DETROIT (VINnews) – Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to appear at a campaign fundraiser this weekend co-hosted by Kelly Neumann, a Democratic fundraiser who drew sharp criticism earlier this year for a Veterans Day Facebook post praising her grandfather, who served in the German army during World War II.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who endorsed El-Sayed on Monday, was initially listed as a speaker for the Saturday event but was removed from promotional materials after Jewish Insider inquired about her involvement. An El-Sayed campaign spokesperson called Warren’s inclusion “a clerical error.”

Neumann defended her grandfather in the wake of the controversy. “To be clear, my grandfather was a german soldier, not a nazi,” she wrote in a March response. In a phone interview with Jewish Insider on Monday, she reiterated that position and said a representative from Germany’s Ministry of Defense had confirmed it.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has described the notion that ordinary German soldiers were not part of the Nazi regime as a “myth.”

The event has drawn attention amid ongoing sensitivities surrounding Holocaust remembrance and political associations. Neumann apologized for the original post but stood by her characterization of her grandfather’s service.

El-Sayed, a Democrat seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Mike Rogers in 2026, has not directly addressed Neumann’s past comments in available statements.