Michigan Democrat Refuses to Say She’ll Support El-Sayed If He Wins His Primary In Blistering Interview

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) went viral this week after she excoriated fellow Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and his campaigning with Hasan Piker, who in the past said “America deserved 9/11.”

Scholten made the comments in a Wednesday night interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, who asked her if she would refuse to endorse El-Sayed, should he win his Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate in her state. Scholten, who is supporting El-Sayed’s opponent Rep. Haley Stevens, made clear “I cannot, I will not even come close to being associated with comments” like those from Piker.

After saying that El-Sayed has a history of “deeply sexist attacks” against women, Scholten tied him to fellow progressive Graham Platner.

“Let’s consider who’s on Abdul El-Sayed’s team, right? He’s been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, who also was supporting Graham Platner, who had, you know, a deeply problematic record with women — credibly accused by multiple sources of sexual assault, even rape in one case. Rape, in one case. Abdul El-Sayed and Graham Platner campaigned together,” Scholten said during the interview, a point which gained a lot of attention online.

Semafor’s political reporter Dave Weigel shared a clip of the interview and added, “Earlier in the interview, Scholten said: ‘Abdul El-Sayed and Graham Platner campaigned together. They fundraised together.’ They never campaigned together. El-Sayed and Platner did two (total) split send fundraising emails.”

Scholten continued:

They fundraised together. You know, another thing that I find… potentially even more concerning than some of the sexist comments are, you know, some of the things that Abdul has said and gone out of his way to associate himself with when it comes to what some might see as deeply un-American comments — you know, choosing to campaign with Hasan Piker, who said America deserved September 11th. Sure, he went on to disavow those comments, but I’m telling you, nobody on my team would ever, you know, come even close to making a comment like that.

“So will you — will you not back him if he wins the primary? Will you not support him?” Tapper pressed.

“You know, Jake, I think that it’s really important to make a clear distance from yourself and these comments. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing in this race. I cannot, I will not even come close to being associated with comments like ‘America deserved September 11,’” Scholten replied.

“Well, he would say — Dr. El-Sayed would say — ‘Well, I didn’t say that, and I don’t think Hasan Piker said it, and I don’t agree with everything everybody I campaign with has said,’” Tapper pushed back.

“But here’s the critical point on that: he might say that, right, and sure, I give him — I give them — credit for disavowing it after the fact. But the reality is, he also didn’t have to choose to campaign with Hasan Piker,” Scholten replied, adding:

To me, that’s a non-starter. Saying something like “America deserved September 11” — call me a patriot, Jake, but saying “never forget” still means something to me, right? 2,977 people lost their lives on September 11th. In the one year following September 11th, 180,000 men and women signed up to serve our country to protect us after what happened that day — many of them my age.

We went on to see over 58,000 Purple Heart veterans, almost 6,000 who lost their lives, right? It’s important to focus on these facts because you’re not just going to brush aside comments like that, right? Comments that are deeply, deeply un-American.

And as people are talking about right now, like the rise of the DSA — it’s not so problematic because, you know, they want better healthcare, right, for people. They want better environmental protections. What’s so concerning to a lot of people in West Michigan, I hear, is that we’re not willing to be tough on comments like that.

“Do you worry about the direction of your party?” Tapper followed up.

“I absolutely do. And I think that condoning behavior like this from candidates like Abdul El-Sayed is taking us in a direction that we don’t want to go as a party. I don’t need $20 million to study why young men stopped voting for the Democratic Party. Look at the message that we’re sending to our veterans if we’re willing to embrace or even brush aside comments like that. I would never stand on a stage or be at a rally with someone like Hasan Piker because he chose to say comments like that,” Scholten concluded.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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