. El-Sayed answered that it was Tommy who needed to understand the Constitution. The crowd cheered, and Tommy left the room with a somber look on his face, as if he had failed his mission. Welp, it turns out Tommy isn’t some random concerned citizen showing up to a campaign rally. Congressional staff records show Teepell joined Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s office as an intern in 2023 and later rose to operations director before leaving in February. He then worked as political director for Philip Sarnecki’s campaign for governor of Kansas. Sarnecki lost the Republican primary in August. Teepell is the son of Timmy Teepell, a longtime Republican strategist who has advised Hawley and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. If Republicans are going to send in plant to try and get a gotcha moment, at least try to find someone less high profile. 🙄