In Michigan Senate race, Mike Rogers falsely ties Abdul El-Sayed to Twitch streamer’s 9/11 comments

Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat and a former U.S. House representative, cast his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed as “an extremist,” after the Aug. 4 primary election.

“Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” read an Aug. 5 statement from Rogers that invoked his law enforcement work “hunting terrorists.” 

The attack draws on an El-Sayed campaign connection to popular influencer and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, but the comment is not something El-Sayed said. El-Sayed campaigned this year alongside Piker, who said “America deserved 9/11” in 2019 and has since walked it back.

El-Sayed, a former public health official, addressed the controversy in April the morning he campaigned with Piker. 

In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” the host asked El-Sayed if he agrees with Piker’s comments about 9/11. 

“Of course I don’t think 9/11 was justified,” he said. “Because you appear with somebody doesn’t mean you agree with him on everything.” 

PolitiFact asked Rogers’ campaign for evidence to support Rogers’ statement. The campaign pointed us to a clip of El-Sayed at a campaign event being asked if he disavows Piker’s comments and describing the blowback as “cancel culture.” The campaign also pointed us to a clip of El-Sayed declining to answer when asked whether he’d campaign with Piker again.

“Abdul was asked point blank if he’d disavow Hasan Piker’s comments, and he wouldn’t do it. That tells you everything you need to know,” Rogers campaign spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet said.

Asked directly about Rogers’ 9/11 statement on MSNOW, El-Sayed accused Rogers of Islamophobia and said Rogers was using the attack to divide people.

What did Piker say about 9/11? 

Piker is one of the most popular political creators on the livestreaming platform Twitch, drawing more than 25,000 live viewers on average during his streams. He is a self-described socialist and often campaigns for progressive and left-wing challengers to moderate Democratic politicians.

Piker has drawn criticism for his critiques of Israel during the war in Gaza and for supporting some actions of militant groups such as the Houthis and Hezbollah. Critics have accused him of antisemitism after he described some Orthodox Jews as “inbred.” Piker has disputed that characterization and said he’s anti-Zionist, not antisemitic.

In an August 2019 stream while watching U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Piker said, “America deserved 9/11, dude.” He later said we “totally brought it on ourselves.”

Piker walked back the comments in an appearance two days later on the political YouTube show “The Young Turks,” where he was a contributor. He said he opposes violence and he was making the point that U.S. actions in the Middle East created the extremism that led to the terrorist attacks.

“All of the foreign policy decisions, and our arming of insurgent groups in the region, and our efforts in destabilizing the Middle East have a direct consequence, a boomerang effect if you will, in causing 9/11,” Piker said.

While campaigning with El-Sayed in April, Piker told The Associated Press he “didn’t mean that Americans deserved to die.” 

How El-Sayed addressed the Piker controversy

El-Sayed told the Michigan Advance that he campaigned with Piker on April 7 — at events at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan — because Piker reaches people who have been “locked out” of the political process.

At one of the events, a reporter asked El-Sayed if he would disavow anything Piker has said. El-Sayed didn’t point to anything specific and called the criticism cancel culture. 

“I’m not here to disavow people’s views,” El-Sayed said. “This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture, I thought we were over it.” 

Before the campaign events, El-Sayed told “Fox and Friends” on April 7 that he didn’t think 9/11 was justified.

Since winning the Aug. 4 primary, El-Sayed has not said whether he will campaign with Piker again ahead of the general election. 

“I’m not as focused on who I’m campaigning with. I’m focused on who I’m campaigning for,” he told MSNOW’s Jacob Soboroff on Aug. 5. He gave a similar answer to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Our ruling 

Rogers said El-Sayed “believes America deserved 9/11.” 

Rogers pointed to a seven-year-old statement from another person — not from El-Sayed — to support his claim. 

The incendiary attack by Rogers on El-Sayed, who is Muslim, evokes tropes about Muslims and support for terrorism. 

El-Sayed campaigned with Piker, but didn’t endorse his comments about 9/11, and said the same day that he doesn’t think the 9/11 terrorist attacks were justified.

We rate the statement Pants on Fire!