For the second time in less than a week, CBS Mornings continued to distinguish itself Tuesday from ABC and NBC by mentioning the expanding influence of anti-Semite and far-left streamer Hasan Piker inside the Democratic Party, particularly his close ties to Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate Abdul el-Sayed.
ABC and NBC have yet to mention Piker this year on their flagship morning or evening shows, but the praise for CBS only goes so far, as in both cases, they omitted critical details.
To name a few examples, campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe skipped notable Piker comments that America deserved 9/11, blasting a Vietnamese refugee as “motherf***ing...psychotic,” calling for Senator Rick Scott’s (R-FL) murder, comparing Asian Americans to “dogs,” declaring he didn’t care about women being raped on October 7, lamenting the U.S. “unfortunately” “defeated the USSR,” saying it’s “funny” Iran shot down two U.S. airmen, and praising Mao Zedong.
Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers set it up by calling “progressive activist” Piker’s “recent words” explaining away American Jews being attacked and overall “rhetoric” as “a growing issue for some Democratic Party candidates in November.”
Duthiers ludicrously described Piker’s focus on the Middle East as him having simply “repeatedly criticized Israel for its war on Gaza.”
Here was the Hasan Piker piece on ‘CBS Mornings’ from Ed O’Keefe, which is notably the second time CBS has brought up Piker on an AM (or PM) show. ABC and NBC have yet to even do that.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 25, 2026
O’Keefe also played or quoted Piker’s comments that Jews are engaged in “propaganda” and… pic.twitter.com/FGc1dBDE3J
O’Keefe conceded that “Hasan Piker may not be a name that many of our viewers know, but his in — influence has only increased in recent months as he’s been campaigning with progressive or socialist candidates across the country.”
“But he rocked the boat in recent days by making comments that both Democrats and Republicans call anti-Semitic, and el-Sayed has also denounced the comments, saying he stands with the Jewish community,” he added.
O’Keefe insisted it’s only been in the last few days that “[p]rogressive influencer Hassan Piker...sent the Democratic Party into damage control” because of his “incendiary comments during a live stream on Twitch last Thursday, arguing ‘the idea that Jews are monolithic is...a very dangerous mode of propaganda.’”
He then played another offending clip of Piker suggesting last week that American Jews should watch their backs: “If Jews in America keep putting this — this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s gonna come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”
O’Keefe explained that, in response, “Republicans quickly pointed to Piker’s ties to Abdul el-Sayed,” who “embraced the left-wing podcaster during his primary campaign in hopes of winning over Piker’s more than eight million social media followers.”
To his credit, the CBS correspondent did show part of an August 3 exchange he had with el-Sayed that invoked another notable Piker comment, which was that he, in O’Keefe’s retelling, “didn’t have an issue with Hezbollah,” which “resonates more in this state than in many others.”
O’Keefe played el-Sayed’s troubling response, which was to defend his desire to “reach out to his audience” while at the same time not “hold[ing] myself accountable to the worst thing he said[.]”
O’Keefe wrapped with more reaction, but curiously said House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries (D-NY) was “direct” even though his initial statement never mentioned Piker’s name (click “expand”):
O’KEEFE: But el-Sayed has repeatedly denounced anti-Semitism and said again in a statement Monday, his “commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters.” Other Democrats were more direct. House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries called Piker’s comments, “dangerous and anti-Semitic,” and Michigan’s Democratic Congresswoman Hillary Scholten dismissed the streamer as “a hack who thrives on hate.” [EXPLOSION] Progressives like Piker and el-Sayed are outspoken critics of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza, a divisive issue for the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms.
JOEL PAYNE: I think the thing that Hassan Piker kind of forces on the people who he, you know, supports campaigns with, he forces them, I think, to clarify what do you agree with and what do you not agree with?
O’KEEFE: Piker says the response to his comments is a “Republican smear campaign.” Mike Rogers, who’s the Republican running against el-Sayed in Michigan, criticized the Democrats’ decisions to distance himself from Piker and called el-Sayed a “con man[.]”
To see the relevant transcript from August 25, click here.
