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Michigan Senate Candidates Clash Over 9/11 Records

5 sources · updated 2026-09-13
Left 0% Center 33% Right 67%
0 left · 1 center · 2 right

What happened

On the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed released a video and led a campaign-event moment of silence honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed and first responders who died that day. Republican opponent Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative, has criticized El-Sayed over deleted 2020–2021 social-media posts and a 2021 podcast remark that paired mourning for 9/11 victims with criticism of subsequent U.S. wars, and over El-Sayed’s campaign appearances with streamer Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that America “deserved 9/11.” El-Sayed has condemned the attacks as unjustifiable murder of civilians and has called Piker’s comment “dumb.” El-Sayed has in turn criticized Rogers for voting against the 2010 James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act; Rogers has said he supported annual appropriations for victims rather than mandatory funding.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 3 articles

3 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report. Mike Rogers denied part of it on the record.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 3 of 3
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 3
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
Credits another outlet 0 of 3
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 0 of 3
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
On-record denial 1
A named person or institution says the claim, or part of it, is not true. It is on the record — someone signed their name to it — but it is not confirmation, so it never counts toward On the record. Criticizing or dissenting from a decision is not a denial. The count is how many people or institutions deny it; each is listed with the first article that carried the denial. Here: Mike Rogers (CBS News, Sep 11, 22:10 UTC)
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 11, 19:34 UTC by Breitbart, naming its source.
Not counted 0
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
BLINDSPOT. Only right-leaning outlets are covering this story — the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Left-leaning coverage has not reported the story. Right-leaning coverage treats El-Sayed's Friday victim-focused video as a reversal of deleted posts comparing 9/11 to COVID and U.S. wars. The 2021 line about mourning deaths in three countries the following day appears in both Daily Wire and New York Post write-ups. Readers of the silent side miss that contrast entirely. Right-leaning outlets also split on what to lead with. The deleted-versus-new-video contrast leads Daily Wire's account. Rogers' convention warning that Michigan does not want a politician "explaining away" terrorists leads Breitbart's piece. That piece never mentions El-Sayed's charge that Rogers voted against healthcare for 9/11 first responders. Has this week's coverage asked El-Sayed whether he still believes the U.S. response to 9/11 scarred people in other countries?
Bottom line

Daily Wire's story turns on pairing El-Sayed's new line that nothing can justify murdering civilians with a deleted 2021 post about war dead, a pairing left-leaning outlets have not published.

The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • El-Sayed's deleted Sept. 11, 2021 post said he would the next day mourn about 1 million lives lost in three countries official statementin Daily Wire, New York Post · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • El-Sayed wrote in 2020 that COVID deaths equaled 64 times 9/11 numberin Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • On a 2021 podcast El-Sayed said what the U.S. did after 9/11 scarred millions of other people official statementin New York Post, CBS News · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Hasan Piker said in 2019 that America deserved 9/11 contextin Daily Wire, New York Post, Breitbart · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Rogers voted against the 2010 James Zadroga Act for 9/11 first-responder medical care contextin New York Post, CBS News · absent from left-leaning coverage
The Right View
Daily Wire, the New York Post, and Breitbart report that El-Sayed’s new 9/11 video, which focuses on victims and first responders and states that nothing can justify the murder of innocent civilians, differs from earlier posts he later deleted. Those outlets quote a Sept. 11, 2021, post in which he mourned 3,000 lives in New York then said he would the next day mourn about 1 million lives in three countries; a 2020 post comparing COVID deaths to “64 9/11s”; and a 2021 podcast line that “what we did after 9/11 scarred millions of other people.” They highlight Rogers calling El-Sayed “anti-American” and saying he has “separated himself from Team America,” Rogers’ convention remarks that Michigan does not want a politician “explaining away” terrorists, and El-Sayed’s association with Piker. Coverage also notes El-Sayed’s campaign reply that Rogers voted against healthcare for 9/11 first responders.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on named actors, dated posts and a podcast, congressional voting records, and a public commemorative video. Established facts include El-Sayed’s 2020–2021 comments and later deletions, his 25th-anniversary video and moment of silence, Piker’s 2019 remark and El-Sayed’s campaign appearances with him, and Rogers’ votes against the 2010 Zadroga Act while backing a $150 million annual appropriation. Characterizations that El-Sayed is “anti-American,” sympathizes with terrorists, or has executed a “full about-face,” and that Rogers does not support first responders, remain partisan claims rather than demonstrated facts. No left-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for complete archives of the deleted posts, on-the-record follow-ups on Piker, and the text of Rogers’ 2010 votes and floor statements.

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