CNN’s David Urban Gets Emotional In Tense Back-and-Forth Over 9/11 and Abdul El-Sayed

Republican strategist David Urban grew emotional in a tense CNN debate Monday about 9/11 and U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI).

El-Sayed’s past social media posts about 9/11 and his association with far-left agitator Hasan Piker came to the forefront Monday after CBS News published a headline that read, “Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks.”

Former Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow (D), who has campaigned for El-Sayed, told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that the media needed to move on from associating El-Sayed with Piker.

“We are all moving on and want to move on to what JD Vance and [Donald] Trump and Mike Rogers are doing here, which is trying to hurt Michiganders,” McMorrow said. “This is a party that has been taken over by MAGA Republicans who are fawning all over themselves, trying to see who can impress more… Michiganders literally cannot afford to lose in November.”

“I have not heard Abdul El-Sayed — he’s a smart guy, very bright guy, Rhodes scholar, lots of advanced degrees — He needs to come out and condemn [Piker] and say, ‘Somebody who supports Hamas, the brutality that happened on 10/7, the gentleman who said America deserves to be attacked on 9/11. It’s the 25th anniversary of 9/11! ” Urban said, adding, “Just say, ‘I disavow this guy.’ It’s easy. Move on!”

“We want the campaign to be about Michigan and to be about Michiganders,” McMorrow said. “And I would love, love to see any of the Republicans, just one, disavow the comments of the president, who posted an AI video of ducks with rifles, long guns, and Trump haircuts, parading along the Canadian border to taunt Canada.”

“Mallory, that’s great, but let me just say this. I don’t know if you lost anybody on 9/11. My West Point roommate was killed on 9/11. I worked in this town in the Capitol on 9/11. I don’t know if you remember what it felt like to be here in America on 9/11 or 9/12,” Urban said, growing visibly agitated.

He continued:

It’s completely different than some goof meme with Canadian ducks and a Donald Trump haircut. And for you to compare the two is just reprehensible and beyond the pale. So what he said about 9/11 is in a different category, completely different category of abhorrent discussion, a comment that should be pushed back on by everybody from day one. And so to say that it’s somehow comparable is a joke. It’s a joke. It’s terrible. And it’s only going to get worse because, guess what? People, they’re going to read those 3,000 names on 9/11, and every one of those people is going to remember. And you’re going to remember, and the Michiganders are going to remember as well.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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