Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee in Michigan's U.S. Senate race, released a statement Aug. 5 claiming his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed "believes America deserved 9/11." El-Sayed did not say that. Twitch streamer Hasan Piker said it in August 2019, and El-Sayed has on camera disavowed the view.
Rogers' statement, issued the day after the Aug. 4 primary, invoked his background in law enforcement and counterterrorism. "Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11," Rogers said in the release. The claim rests entirely on El-Sayed's decision to campaign with Piker in April—not on anything El-Sayed himself said.
El-Sayed appeared on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on April 7, the same morning he campaigned with Piker at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. The host asked El-Sayed directly whether he agreed with Piker's 9/11 remarks. "Of course I don't think 9/11 was justified," El-Sayed said. "Because you appear with somebody doesn't mean you agree with him on everything."
Rogers' campaign, asked for evidence to support the characterization, pointed to two clips: one showing El-Sayed describing criticism of the Piker association as "cancel culture," and another showing El-Sayed declining to answer whether he would 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.
At a separate campaign event in April, a reporter asked El-Sayed whether he would disavow anything Piker had said. El-Sayed did not name any specific Piker statement and called the question a "gotcha game." "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." He has not said publicly whether he will campaign with Piker again before the November general election.
Piker made the original comments in August 2019 during a livestream in which he watched U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas appear on Joe Rogan's podcast. "America deserved 9/11, dude," Piker said, adding that the United States "totally brought it on ourselves." Two days later, appearing on the political YouTube program "The Young Turks," Piker walked the remarks back. He said he opposes violence and argued he was making a point about U.S. foreign policy. "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 at the time. While campaigning alongside El-Sayed in April, Piker told the Associated Press he "didn't mean that Americans deserved to die."
Piker draws more than 25,000 live viewers per stream on average, making him one of the most-watched political creators on Twitch. He describes himself as a socialist and regularly campaigns for progressive candidates challenging moderate Democrats. He has faced criticism over statements about Israel, his support for some Houthi and Hezbollah actions, and remarks in which he described some Orthodox Jews as "inbred"—a characterization he disputes, calling himself anti-Zionist rather than antisemitic.
El-Sayed told the Michigan Advance he chose to campaign with Piker on April 7 because Piker reaches voters who have been "locked out" of the political process. El-Sayed is a former public health official and the Democratic nominee for the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters. He ran for Michigan governor in 2018 and lost the Democratic primary to Gretchen Whitmer.
When asked directly on MSNBC about Rogers' statement, El-Sayed accused Rogers of Islamophobia and said Rogers was using the attack to divide voters.
Rogers, a former U.S. House member and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, won the Republican primary Aug. 4. He built his campaign identity around national security and law enforcement credentials. His campaign's decision to lead with the 9/11 framing one day after the primary signals the line of attack he plans to sustain into the fall.
The central dispute heading into November is less about what was said than about accountability for association. El-Sayed explicitly rejected the substance of Piker's 9/11 statement on camera before the primary. Rogers' campaign argues that El-Sayed's refusal to name and disavow specific Piker statements—combined with his silence on whether he will campaign with Piker again—is disqualifying on its own terms. El-Sayed's position is that campaigning alongside someone is not an endorsement of every view that person holds. Voters in Michigan will decide which standard applies.
