Abdul El-Sayed calls Piker’s 9/11 remark “a dumb comment” and rejects its use in the campaign
Abdul El-SayedDemocratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan
In a CNN interview, Abdul El-Sayed called Hasan Piker’s 9/11 remark “a dumb comment” while saying that continued focus on it was a campaign talking point and that Piker had no power beyond his livestream. The transcript records El-Sayed’s attribution that Piker had also called the remark dumb; it does not independently establish that Piker statement.
Responding to
Abdul El-Sayed believes the United States deserved the September 11 attacks.
“It’s a dumb comment. He himself has called it a dumb comment. And they keep bringing it up because all they can talk about is the comment of a guy who has zero power aside from his stream, rather than talk about the guy who has a lot of power to make dumb wars that we’re paying for.”
Interview
Where this statement fits
Mike Rogers’s 9/11 accusation against Abdul El-Sayed
After Michigan’s August 2026 Senate primary, Mike Rogers asserted that Abdul El-Sayed believed America deserved the September 11 attacks. His campaign defended that accusation by citing El-Sayed’s association with Hasan Piker and reluctance to disavow him. El-Sayed had explicitly rejected justifying 9/11 and argued that appearing with a person did not imply agreement. He described Rogers’s attacks as an effort to divide voters through Islamophobia. Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer later debated the strategy and construction of a related Republican ad without endorsing its factual claims.
Source and context
Interview
About this source
In a CNN interview, El-Sayed responded to a question about Hasan Piker’s statement by calling it “a dumb comment” while saying the campaign’s continued focus on Piker was a talking point. His statement that Piker himself has called it dumb is attributed to El-Sayed and is not treated here as a verified Piker statement.
Before the quotation
Erin Burnett noted Piker’s controversial remarks and asked El-Sayed how he would address an association with a supporter.
After the quotation
El-Sayed redirected to his campaign’s Michigan economic and policy priorities, then Burnett closed the interview.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
On the central allegation that El-Sayed’s association with Piker supports an adverse inference about El-Sayed’s belief, El-Sayed rejects the use of the remark as a campaign talking point while expressly criticizing the remark itself. This challenges the Piker-linked characterization of El-Sayed; it does not defend Piker’s comment or establish a new Piker statement.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Mike Rogers, Hasan Piker
More from this case
Read the full caseEl-Sayed disavows Piker's al-Qaeda comparison and says he gives it little weight
“I do not agree with this statement, nor do I give much weight to the statements made by a social media streamer. I am more concerned with the dangerous policies of Donald Trump and Mike Rogers that are raising the prices of gas, groceries and healthcare for Michiganders.”Read statement
Mike Rogers renews his rationale for the 9/11-related accusation against Abdul El-Sayed
“He can’t walk away from this, and he said multiple times that he won’t disavow what [Hasan Piker] said.”Read statement
El-Sayed disavows specific Piker remarks while defending the broader association
“When Hassan made these comments about Jewish Americans and Jewish Michiganders, I disavowed them entirely.”Read statement
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- Abdul El-Sayed calls Piker’s 9/11 remark “a dumb comment” and rejects its use in the campaign
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The Dispute Index. "Abdul El-Sayed calls Piker’s 9/11 remark “a dumb comment” and rejects its use in the campaign". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1432-in-a-cnn-interview-abdul-el-sayed-called