CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins gave Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed a clear opportunity to distance himself from antisemitic communist streamer Hasan Piker — and El-Sayed doubled down instead.
Collins, while speaking to El-Sayed on Wednesday evening, asked him to respond to comments from Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) warning him to back away from Piker: “I can’t come together with someone if you are willing to embrace people that love Hamas, or that think America deserved 9/11. I think that’s reasonable.”
“In Trump’s words, ‘What a lovely gentleman,'” El-Sayed said in response to Fetterman’s comments.
“I mean, he said that you need to renounce people like the Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who was out there campaigning with you, who was out there in Michigan on Monday night, I believe last night as well. Do you have any plans to do that?” Collins pressed.
“Look, I’m less focused on folks who are campaigning with me, more focused on the folks I’m campaigning to,” El-Sayed said, not directly answering the question but still making it clear that he had no intention of backing away from Piker. “I think it’s important to stay in touch with the folks you want to elect you. I think that’s clearly what’s gone wrong with Senator Fetterman, it’s clear he probably doesn’t spend much time in Pennsylvania, because he was campaigning with Bernie Sanders and now wants to renounce Bernie Sanders. I don’t know if he still thinks he’s a Democrat or not, I’m hoping to get to the U.S. Senate and maybe we can hash that conversation out in person.”
Fetterman is not alone in calling for El-Sayed to renounce Piker. Gun control activist Fred Guttenberg weighed in on the issue, commenting on Piker’s reaction to those pushing El-Sayed to move to the center to win the Senate seat.
“Everyone being like, ‘Abdul has a f*ck-ton of work to do mending bridges,’ here’s the f*cking take nuke for you: You are all unbelievably Islamophobic pieces of sh*t. You literally called the dude a f*cking terrorist for months on end,” Piker said on his election night livestream.
“Mazel Tov @AbdulElSayed for winning a Democratic primary with a minority of Democratic voters. You will need everyone of your voters and @HaleyforMI voters to win a general. For that to be possible, you will need to move on from Piker. Guessing you won’t and I won’t be surprised when you lose,” Guttenberg shot back.
And there are more, as one MS NOW host noted: “Some Democrats I’ve talked to … on the plane this morning, a guy said to me, ‘I’m anxious …’ he said, ‘I voted for Haley Stevens … in fact, if he wins, I will be voting for MIKE ROGERS.'”
🚨 WOW! MSNOW is now PANICKING after Democrat voters told her they’re voting Mike Rogers (R) because Abdul El Sayed (D) became the MI Senate nominee
“Some Democrats I’ve talked to…on the plane this morning a guy said to me, ‘I’m anxious…’ he said, ‘I voted for Haley… https://t.co/MweVr8G4bb pic.twitter.com/iuEXdhiAyL
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 5, 2026
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