A narrow victory in a Detroit suburb called into question after a viral video appeared to feature an incumbent council member participating in ballot harvesting.
In the 2024 presidential election, a victory in Michigan would have secured President Donald Trump a swing state sweep that included an endorsement from Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib (D). Now, after two members of the city’s all-Muslim council were charged over allegedly forging ballots, a third member was identified as the man seen in a viral video stuffing a drop box with votes days before winning by little more than 1,100 votes, of which over 800 were absentee ballots.
Viewed more than 2 million times just from the post shared by the X account Libs of TikTok, caption over the video claimed that City Councilman Abu Musa was in the passenger seat as, “Surveillance video allegedly shows Musa depositing STACKS of ballots at a drop box days before the primary election … But Democrats say this never happens.”
BREAKING: another Hamtramck, MI city councilman, Abu Musa, under investigation for ELECTION FRAUD
Surveillance video allegedly shows Musa depositing STACKS of ballots at a drop box days before the primary election.
He won by just a few dozen votes.
But Democrats say this never… https://t.co/zZWLNi7FkD pic.twitter.com/43inuy5uWw
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 15, 2025
Prior to the video, confirmed by Michigan State Police to have been filmed on August 1, Musa had been one of six individuals, of which four are councilmen, named by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) as she sought the appointment of a special prosecutor in April to investigate alleged election fraud.
That petition alleged that “1-6 conspired to receive unvoted absentee ballots that had been signed by recently naturalized citizens,” which they then allegedly filled out with “the candidates of their choosing. In some instances, it is alleged that they paid for votes, as well as had citizens claim addresses they did not live at, in order to gain an advantage in local elections.”
Musa and City Councilman Mohammed Alsomiri had not been charged in the investigation, but their peers Muhtasin Sadman and Mohmmad Hassan were charged with election fraud after they were alleged to have forged ballots in the 2023 election.
Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj spoke with Votebeat following the charges and expressed, “State laws are clear that your ballot should only be handled by you or a family member. But everyone’s cousins around here.” According to WDIV, if convicted of a felony over the charges, Hassan and Sadman face up to five years in prison in addition to fines.
As it happened, the latest in election integrity concerns came as President Donald Trump announced Monday, “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.”
While the president previewed an executive order “to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm elections” as just his latest effort amid calls for a mid-decade census and redistricting, reactions to the video were hardly shocked about the latest example that the thing that “wasn’t happening” once again appeared to be happening.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 18, 2025
I was reliably informed by Democrats that this wasn’t happening, you mean they lied to us, again?!
— Liberacrat™️ (@Liberacrat) August 16, 2025
Color me shocked!
— Monica Howell (@Monicaaa_Howell) August 15, 2025
Impossible Democrats have repeatedly said this never happens.
— 1sttimeCaller (@1sttimeer) August 16, 2025
I don’t understand how this is possible. Democrats promised me it never happened!
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) August 15, 2025
Democrats don’t call that election fraud.
They call it “ballot enhancement.”
— Echo 1 Project (@Echo1Project) August 16, 2025
Next phase I think is, “It’s always been happening and here why it’s a good thing.”
— Avery L Brooks (@averylbrooks) August 16, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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