Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly interrupted Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday as Baier tried to question the Michigan Senate hopeful about the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Democrat became defensive during an interview on “Special Report” when Baier pressed him about a 2012 letter addressed to Mohamed Morsi, then Egypt’s president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader, that El-Sayed had signed.

“Bret, Bret … no, no, no … let me just stop there,” El-Sayed interjected before Baier could finish the question.

“You are asking this question to raise the question about whether or not I have dual loyalty,” the former public health official said.

Baier responded, “I’m not, this is specific.”

“My loyalty will be to the Constitution of the United States, and as every senator who’s ever served, I will swear an oath to that Constitution,” El-Sayed said, interrupting the host again.

Baier tried once more to ask about the letter, but El-Sayed again spoke over him.

“I’m not interested in anything you’re going to pull out from a 2012 statement, a letter, you’re going to pull that out of context, you’re going to ask questions about my allegiance,” El-Sayed said.

“Don’t be Rogers’ campaign. Be a journalist,” El-Sayed snapped.

“So as a journalist,” he told Baier, “if you’re asking the question about my allegiance to the Constitution: I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I am interested in serving the United States. I’m interested in swearing an oath to the Constitution that every senator has sworn oath to.”

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The 2012 letter, signed by El-Sayed and more than 30 others, urged Morsi to “purge” Egypt’s media and police, the Washington Free Beacon first reported last month.

The letter was published by the Egyptian news site Al-Ahram Gate and was followed by a harsh crackdown on journalists by Morsi’s government.

In a separate interview with Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, the former congressman argued that El-Sayed had not “disavowed” the Muslim Brotherhood during his contentious exchange with Baier.

“He’s been dancing around this issue for a while,” Rogers said.

“When you support an organization and say you’re going to purge the press and purge the police, not to say it, encourage them to do it … he has adopted the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Rogers argued.

The Muslim Brotherhood is designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but not by the United States.

The group remains controversial, in part because of radical offshoots such as Hamas.

El-Sayed’s parents were Egyptian immigrants, and his half-sister highlighted the family’s ties to the Brotherhood in resurfaced 2012 tweets.

El-Sayed has accused Rogers of making his Muslim faith a campaign issue, an allegation Rogers has denied.

“It is not how he prays; it’s how he thinks,” Rogers told Baier.

Valentina Pinault, the student daughter of Salma Hayek, has spoken about her enthusiasm for London’s pub scene, vodka and Ikea after landing the top spot on Tatler’s list of Britain’s 200 most eligible young people.

The 19-year-old shares first place in this year’s Little Black Book with England rugby prospect Henry Pollock.

Valentina is the daughter of Oscar-nominated actress Salma Hayek, 60, and François-Henri Pinault, 64, chairman of the board at luxury conglomerate Kering, whose portfolio includes Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen.

Together, her parents are estimated to have a staggering net worth of $7.2 billion.

Even so, Valentina appears more interested in an ordinary student experience than in Chelsea’s upscale bars and exclusive members’ clubs while studying digital media and culture at King’s College London.

She is more likely to be found at Fabric or Lost, the underground, phone-free club night, than among London’s most polished social set.

Discussing her affection for British life, she told Tatler: “I think the culture in London is my favourite thing in the world. I love pub culture.”

She added that British humour appealed to her because of the “little things” that are difficult to find anywhere else.

Asked whether she preferred martinis or champagne, Valentina answered “vodka” and said she was more of a “chugger” when it came to drinking.

Growing up in the spotlight has also shaped Pinault’s approach to sharing her life online.

“Growing up with parents who are public figures gave me an idea of what I don’t want in my head,” she said.

“I don’t mind people seeing what I’m doing, but I don’t like the idea of people being able to comment on what I’m doing, or keeping track of [it].”

Earlier this year, Hayek made a rare public appearance with her daughter at the star-studded Serpentine Gallery summer party.

The actress turned heads in a satin blue gown and quirky sunglasses as she attended the event during a scorching heatwave.

Valentina cut a glamorous figure in a grey co-ord which she teamed with minimal accessories.

In 2022, Valentina appeared on her first ever Vogue cover for the publication’s Mexican edition, posing for a shoot alongside her famous mother Salma.

In an interview conducted in Spanish, Salma opened up about coming to motherhood later in life, and what she thinks about Valentina following in her Hollywood footsteps.

Meanwhile, Valentina revealed her dreams of becoming an actress and a director, but also stressed the importance of helping others, which she did through volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Still, she does benefit from her mother’s closet of designer clothes – furnished in part by dad François-Henri’s company.

‘We fight over clothes because she takes everything from my closet,’ Salma said.

‘Since she was little she never let me choose her clothes, and I always liked that,’ Salma added. ‘[And] she’s very good with makeup. I’m good at makeup, but now she teaches me.’

The pair have more in common than just clothes: They also both speak Spanish, and like to do so to speak privately in public.

‘When we are with more people I like it because it is like a secret because nobody speaks Spanish, because with my dad I speak French,’ Valentina Paloma said.

What’s more, Valentina Paloma wants to follow her mom into Hollywood, first as an actress and then as a director.

The teen also talked about how important it is to be passionate about fixing the world’s problems.

In particular, she is moved by the problem of homelessness, ‘because I have friends who don’t have a home.

Read Valentina’s full feature in the December issue of Tatler, available via digital download and on newsstands from November 5. 

The State Department told News Media that President Donald Trump is “spot on” in his assessment of France, after French President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he called “unacceptable and stupid comments” from foreign leaders about the unrest sweeping his country.

At a midterm election rally Monday, Trump claimed that “migrants have taken over France” and urged the country to shut its borders after a weekend of anti-government protests escalated into rioting and looting. He described France as a “once great nation” that was being “conquered, looted and burned to the ground” by migrants, jihadists and communists who, he said, oppose Christianity and Western civilization.

Macron responded Wednesday by alleging that the unrest had been accompanied by “foreign manipulation of information,” including AI-generated images depicting events that did not occur in France. He said that misinformation had fueled “unacceptable and stupid comments from many people including foreign leaders.” The French president identified Trump “among others” and rejected claims that France had been overrun by “hordes of migrants and Islamists,” calling those assertions completely false, The Associated Press reported.

Asked about Macron’s criticism, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott defended Trump, saying the president “is on point as he is consistently on point.”

“He has been clear about the dangers of mass migration for years, especially since the beginning of this administration, but certainly long beforehand as well. The president has secured the border on day one when it comes to the United States of America,” Pigott said. He added that the State Department would oppose international institutions that attempt to pressure sovereign countries into adopting policies designed to promote mass migration.

“Mass migration is inherently destabilizing. It is inherently destabilizing. It is something that we don’t believe solves problems, but actually creates problems,” Pigott said. He noted that Trump has repeatedly raised the issue, including in response to the latest protests in France.

Pigott said Trump had also addressed mass migration directly with world leaders during two consecutive U.N. General Assembly meetings, calling for an end to what he described as destructive policies involving illegal mass migration. He argued that those migration routes benefit criminal cartel networks, pointing to cartel activity along such pathways in the Western Hemisphere. “The president is spot on,” Pigott said, adding that the administration was taking concrete steps to end what it calls the era of mass migration.

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The Louvre and several other major Paris museums will close Saturday ahead of additional demonstrations planned in the French capital, according to the AP. Reuters reported that businesses in central Paris have begun boarding up windows amid fears of further violence.

French authorities said more than 3,000 stores had been looted, while approximately 2,500 people were taken into police custody in connection with the nationwide protests the previous weekend.

Pigott urged Americans traveling overseas to enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP. “That program lets you tell us which countries you’re going to so that we can provide real-time information to Americans in the country that have registered,” he told News Media.

More broadly, Pigott said State Department personnel at embassies and consulates around the world remain available around the clock to assist Americans abroad. “If you have an issue when you’re abroad, please contact the embassy or consulate,” he said, noting that officials can help with matters ranging from lost passports to security emergencies.

Police are searching for a driver allegedly connected to a series of Los Angeles robberies after a horrific hit-and-run left a 16-year-old boy dead and critically injured his younger sister.

The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday identified the suspect as Raygine Glentasia Evans. Authorities say Evans has received nine citations for reckless driving and failing to stop at signs and is wanted in connection with 10 robberies throughout Los Angeles.

Investigators allege Evans sped through a stop sign before striking 16-year-old Hernan Martinez and his 13-year-old sister, Vicky, as they crossed a South Los Angeles roadway with their mother on Sept. 22.

The crash happened at about 9:30 p.m. near 10th Avenue and 60th Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

The impact sent Hernan onto the windshield of the blue Nissan Sentra, which continued down the street before colliding with several parked cars, KTLA reported.

Hernan was pronounced dead at the scene. Vicky was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Surveillance video added another disturbing element to the case, showing two women escaping from the wrecked sedan shortly after the crash.

Police identified the passenger as Joannae Shavon Rosby. Footage showed the two women running from the scene before being picked up by another vehicle.

Neighbor Jerome Alexander told ABC7 that he ran outside after hearing what sounded like a powerful explosion and encountered a devastating scene.

“We heard a loud bang. Honestly, it was so loud it sounded like someone hit a building or a car,” Alexander said.

Alexander said he found Vicky partly trapped beneath a parked vehicle. She appeared unconscious at first, but her mother’s words seemed to bring her around.

“The daughter was partially under our car. At first, she wasn’t conscious and then her mom started talking to her and her eyes popped open,” he recalled.

He also saw Hernan lying on top of the suspect’s vehicle before the teenager fell from it.

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Alexander described another unsettling moment, saying a man returned to the damaged Nissan and appeared to remove a baby from the back seat.

“A guy came back, opened the back door, moved the airbags out the way, a lot of smoke coming out the car and he grabbed the baby out the backseat and left with the baby,” Alexander said.

According to Alexander, the man showed little apparent concern when confronted about the teenager who had been struck.

“I said stop touching the car, they just killed somebody’s kid, and he said, ‘I don’t care about that,’” Alexander recalled.

The crash has left the Martinez family devastated as they mourn Hernan and wait for news about Vicky.

Hernan’s older brother, Eliseo Martinez, said their mother was able to pull Vicky out of the path of the speeding vehicle but could not save her son.

“My mom, me and my sister are trying to pull it all together for one another,” he told KTLA.

Vicky has since undergone surgery and faces a grueling recovery.

Her brother remembered Hernan as a sweet, talented teenager who loved baking and sewing and had his entire future ahead of him.

Around 200 grieving relatives, friends and neighbors gathered for a rosary to honor the slain teen, while community volunteers painted a crosswalk at the deadly intersection and demanded stronger pedestrian protections.

The family has also launched a GoFundMe to help cover expenses following the devastating loss, raising more than $18,000 toward a $22,000 goal.

“He was only 16 years old and had so much life ahead of him,” Eliseo wrote. “Losing him so unexpectedly has left a pain in our family that is difficult to put into words.”

As the family mourns, police are still searching for Evans.

The LAPD announced Thursday that a reward of up to $50,000 is available for information leading to her arrest.

Anyone with information is urged to contact LAPD South Traffic Division Officer Hurd at 213-321-9681 or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

A duchess who has been estranged from her father for eight years and from her half-siblings for even longer; a brother and sister who went from allies to bitter adversaries; and a family patriarch whose own son reportedly contacted police with allegations of child sexual abuse.

The British Royal Family is frequently described as dysfunctional, but the Markle family’s divisions have been even more pronounced.

When the bells rang out at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018, to mark Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, the celebration was overshadowed by the bride’s strained relationship with her “other” family.

With the exception of Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, none of her close relatives attended. Their absence stood out at a ceremony filled with high-profile celebrities, many of whom had barely known the couple before the wedding.

Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle Sr, was absent officially because he was recovering from a heart attack and emergency surgery. Before that, however, he had said he was considering staying away after it emerged that a paparazzi photographer had paid him to pose for staged photographs while preparing for the royal wedding. Thomas later said he did not want to cause further embarrassment for the couple.

Meghan’s half-siblings, Samantha and Thomas Markle Jr, were also not invited. They are Thomas Sr’s children from his first marriage to Roslyn Loveless. Samantha later expressed her anger about the decision on social media.

“Out of respect and humanitarianism, the Markles should be invited if 2,000 complete strangers are,” Samantha, 61, wrote on Twitter. “Our uncle, brother, me, best friend of 30 years, nephews. At issue is not a matter of closeness. Family is family.”

Samantha, who is 17 years older than Meghan, claimed the family had been excluded to prevent them from challenging what she characterized as her half-sister’s polished account of her early life.

There was, however, a clear reason the Sussexes may have chosen not to invite Samantha, a mother of three. Within days of news of Meghan and Harry’s relationship becoming public, she began making critical comments about her half-sister.

In a November 2016 interview published by The Sun, Samantha—described as a former actress who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008—called Meghan “shallow” and accused her of being focused on “social climbing.”

“Hollywood has changed her. I think her ambition is to become a princess… It was something she dreamed of as a girl when we watched the royals on TV,” Samantha told the newspaper.

Samantha, who lives in Florida, acknowledged that she and Meghan had seen little of each other. She also said: “I didn’t feel a separation from her until I was in the wheelchair. The more high profile she became, she never mentioned me.”

Around the same period, Samantha was quoted by Radar Online in the United States as saying that she and her father had been hurt by what she described as Meghan’s lack of emotional and financial support after the actress became famous.

“The royal family would be appalled by what she’s done to her own family,” Samantha said.

The relationship appeared unlikely to improve. Samantha continued criticizing Meghan and Harry on Twitter, referring to her half-sister as “Cruella Deville” and “witchy poo.” She also addressed Prince Harry, urging him to “man up” and accusing him of hypocrisy for making “shout-outs about humanitarianism” while, in her view, allowing his future wife “to ignore the Markles.”

As the wedding drew closer, however, Samantha’s tone became more conciliatory. She expressed hope that she might still receive an invitation to the ceremony.

Meghan later said she had never been close to her half-sister and that they had not spoken since Meghan was in her “early twenties.”

But in an interview [with the Mirror] that was published four months before the wedding and seemed like a last-ditch attempt to get on the guest list, Samantha gently contradicted that timeline.

She insisted they had spoken more recently than that – in December 2014, she said, while Meghan was making the TV series Suits in Canada when they chatted on the phone.

‘Her last words were, “I love you, babe. I’m really glad we had this conversation. Keep in touch,”‘ Samantha recalled. ‘And she couldn’t – she got busy. I tried. But I think she just got really busy.’

Samantha, reportedly shedding tears by this point, added: ‘I hope now that she knows I was there. I should’ve really reached out more… but I’m proud of her.’

In the same interview, Samantha rather preposterously denied that the title of her forthcoming memoir, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister, was intended as an insult to her sister, saying she intended to prove that Meghan was the ‘opposite’ of that and chose the title to make a mockery of ‘social perceptions and labels.’

For those wondering what had caused such a venomous rift between two siblings who admitted they had seen little of each other, the explanation seemed to be principally rooted in money. And specifically, their father’s decision to pay for Markle to go to private schools after he won $750,000 in the California State Lottery in 1990.

Samantha admitted that some of their conversations about how Meghan could now repay her father’s investment by helping him financially, he was living near Rosarito in Mexico at the time, may have antagonized her sister.

‘There was just a time when — and it’s funny — we were on the phone,’ Samantha recalled before the wedding. ‘It was probably not my place to say but I was just saying, “Hey, help Dad with some of that money for school now you’re making a lot of money.” I think at that time she wasn’t that pleased about what I had to say.’

When Samantha saw the dress Meghan wore for her engagement portraits with Prince Harry, she commented: ‘If you can spend $75,000 on a dress, you can spend $75,000 on your dad.’

Hostilities inevitably ratcheted up still further after the royal wedding passed without an invitation for Samantha, and Meghan was freed up in what she could say after the couple officially broke away from the Royal Family.

In the Sussexes’ controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, she said she had essentially been raised as an only child and saw Samantha no more than a handful of times.

In the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan the following year, Samantha’s daughter, 37-year-old Ashleigh Hale, complicated the family picture further by defending her aunt.

Both Ashleigh and Meghan said they had a sister relationship, the latter adding that she didn’t even know about her niece’s existence until she was in her twenties. Ashleigh said Samantha had disappeared from her life when she was six and they didn’t ‘reconnect’ until 2007.

The duchess said in the documentary that palace advisors urged her not to invite her niece to her wedding as it would involve having to explain why Samantha hadn’t been invited, too.

After it was revealed in the duchess’s lawsuit against the Daily Mail that she had shared information about Samantha losing custody of her children to her sympathetic biographers, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, for the book Finding Freedom, Samantha sued her for defamation in 2022.

The latter claimed that her sister had advanced a narrative that Samantha had sold false stories about her childhood to the media. A US judge permanently dismissed the $75,000 suit last year. The sisters continue to be estranged and Samantha’s defense of their father, again contradicting Meghan’s position, is hardly likely to change that situation.

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Thomas Markle Jr, an ex-window fitter, has been less public than Samantha in his feuding with the duchess. Although he initially described news of her engagement to Prince Harry in 2017 as ‘wonderful…I couldn’t be happier for her,’ his attitude changed as the nuptials approached and Meghan continued to keep her American family at arm’s length.

Shortly before the wedding, he wrote Prince Harry a letter, warning that the marriage would be ‘the biggest mistake in royal wedding history.’ Like Samantha, he later questioned why the Sussexes invited outsiders such as the Middletons, the family of the Princess of Wales, to the wedding but excluded Meghan’s own relations.

And, like Samantha, he too made clear he was upset about how much money their father had spent on Meghan’s education.

In 2019, Thomas Jr, who at 60 is 15 years older than Meghan, made the bizarre claim that the royal wedding had left him homeless even as he called for reconciliation within the family.

‘I have been a bad son and a bad brother to Meg,’ he said, speaking from his home in Oregon. ‘I just want to put things right before it’s too late.’

However, he couldn’t resist raising the subject of money, adding: ‘But what she needs to remember is that she is only in Buckingham Palace with Harry because of her dad. He paid for her education and fancy clothes. He helped her become the exceptional woman she is and I beg her to recognize that.’

If he really thought that would encourage her to relent, he was mistaken.

Like Samantha, Thomas Jr has also been accused by Meghan’s supporters of monetizing his connection to her – in his case when he appeared on the reality TV series Big Brother VIP in 2021. He revealed among other things that his father didn’t approve of Prince Harry and that he resented his sister’s reported claims that she barely knew her half-siblings.

‘That kind of pissed me off and she knows damn well we had a great time growing up together,’ he said as he explained why he’d urged Prince Harry not to marry her.

He also said he didn’t quite believe that his half-sister became suicidal while in the Royal Family and didn’t receive help from the palace.

As for their father, Thomas Markle Sr, now 82, a retired TV lighting director and the man at the center of this toxic family feud, he now finds himself in the odd position of being defended by one of the children who were his erstwhile champions – Samantha – and condemned by the other – Thomas Jr.

In the process, a new rift has opened in a clan that is hardly short of them.

Thomas Jr says he has reported his father to the police and FBI after finding a huge trove of child pornography at his home in the Philippines. It was confirmed today that the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Philippines is investigating reports involving ‘an American national in his 80s’ who is accused of leaving child abuse videos and photos in his home in Cebu province.

‘I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years – but that stops now,’ he told The Sun. ‘I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.’

Samantha, meanwhile, has accused her ‘disgusting’ brother of fabricating evidence “to destroy our dad” after he allegedly cut him off financially when Thomas Jr ran out of money in the Philippines. Markle Sr has vehemently denied the charges.

As for Thomas Sr’s turbulent relationship with his younger daughter, after Meghan, 45, announced Friday that the British police warned her about pedophilia-related allegations against her father back in 2018, sources close to the duchess have said people will ‘finally understand’ why she distanced herself from him for so many years. 

However, around the time of the Sussexes’ wedding in May 2018, the message from their camp was that they wanted him to attend the ceremony and accompany the bride down the aisle. ‘Sadly, my father will not be attending our wedding,’ she said in a statement put out by Buckingham Palace announcing the news two days before they married.

Meghan went on: ‘I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health.’

Distinctly leaving the impression that his absence from the nuptials hadn’t been his idea, Markle was soon expressing his unhappiness that he hadn’t been there. ‘I’m a footnote to the greatest moment in history rather than the dad who walked his daughter down the aisle,’ he told British TV the following month. ‘That upsets me somewhat.’

And in an interview with the Daily Mail that July – two months after the wedding – Markle said his daughter had cut all ties with him, and that phone numbers he had for her had been disconnected.

‘I’m really hurt that she’s cut me off completely,’ he said, saying he now had no way to reach her. ‘I used to have a phone number and text number for her personal aides at the Palace, but after I said a few critical words about the Royal Family changing Meghan, they cut me off.’

Given reports by USA Today that the police told the duchess about the allegations against her father in the ‘summer’ of that year, that warning might explain the sudden decision to disconnect from him.

‘I’ve lost my father,’ she told Oprah three years later.

In the interview, she complained that her father had lied to her in denying he had talked to newspapers.

‘I look at [her son] Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it,’ she said. ‘So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.’

Was she really struggling to reconcile the letter she’d got from the police? Oddly, given his wife says she would have already known the allegations against her father for four years by then, Prince Harry told the 2022 Netflix documentary that, while she had lost her father, he deserved the blame because ‘if Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad.’

A Met spokesman said: ‘We are aware of media reports that officers from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command were involved in the passing on of a letter in 2018. We are undertaking enquiries internally in an effort to confirm this.’

The Daily Mail understands that the Met has not previously investigated Thomas Sr and is not currently probing him.

In 2023, Markle branded Meghan ‘cruel’ for not allowing him to meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, telling the UK TV show Good Morning Britain: ‘There’s no excuse.’

He added: ‘I’m heartbroken. I am very upset. This is a cruel thing to do to a grandparent, to deny the right to see a grandchild.’

And ironically given the latest allegations against him, Markle complained: ‘The other thing is I’ve done nothing wrong. There’s nothing that points to say I’m a bad guy.’

When in December 2025, Thomas Markle Sr’s health worsened and he suffered a stroke and, after developing a blood clot, he had to have a leg amputated.

He appealed for her to visit him in hospital in the Philippines although her response remains unknown. Her spokesman said the duchess got in touch with him although he denied it.

Given the latest shocking developments, it seems even more unlikely that father and ‘daddy’s girl’ will ever reconcile.