As the 25th anniversary of September 11 approached, a CBS News report on deleted social media posts by Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — in which he drew comparisons between the 9/11 death toll and other mass casualties — ignited a fierce debate not about the posts themselves, but about who gets to decide what a story means. The backlash from liberal commentators and Democratic figures raises an enduring question in democratic life: whether editorial framing is ever truly neutral, or whether the choice of angle is itself a form of judgment with consequences.
CBS News report on El-Sayed's deleted 9/11 posts draws criticism from left
How do we build an America where we protect servicemen from wars we have no business fighting?
Mark
So what exactly did El-Sayed say in those posts that CBS decided to report on?
Mimi
He had deleted two main posts. One from 2020 compared 9/11 deaths to COVID deaths. The other, from September 11, 2021, mourned the 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 but then pivoted to mourning what he characterized as roughly a million lives lost in U.S. military actions abroad.
Luke
And those posts were already deleted when CBS reported on them?
Mimi
Yes. The 2021 post was first uncovered by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative outlet. CBS then reported on them as El-Sayed was running for Senate.
Mark
Why did so many people on the left see this as problematic?
Mimi
They argued that leading with 9/11 when covering a potential first Muslim Democratic senator felt like Islamophobic framing—that it was designed to create a guilt-by-association narrative.
Luke
But CBS didn't invent the posts. El-Sayed wrote them. The question is whether reporting on deleted posts from a politician is standard practice or whether the timing and framing here crossed a line.
Mark
What did El-Sayed himself say when asked about it?
Mimi
He acknowledged 9/11 was a terrible attack, then explained his broader point was about avoiding unnecessary wars.
Luke
So his defense was essentially that the posts were being taken out of context—that he was making a foreign policy argument, not minimizing 9/11.
Mark
And CBS defended itself by saying this kind of reporting happens all the time?
Mimi
Right. A CBS source told Fox News that stories about deleted social media posts from politicians are routine.
Luke
That's a fair point, but it doesn't address whether the *framing* of this particular story—leading with 9/11 and a Muslim candidate—was the same as how they'd frame similar posts from other politicians.
Der Puls
- CBS published a report timed to the 9/11 anniversary spotlighting deleted posts in which El-Sayed compared the attack's casualties to COVID deaths and lives lost in U.S. military actions abroad — posts originally surfaced by a conservative outlet.
- The story detonated across the left, with commentators and elected officials accusing CBS of Islamophobia for leading its coverage of a potential first Muslim Democratic senator with a 9/11 reference.
- Critics pointed to CBS's recent leadership changes — including the appointment of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief following David Ellison's acquisition of Paramount — as a possible explanation for a perceived editorial shift.
- El-Sayed, confronted on the trail, acknowledged 9/11's gravity while redirecting toward his foreign policy concerns, neither fully defending nor disavowing the deleted posts.
- CBS defended the piece as routine political journalism, but its silence on the framing criticism left the controversy unresolved and the network's credibility further strained in the eyes of many observers.
As the 25th anniversary of September 11 approached, a CBS News report on deleted social media posts by Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — in which he drew comparisons between the 9/11 death toll and other mass casualties — ignited a fierce debate not about the posts themselves, but about who gets to decide what a story means. The backlash from liberal commentators and Democratic figures raises an enduring question in democratic life: whether editorial framing is ever truly neutral, or whether the choice of angle is itself a form of judgment with consequences.
A CBS News report on deleted social media posts by Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed set off a sharp political and media controversy on Monday, arriving just ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11.
The report highlighted posts El-Sayed had since removed, including a 2020 comparison between 9/11 deaths and COVID casualties, and a 2021 message — first uncovered by The Washington Free Beacon — in which he mourned the 3,000 killed on 9/11 while also mourning what he described as roughly one million lives lost in three countries in wars fought in the name of the United States.
The backlash was swift and came from across the left. Commentator Hasan Piker called the headline 'insane' and linked the editorial direction to CBS's recent acquisition by David Ellison and the appointment of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Mehdi Hasan questioned whether leading coverage of a potential first Muslim Democratic senator with a 9/11 reference was Islamophobic. MSNBC analyst Tim Miller called it 'despicable anti-Muslim woke right garbage,' while Representative Yassamin Ansari labeled the headline 'blatantly racist.' Vox's Astead Herndon lamented the broader erosion of institutional media credibility.
When a local CBS reporter pressed El-Sayed on the posts during a campaign appearance, he affirmed that 9/11 was 'a terrible attack on our country' before pivoting to argue that Americans must also reckon with the costs of wars fought abroad.
A CBS source defended the reporting to Fox News Digital as standard practice, noting that stories about politicians' deleted posts are published routinely. The network offered no fuller response to questions about framing or the criticism it had generated.
The episode crystallizes a persistent tension in political journalism: whether the decision to highlight certain facts about candidates from underrepresented communities reflects editorial neutrality or something more loaded — and who, ultimately, gets to make that call.
A CBS News report about deleted social media posts from Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed ignited a sharp backlash from liberal commentators and Democratic figures on Monday, raising questions about editorial judgment and the framing of stories involving Muslim politicians.
The network published a piece ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11, noting that El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, faced potential renewed scrutiny over past comments he had made on social media. The report centered on posts El-Sayed had since deleted, including one from 2020 that drew a comparison between the nearly 3,000 Americans killed in the 9/11 attacks and deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. Another deleted post from September 11, 2021—originally uncovered by The Washington Free Beacon—read: "Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I'll mourn ~1M lives, millions of injuries, & infrastructural devastation in 3 countries, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my country."
The CBS story prompted swift and forceful reactions from across the left side of the political spectrum. Hasan Piker, a commentator with a large following on X, called the headline "insane" and suggested the coverage reflected editorial decisions made after David Ellison's acquisition of CBS parent company Paramount and his appointment of Bari Weiss—founder of The Free Press—as the network's editor-in-chief. Mehdi Hasan, founder of Zeteo and former MSNBC host, posed a direct question to CBS leadership: "do you think it's super offensive and disgusting and Islamophobic to do a tweet about the potential first ever Muslim Democratic senator which begins by referencing 9/11?" Tim Miller, a podcast host and analyst for MSNBC, described the coverage as "despicable anti-Muslim woke right garbage." Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona called the headline "blatantly racist." Astead Herndon, a host and editorial director at Vox, expressed broader dismay about institutional media credibility, writing that "we've burned through so much credibility in recent years."
When confronted about the deleted posts by a local CBS News reporter on the campaign trail, El-Sayed acknowledged the gravity of 9/11 while pivoting to his broader foreign policy concerns. "What happened on 9/11 is a disaster. It was a terrible attack on our country," he said. "And our responsibility is also to think about, how do we build an America where we are protecting our servicemen and women from being asked to fight in wars we have no business fighting in?"
A CBS News source defended the reporting to Fox News Digital, characterizing stories about deleted social media posts from politicians as routine journalism. "Reports about deleted social media posts from politicians are published all the time," the source said, suggesting the network saw nothing unusual in its editorial approach. CBS News did not provide a fuller response to inquiries about the story's framing or the criticism it had generated.
The episode underscores an ongoing tension in political coverage: how newsrooms handle the past statements of candidates, particularly those from underrepresented communities, and whether the choice to lead with certain angles reflects editorial bias or standard practice. The intensity of the response suggests that many observers saw the CBS framing as problematic timing and tone, even if the underlying facts about El-Sayed's deleted posts were accurate.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
What happened on 9/11 is a disaster. It was a terrible attack on our country. And our responsibility is also to think about, how do we build an America where we are protecting our servicemen and women from being asked to fight in wars we have no business fighting in?— Abdul El-Sayed, when confronted by CBS News reporter
Reports about deleted social media posts from politicians are published all the time.— CBS News source, defending the reporting
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