Pete Buttigieg
Role at the time: Former U.S. transportation secretary, interviewed on Fox News
Statement summary
Buttigieg draws an enemy-versus-ally distinction when asked about El-Sayed's comparison, while maintaining his support for El-Sayed in the Senate race.
“Iran is our enemy. Israel is not. They’re an ally, so that’s pretty clear to me.”
Fox News's upload of Martha MacCallum's interview with Pete Buttigieg on The Story, which aired October 14. MacCallum played a clip of El-Sayed's debate answer that left out his explanation, then asked what Buttigieg's answer would have been. Buttigieg also said he would vote for El-Sayed over Mike Rogers.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Reference point: El-Sayed's refusal to rank Israel and Iran as threats and his comparison of the dangers they pose. Challenged the characterization: Buttigieg answers the question El-Sayed would not, classing Iran as an enemy and Israel as an ally rather than as a comparable danger. Condemned is the closest competing label and loses because he does not criticize the answer or El-Sayed and says he is not sure why the question was hard for him. His vote for El-Sayed concerns the candidacy, so it does not make this a defense of the answer.