CBS reporter apologizes and deletes post praising man who questioned Abdul El-Sayed
CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford has apologized and deleted an X post praising a man who asked Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood. The post drew backlash inside CBS and from other media figures.
Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent at US broadcaster CBS News, apologized on Sunday and deleted a post on X in which she praised a man who had questioned Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for a Michigan US Senate seat, about the Muslim Brotherhood. The question was put at a town hall on Saturday. The episode has fuelled debate over journalistic impartiality at a major American news network, ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.
Crawford, who first joined CBS in 2009, wrote on Sunday that she had removed the post because it violated CBS News standards, and she apologized. In the deleted message she thanked a man named Tommy and said El-Sayed had answered briefly before delivering a three-minute monologue that proved the questioner's point, calling it a spectacular self-own.
What the video showed
In the video, the man, who identified himself only as Tommy, asked El-Sayed whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. The candidate said he would and asked why the question was being raised. Tommy said it was because the group is a terrorist organization. El-Sayed replied that the question implicitly assumed he would have dual loyalties or an allegiance higher than the constitution.
Reaction
Jeremy Barr, The Guardian's media reporter, wrote that he had been told there was heavy internal backlash at CBS News, which may be why the post was removed. Journalist AJ Katz said the language was striking from a network news journalist. CNN political commentator Karen Finney accused Crawford of trying to help spread false, racist lies about El-Sayed because he is Muslim.
The incident comes as CBS faces intense scrutiny over allegations of political bias since conservative commentator Bari Weiss was appointed its editor-in-chief in October 2025. That followed the acquisition of Weiss's right-leaning digital outlet, The Free Press, by CBS's parent company Paramount Skydance.
On Saturday, El-Sayed told MS Now host Ali Velshi that such questions are asked to insinuate that he has dual loyalties. He is running for the Senate against Republican Mike Rogers.
