CBS Mornings would apparently prefer Michigan voters stop hearing about Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s alleged ties to The Muslim Brotherhood. On Friday, CBS correspondent Ed O’Keefe suggested voters had issues more dire than El-Sayed’s familial past, while NBC’s Tom Llamas had spent Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News pressing El-Sayed for answers about the allegations.
CBS Mornings co-host Vladimir Duthiers introduced the Michigan contest, reporting that El-Sayed held a narrow polling lead over Republican Mike Rogers. O’Keefe then described the controversy as part of an increasingly personal campaign and pivoted instead to the cost of living:
O'KEEFE: It is getting a bit fiery out here on the campaign trail with the Vice President and Republican Mike Rogers once again claiming that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has ties to The Muslim Brotherhood. Claims he has repeatedly denied. Voters watching the back and forth want it to end, and say the focus should instead be on cutting the cost of living.
El-Sayed himself attempted to turn the conversation away from himself and onto Trump, claiming that his name “is not the reason you can’t afford your gas.”
NBC’s Today took a different approach on Friday, with correspondent Ryan Nobles’ report on Trump’s push of a “baseless claim” that El-Sayed belonged to The Muslim Brotherhood.
Nobles also noted that, if elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim senator in the U.S., and that he had denied any ties to the group. Nobles attempted to push the President’s claims as problematic, quoting Trump’s claim that El-Sayed “is a Muslim Brotherhood guy, one hundred percent.”
Ironically, NBC kept the MB campaign coverage rather than suggesting that voters wanted it to go away.
Then entered Tom Llamas on Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News who pressed El-Sayed about his half-sister’s social media posts on X, with one stating “My family has long been MB.”
El-Sayed dismissed the social media posts from his own sister as hearsay, emphasizing that he was born and raised in Michigan. When pushed on the question of his mother’s connection to the group, El-Sayed continued to be defensive on the matter.
Llamas continued to grill El-Sayed during his interview with lifelong Democrat Sarah Bennett, who said she would be backing Republican Rogers due to concerns about the safety of her family in the Jewish community. Highlighting the recent terrorist attack at Temple Israel, Llamas forced El-Sayed to confront the criticism following his claim that “hurt people hurt people” in response to the attacker’s actions.
CBS claimed they knew what Michigan voters want, yet NBC’s Llamas showed that voters can still worry about their wallets and deserve answers on candidates. Maybe CBS should let Americans decide what matters.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS’ CBS Mornings
October 16, 2026
08:09:57 a.m. Eastern(...)
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Now, we turn to the midterm elections, focusing on one of the most closely-watched senate races. Recent polling shows Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed with a narrow lead over Republican Mike Rogers. With just 18 days left to campaign before election day, both men got some big name help. Vice President J.D. Vance rallied for Rogers on Thursday and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stump with El-Sayed. Ed O’Keef is following it all and joins us from Detroit. Ed, we are a little over 3 weeks to go, almost 3 weeks. Goodmorning!
ED O’KEEFE: Well, good morning. It is getting a bit fiery out here on the campaign trail with the Vice President and Republican Mike Rogers once again claiming that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has ties to The Muslim Brotherhood. Claims he has repeatedly denied. Voters watching the back and forth want it to end, and say the focus should instead be on cutting the cost of living.
[CUT TO VIDEO]
O’KEEFE: At the White House–
[TRANSITION]
DONALD TRUMP: His name is Abdul, but I think I call him Mohammed Abdul El-Sayed.
O’KEEFE: And, out on the campaign trail–
[TRANSITION]
J.D. VANCE: You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything.
O’KEEFE: President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance are making notably personal attacks on Michigan democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
[TRANSITION]
EL-SAYED: J.D. Vance called me a little weasel today. I’m like no, no, no. What you’re talking about is a f**king wolverine.
O’KEEFE: El-Sayed, who is facing Republican Mike Rogers, pushed back against the personal attacks.
[TRANSITION]
EL-SAYED: My name is not the reason you can’t afford your gas.
O’KEEFE: Rogers broadly supports Trump’s trade goals and wants to waive the federal tax on diesel. But in an interview, he drew a line on Trump’s plan to buy diesel from Vladimir Putin.
[TRANSITION]
O’KEEFE: The idea of buying diesel from Russia–
MIKE ROGERS: No, no, not a big– put me down as not a big fan.
O’KEEFE: And as a senator, he’d want to end at least some Trump tariffs.
ROGERS: If it’s working for Michigan, we’ll keep it. And if it’s not, I’ll work to get rid of it.
O’KEEFE: Tariffs definitely don’t work for Mary Buchzeiger. She owns an autoparts manufacturing company near Detroit and says tariffs forced her to scrap plans to create 350 more jobs.
[TRANSITION]
BUCHZEIGER: Our business plan was blown to pieces.
O’KEEFE: She remembers one day a tariff was changed three times.
Have you ever seen a tariff change three times in 24 hours before?
BUCHZEIGER: No, that’s a little unusual. It is crazy.
O’KEEFE: She decided to turn her factory into a foreign trade zone, meaning other companies can ship goods to her and only pay tariffs once they’re ready to be sold.
BUCHZEIGER: One thing that I’d love to see come out of Washington is some stability in our policy.
[END OF VIDEO]
(...)
NBC’s Today
October 16, 2026
08:09:49 a.m. Eastern(...)
CRAIG MELVIN: The critical midterms now just over two weeks away, and as election day draws closer candidate debates are growing more intense. President Trump is ramping up his travel even more in an attempt to boost vulnerable Republicans in key battleground states. NBC's Ryan Nobles standing by in Washington with more on that story. Ryan, good morning.
RYAN NOBLES: Hey, Craig. Good morning. President Trump heads to Georgia today to stump for the GOP senate candidate Mike Collins who is trailing incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff in recent polls. That Georgia race is one of several contests critical to Democrats’ hopes of winning control of the senate next month.
With just 18 days until midterm elections, President Trump’s set to step up his campaign travel, aimed at shoring up vulnerable GOP candidates nationwide.
[CUT TO VIDEO]
DONALD TRUMP: We are going to Michigan, big. We are going to Iowa, big. We are going to Kansas, big, and we got a lot of them left.
NOBLES: The President highlighting the bitter Michigan senate race where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is facing off against former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Mr. Trump has repeatedly targeted El-Sayed, who would be the country's first Muslim senator if elected, attacking his religion and ethnicity. The President pushing a baseless claim that El-Sayed is a member of The Muslim Brotherhood. The U.S. has labeled branches of the group terrorist organizations. El-sayed has repeatedly denied ties to the group.
TRUMP: And he is a Muslim Brotherhood guy, 100%.
(...)
