{"id":4497,"date":"2026-07-19T16:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4497"},"modified":"2026-07-19T16:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T16:40:19","slug":"el-sayed-pushes-back-on-jake-tappers-iran-questions-in-contentious-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4497","title":{"rendered":"El-Sayed pushes back on Jake Tapper\u2019s Iran questions in contentious interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, pushed back Sunday on questions by CNN host Jake Tapper in a contentious interview about Iran and Israel.<\/p>\n

Read more Body found at Boston home owned by Rep. Ayanna Pressley\u2019s husband<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Tapper first asked Mr. El-Sayed to respond to comments by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to The New York Times. The New York mayor said that Democrats who take donations from the pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee \u201cshould be part of the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Tapper suggested that Mr. El-Sayed would disagree with that statement, citing the candidate\u2019s past remarks in which he expressed concern about AIPAC\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it sounds as though, and correct me if I\u2019m wrong, it sounds as though you and Mayor Mamdani disagree about how big this tent should be, whether there\u2019s room for it in the tent for Israel supporters,\u201d Mr. Tapper said.<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed, a doctor and former public health official in Detroit, responded by saying \u201cthere\u2019s always room in the tent for folks\u201d in the Democratic Party, but quickly became frustrated with the line of questioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I come on CNN, you guys ask me the same questions about these theoretical rights of existence or whether or not I agree with the mayor of New York,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m running for Senate in Michigan and, in Michigan, people can\u2019t afford their basic needs. They don\u2019t get the healthcare they need and deserve. They\u2019re worried about the quality of their kids\u2019 school. And the questions seem less to be about the interests of Michiganders than the fact of something happening 6,000 miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed then returned to Mr. Mamdani\u2019s comments, simply saying that he thinks \u201cmy tax dollars should be spent here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, Mr. Tapper pressed the Senate candidate about the deaths of two U.S. service members who were killed in Jordan following the attack on an air base. Another U.S. service member is missing. He followed that by referencing Mr. El-Sayed\u2019s remarks after U.S. strikes killed former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which he reportedly said a lot of people in Michigan were \u201csad\u201d over Khamenei\u2019s death and he didn\u2019t want to comment on it.<\/p>\n

Read more Rejoicing in Lindsey Graham\u2019s death shows society\u2019s depths of depravity<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that quote was interesting because the ayatollah has killed tens of thousands of innocent Iranians, not to mention the proxies that Iran has funded that have killed innocent civilians all over the Middle East,\u201d Mr. Tapper said. \u201cWhy were you worried about offending people who support the ayatollah?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed became frustrated with the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake, on a day where we\u2019re mourning the loss of two more service members in a war we never should have fought, I think all of us ought to step back and ask whether or not everybody in Michigan, frankly, everybody in America shouldn\u2019t be sad about the fact that this president, backed by the prime minister of a foreign government, took us to a war we had no business fighting in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed added that it was a \u201cridiculous pretext\u201d to comment on Khamenei\u2019s death at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now you\u2019re asking me about the ayatollah, who\u2019s dead, by the way, and you\u2019re not asking me about the service members who\u2019ve died,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou\u2019re not asking me about whether or not this war should have ever been fought. You\u2019re not asking me about whether or not the costs that are being borne by Michiganders in the tax dollars we pay or the gas prices that are insane right now are worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed then pleaded with the CNN host to talk about the Michigan Senate race, saying he wants U.S. tax dollars spent in Michigan. \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was specifically asking you about comments you didn\u2019t want to make because you didn\u2019t want to offend people in Dearborn, which is in Michigan,\u201d Mr. Tapper responded before changing topics.<\/p>\n

Mr. El-Sayed, a progressive, is running against moderate Haley Stevens for Sen. Gary Peters\u2019s seat in Michigan. The primary is scheduled for August 9.<\/p>\n

Read more Sen. John Fetterman rips Sen. Bernie Sanders over endorsements for El-Sayed, Planter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, pushed back Sunday on questions by CNN host Jake Tapper in a contentious interview about Iran and Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nEl-Sayed pushes back on Jake Tapper\u2019s Iran questions in contentious interview - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4497\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"El-Sayed pushes back on Jake Tapper\u2019s Iran questions in contentious interview - 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