Photos Show El-Sayed With Nation of Islam Leaders Amid Controversy

Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, and within 24 hours a network of social media accounts spread clipped footage of his victory speech to frame his candidacy as a threat to the US.

• 1,966 accounts and 2,500-plus connections spread anti-El-Sayed content in the first 24 hours.
• 193,000 views accumulated on influencer Benny Johnson's clip of El-Sayed saying 'inshallah.'
• President Trump called El-Sayed a 'hater of Jews' and 'hater of Israel' after results were certified.
• PolitiFact rated 'Pants on Fire' the claim that El-Sayed 'openly calls for Sharia law in America.'

Why it matters: The attacks rest on two main clips: El-Sayed saying 'inshallah' on election night and a 2022 CAIR-Oklahoma speech mentioning a state Sharia ban.

• PolitiFact reviewed the full 16-minute speech: El-Sayed linked the Sharia ban to a broader history of discrimination and quoted the US Constitution, not calling for Sharia to replace American law.
• Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Nancy Mace amplified the clips; Cruz urged voters to investigate 'who is behind him.'

How 46 sources split on this story

Where they split: The core dispute is whether the clipped footage fairly represents El-Sayed's views or deliberately strips context to manufacture a threat that does not exist in the full record.

What’s next: El-Sayed declined on NBC's Meet the Press to disavow Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said 'America deserved 9/11.'

• Republicans say Piker's continued role as a surrogate will nationalize the Michigan race.
• Senators Sanders and Warren and DNC Chair Ken Martin backed El-Sayed and redirected to economic policy.
• Will El-Sayed formally distance himself from Piker before the general election, and would that affect his coalition?
• How much of the coordinated social media push was organic versus deliberately organized, and by whom?