Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a campaign event for U.S. Senate.El-Sayed's 9/11 Remarks Spark Fight Over Muslim Candidate's Patriotism
Intra-Party Split Detected
Most conservative outlets and figures attacked El-Sayed over his 9/11 remarks and associations, but Tucker Carlson broke with the right by defending El-Sayed and criticizing GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers, drawing criticism from other conservatives like Townhall.
Left says
- •El-Sayed's actual 9/11 statements, when asked directly, condemned the attacks as a disaster and terrible act, which critics say undercuts claims that he's disrespecting victims.
- •His older, since-deleted tweets placed 9/11 in the context of the Iraq War death toll and COVID-19 mortality, a rhetorical device other public figures like Andrew Cuomo also used without facing similar backlash.
- •CBS News, under Bari Weiss's direction, is accused of manufacturing a scandal by specifically framing a routine question around 9/11 to invite scrutiny of a Muslim candidate in ways not applied to other politicians.
- •As a candidate who would be the first Muslim U.S. senator, El-Sayed faces guilt-by-association attacks over his imam and past acquaintances that go beyond normal political vetting and echo Islamophobic tropes.
Right says
- •El-Sayed's campaign relationship with Hasan Piker, who has said America 'deserved 9/11,' raises legitimate questions about judgment and associations that voters deserve to know about.
- •His deleted 2021 tweet equating 9/11 casualties with U.S. military actions abroad and pandemic deaths struck many as a false-equivalence minimization of the terrorist attack itself.
- •El-Sayed's ties to the Ann Arbor imam Abdelhamid Algizawi, who has made remarks disparaging Jews and homosexuality, and his appearance at a convention featuring 9/11 truthers and a Holocaust denier, warrant scrutiny separate from bigotry.
- •El-Sayed's broader record, including calls for mass decarceration and describing America as a 'structurally racist' carceral state, reflects a far-left ideological profile relevant to voters evaluating him for statewide office.
Common Take
High Consensus- El-Sayed, when directly asked in the CBS interview, called 9/11 'a disaster' and 'a terrible attack on our country.'
- El-Sayed has an association with Hasan Piker, who has made controversial remarks claiming America 'deserved' the 9/11 attacks.
- El-Sayed would be the first Muslim to hold a U.S. Senate seat if elected, a historic milestone that shapes how his statements are scrutinized.
- The controversy centers on old social media posts, some of which El-Sayed's campaign says were deleted as part of a broader purge of posts predating July 2023.
The Arguments
Left argues
When directly asked about 9/11, El-Sayed unambiguously called it a disaster and terrible act of terrorism, so critics attacking his patriotism are responding to a manufactured controversy rather than his actual, current statements.
Right counters
A clean answer to a direct question doesn't erase the fact that his own past tweets minimized 9/11 by equating it with U.S. military actions and pandemic deaths — voters can weigh both the old and new statements rather than only the most recent one.
Right argues
El-Sayed's documented, ongoing association with Hasan Piker — who said America 'deserved 9/11' — combined with his own deleted tweets drawing false equivalence between the attacks and the Iraq War or COVID deaths, raises legitimate questions about his judgment that voters deserve to weigh.
Left counters
Andrew Cuomo made a similar comparison between 9/11 and COVID deaths without facing comparable backlash, and no evidence shows El-Sayed endorsing Piker's specific 'deserved it' claim, so the guilt-by-association leap outpaces what he's actually said or done.
Left argues
CBS News, under Bari Weiss, specifically engineered the 9/11 framing and headline to invite scrutiny of a Muslim candidate in a way rarely applied to non-Muslim politicians with comparably ambiguous old statements, revealing a targeted rather than evenhanded editorial approach.
Right counters
Reporting on a candidate's own deleted, on-the-record tweets equating a terrorist attack with other death tolls is legitimate journalism regardless of who runs the network, and the story only became national news because El-Sayed's own words invited the questions.
Right argues
El-Sayed's ties to imam Abdelhamid Algizawi, who has disparaged Jews and gay people, and his appearance at a convention featuring 9/11 truthers and a Holocaust denier, are fair subjects of scrutiny distinct from religious bigotry, since voters routinely vet candidates' close associations and venues.
Left counters
There's no evidence El-Sayed was present for or endorsed the imam's specific offensive remarks, and holding a Muslim candidate responsible for every speaker at a large religious convention he addressed echoes the same guilt-by-association logic used against Jeremiah Wright and other minority figures, not standard political vetting.
Right argues
El-Sayed's broader ideological record — calling America a 'structurally racist' carceral state and advocating mass decarceration — reflects a far-left profile that is directly relevant for statewide voters assessing his fitness for the Senate, separate from the 9/11 controversy.
Left counters
Policy positions on criminal justice reform are legitimate points of debate, but folding them into the same news cycle as 9/11 and imam associations serves to construct a composite 'dangerous outsider' narrative rather than evaluate his policy views on their own merits.
Challenge Questions
These questions target genuine internal contradictions — meant to provoke honest reflection.
Right asks Left
“If invoking 9/11 to make a point about other death tolls is acceptable rhetoric when done by Cuomo or others, why did El-Sayed's campaign feel it necessary to delete the tweets rather than stand by them as a legitimate rhetorical device?”
Left asks Right
“If guilt-by-association with extremist figures at a large gathering or in a broader religious community is fair game for scrutinizing El-Sayed, would the right apply that same standard consistently to other politicians who have appeared at large conferences or churches featuring controversial speakers?”
Outlier Report
Left Fringe
The Intercept's Eoin Higgins and similar commentators who frame any scrutiny of El-Sayed as manufactured Islamophobia represent maybe 15-20% of the left, a more strident anti-media, pro-Piker-defense faction; most Democrats likely find Piker's 'America deserved 9/11' comments genuinely troubling even while defending El-Sayed.
Right Fringe
Figures like Laura Loomer-style commentators, Libs of TikTok, and some Washington Free Beacon framing that leans into associating El-Sayed with 9/11 truthers and Holocaust deniers via guilt-by-association represent perhaps 20-25% of the right; more mainstream conservatives (and even Tucker Carlson, notably) show some divergence, with Carlson explicitly breaking from this consensus to defend El-Sayed and attack neocons.
Noise Assessment
High noise ratio — this is largely an elite media and political-operative driven controversy amplified by X engagement metrics and dueling outlet framing (CBS/Bari Weiss vs. Intercept/Salon), with most ordinary Americans likely unaware of the specific tweets or Piker association details, forming looser impressions based on partisan priors rather than the granular evidence cited in either synopsis.
Sources (9)
Abdul El-Sayed's 9/11 video message drew fierce online backlash over his association with Hasan Piker, who notoriously claimed America deserved 9/11.
If you're going to ask an American how they feel about Sept. 11, you can't get mad at the correct answer
The victims of this attack go well beyond those who died that day.
<p>Centrist Democrats opened the door for anti-Muslim attacks on their party’s nominee in Michigan — finding common cause with right-wing bigots.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2026/09/01/cbs-news-abdul-el-sayed-9-11-tweets/">CBS News Spins El-Sayed’s 9/11 Tweets Into a Manufactured Anti-Muslim Scandal</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
<p>Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has called for emptying U.S. jails as part of fighting America's "carceral state" and "structurally racist society," the Washington Free Beacon can reveal.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/el-sayed-demanded-mass-release-of-prisoners-de-jailing-and-scrapping-cash-bail-because-of-racism-democrat-claims-us-is-a-carceral-state/">El-Sayed Demanded Mass Release of Prisoners, ‘De-Jailing,’ and Scrapping Cash Bail Because of ‘Racism’: Democrat Claims US Is ‘a Carceral State’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freebeacon.com"></a>.</p>
<p>Abdul El-Sayed is under attack from right-wing provocateurs who won't stop noticing the controversial figures in his orbit. Earlier this week, the Washington Free Beacon dared to report on Abdelhamid Algizawi, the imam at the Ann Arbor mosque El-Sayed frequently attends.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/abdul-el-sayed-and-guilt-by-association/">Abdul El-Sayed and 'Guilt by Association'</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freebeacon.com"></a>.</p>
<p>The imam at the mosque that Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed frequently attends has railed against homosexuality, arguing that it is “against human nature,” and complained that all too often, Jews are teaching Islam in American universities, introducing “confusion” and “suspicion” to young minds. </p> <p>The post <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/against-human-nature-abdul-el-sayeds-imam-rails-against-homosexuality-and-jews-teaching-islam-tells-muslims-its-an-obligation-to-vote-for-el-say/">‘Against Human Nature’: Abdul El-Sayed’s Imam Rails Against Homosexuality and Jews Teaching Islam, Tells Muslims It’s An ‘Obligation’ to Vote for El-Sayed in November to ‘Change the Society’</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freebeacon.com"></a>.</p>
<p>Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's speech at a controversial Islamic convention in Detroit this weekend was sandwiched between a video montage featuring a firebrand imam declaring that "America is going down" and a speech from another cleric who said members of Congress who voted for an antisemitism bill were "guilty of treason."</p> <p>The post <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/america-is-going-down-imams-extremist-video-rant-is-played-before-el-sayeds-speech-at-notorious-islamic-convention/">‘America Is Going Down’: Imam's Extremist Video Rant Is Played Before El-Sayed's Speech at Notorious Islamic Convention</a> appeared first on <a href="https://freebeacon.com"></a>.</p>