Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed denounced streamer Hasan Piker’s past comment that America deserved the Sept. 11 attacks, calling it a “dumb statement.”
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“Of course it was a dumb statement and of course I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
El-Sayed appeared with Piker on the campaign trail ahead of the Michigan primary, triggering a backlash over Piker’s 2019 comment that “America deserved 9/11, dude,” and that we “totally brought it on ourselves.” Piker, a left-wing commentator whose Twitch stream is one of the platform’s most subscribed channels, walked those comments back two days later.
El-Sayed would not answer whether he plans to campaign with Piker ahead of the general election.
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“He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11, but you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with a dumb thing somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves — to say, ‘Oh, well, what does that mean about what you think?’” El-Sayed said. “I want to be held accountable for what I say and what I do, rather than this idea that we’re so stuck in cancel culture that all of us agreed was a bad idea back in 2020, but we seem to want to bring back.”
Earlier this year, El-Sayed told Politico he was “not here to disavow people’s views” when asked about Piker’s 9/11 comment.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent nearly $32 million in an effort to defeat El-Sayed, who has called for an end to unconditional aid to Israel and has characterized Israeli military operations in Gaza as a “genocide.” The day after El-Sayed won the Senate nomination, President Donald Trump accused him of hating Jewish people and Israel, which El-Sayed strongly denies.
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“I love and revere Judaism and the Jewish people,” El-Sayed told NBC, adding that he grew up in a community with a large Jewish population. “I am honored in what I got to share with my Jewish sisters and brothers, but they are not the same as AIPAC and Israel.”
El-Sayed said taxpayer dollars should fund Michigan projects rather than “subsidize foreign militaries” abroad, but he also said the U.S. should back Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
“In Ukraine, you’re talking about attacks from a leader of a neighboring sovereign country who clearly violated international law in attempting to breach the sovereignty of the Ukrainian public. That is conditional on that circumstance,” El-Sayed said. “We have been offering unconditional foreign military aid to Israel, independent of the circumstances, for years and years and years.”
Trump and other GOP officials have started drawing attention to the Democrat’s full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, in attack ads and speeches. Conservatives used the same tactic with former President Barack Obama by invoking his middle name, Hussein.
“Notice how they chose to use my full name. It echoes exactly what they did against President Obama,” El-Sayed said. “They are going to try to paint me as a certain thing given my name, but I also think it’s important for us to recognize that America has a long history of embracing.”
He said he’d spoken by phone with Obama and hoped the former president would join him on the campaign trail.
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El-Sayed will face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in November.
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