Sunday’s Meet the Press featured host Kristen Welker doing what she often does and does best: running crisis communications operations for beleaguered Democrats. This week’s beneficiary of her services is Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Watch Welker’s indignant advocacy for El-Sayed get shut down by Senator Tim Scott:
WATCH: NBC's Kresten Welker runs crisis comms for Abdul El-Sayed, suggests the @NRSC should pull their ads that quote him in his own words
KRISTEN WELKER: All right. Let's talk about another state that you raised, another big state, Michigan, the face-off between Democrat Abdul… pic.twitter.com/CTBaVVEXvS— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 23, 2026
NBC MEET THE PRESS
8/23/26
10:11 AM
KRISTEN WELKER: All right. Let's talk about another state that you raised, another big state, Michigan, the face-off between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, and former congressman Mike Rogers. The NRSC continues to put out social media posts claiming that Abdul El-Sayed has un/unquote terrorist ties. And yet, there is no evidence that he has terrorist ties, senator. Should the NRSC stop running those ads?
TIM SCOTT: Well, we know- we know without question that he had family members who helped resource Osama bin Laden. We know without question that he campaigns with Piker, who said at one point that America deserved 9/11. We know that…
WELKER: Let's stay focused on El-Sayed, though. Let’s stay focused on El-Sayed and what he has said and believes in. There's no evidence --
SCOTT: Listen. Birds of a feather flock together. Birds of a feather flock together. You gotta…the company you keep does matter. We all know that. That's something we learn in elementary school. Well, let's go to where he stands on the issues, though. There's a reason why even former Biden administration folks are joining with Republicans and hosting fund-raisers throughout Michigan to support Mike Rogers. Here's one of the reasons why. We've got a candidate in Abdul El-Sayed that wants to abolish ICE. He wants to defund the police. Here's a candidate that's so radical that even Democrats in Michigan are joining forces, for the first time, with Republicans to elect Mike Rogers.
WELKER: Just to be very clear, there is no evidence that El-Sayed supports any terrorist organization. I just want to read this. A Washington Post analysis online found that, quote, “nearly one in three posts about El-Sayed from right-wing figures mentioned Islam, muslims, or sharia.” Are Republicans trying to scare voters based on the fact that El-Sayed would be the first Muslim senator?
SCOTT: Not at all. What we're more concerned about and only concerned about is the positions he has spoken about. He's the one that said that he was committed to sharia law. No one else said that besides Abdul El-Sayed. He's the one that said he wanted to eliminate much of the national security apparatus that protects America at the same time he campaigns with Piker, who says America deserved 9/11. When you add it all up, you’ve gotta believe-
WELKER: And we should say El-Sayed did denounce that on this program. El-Sayed did denounce those comments on this program.
SCOTT: And he continues- and he continues to campaign with him anyways. You can’t denounce it with your words and do something different with your actions. We believe what you do, not just what you say.
Welker went to a favored go-to in trying to needle Scott on the campaign against El-Sayed over his alleged terror ties: the old “without evidence” disqualifier. The problem is that Welker ignored a bunch of publicly available evidence before asking the question.
The Free Beacon reported on visible evidence of El-Sayed’s true ideological leanings, on the bookshelf that he sought to hide from voters:
A bookshelf in Abdul El-Sayed's living room—which he sought to conceal from a documentary film crew in 2018—contained works by an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a member of an Islamic group that sought to establish a Sharia-governed state, and a Muslim cleric whose writings have influenced al Qaeda and other major terrorist groups.
The living room bookshelf came into frame as El-Sayed—now the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee—showed off his wedding pictures during a scene in How to Fix a Primary, a documentary about his failed 2018 gubernatorial bid. During the scene, El-Sayed was filmed pointing to his bookshelf as he asked the filmmakers to "not get these things in the shot" because he wanted to "keep the shot secular." But the filmmakers ultimately provided a close-up shot of the bookshelf, which contained a copy of the Quran and about three dozen texts analyzing various aspects of the Muslim faith, several by Islamic extremists.
The report goes on to note that the book written by the unindicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing co-conspirator dispenses advice on how to properly beat one’s wife, and advocates for young girls to marry as soon as they begin to have menstrual periods. The report further notes that the El-Sayed family member cited by Sen. Scott as having “helped resource Osama bin Laden” is his own birth mother.
It is crystal clear that when Welker says something is “without evidence”, she means “without evidence” that is published within the tightly cocooned Elitist Media. The Free Beacon did the work, four days in advance of the show going to air. This was more than enough time for production to do some basic research before having Senator Scott come on.
Welker often cites anonymously sourced articles published within Elitist Media when trying to pin conservatives down. In this instance, she ignores well-sourced conservative journalism in order to inoculate El-Sayed against any scrutiny of his words or of the ideas he’s defended in the past.
Scott correctly sees through all that and stuffs Welker’s attempts at shaming him into renouncing a legitimate campaign communications strategy. Welker desists and moves on to data centers. Thus we are reminded that when it comes to the media policing political speech, things are (D)ifferent.
