CBS reporter apologizes and deletes post praising Abdul El-Sayed heckler
Jan Crawford had praised man who asked Democratic candidate whether he would disavow Muslim Brotherhood CBS’s chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford has apologized for and deleted a social media post praising a man who questioned Democratic Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood during a town hall on Saturday. On Sunday, Crawford, who initially joined CBS in 2009, wrote on X…
Key points
- CBS's Jan Crawford apologized and deleted a post praising a man who questioned Abdul El-Sayed.
- The man asked El-Sayed at a town hall whether he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.
- El-Sayed said the question implied he had dual loyalties instead of allegiance to the constitution.
CBS chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford has apologized for and deleted a social media post praising a man who questioned Democratic Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall on Saturday.
In a Sunday post on X, Crawford said she removed the tweet because it violated CBS News standards, and she apologized. Her deleted post had thanked a man named Tommy and described El-Sayed's response as a "spectacular self own".
Exchange at the town hall
The video Crawford referenced showed the man, who identified himself only as Tommy, asking El-Sayed: "Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?" El-Sayed replied, "Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Why are you asking the question?"
After Tommy said the group is a terrorist organization, El-Sayed asked what was being implied and said the question assumed he would have dual loyalties or a higher allegiance than the constitution.
I deleted that tweet because it was a violation of CBS News standards. I apologize.
— Jan Crawford
Backlash and wider context
The Guardian's media reporter Jeremy Barr wrote on X that he was told there was a lot of internal backlash at CBS News over the tweet, which may be why it was deleted. Journalist AJ Katz noted that Crawford is a chief legal correspondent, not an opinion commentator, and Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor called it "Very strange editorializing from a chief legal correspondent!"
CNN political commentator Karen Finney wrote that Crawford had been "caught red handed" trying to help spread false, racist lies about El-Sayed because he is Muslim. The episode comes as CBS faces scrutiny over allegations of political bias after Bari Weiss was appointed editor-in-chief in October 2025.
