Progressive Senate Candidate Goes On Fox News to Push Back On Backlash Over Leaked Comments About Dead Iranian Leader

Progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appeared on Fox News on Wednesday to respond to backlash over comments he made about the death of Iran’s supreme leader in leaked audio.

El-Sayed joined Bill Hemmer on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, and Hemmer pressed the progressive Democrat on multiple fronts, including the leaked audio that has earned him backlash.

The Washington Free Beacon released audio this week of El-Sayed talking to staffers and saying he wanted to avoid any public statement at all about the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in strikes by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

“I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I don’t think it’s worth even touching that,” the candidate told his team.

Critics were up in arms over the comment, considering Khamenei led a country accused of violating and abusing the civil rights of its own people for decades.

“I want to give you a chance to hear you out. You know what Iran has done for almost 50 years. Why did the comment come off that way with your staff, sir?” Hemmer asked El-Sayed.

The progressive candidate responded by blasting President Donald Trump for getting us into a war with Iran, and asking why he doesn’t take issue with other Middle Eastern countries who could be considered to have radical regimes.

“Look, I’ll tell you this, we’re in the midst of a war we don’t need to be fighting. It’s illegal. It’s immoral. It’s using our tax dollars to raise our gas prices from a MAGA-backed movement that told us that they would never get us into another foreign entanglement,” he said.

Check out the exchange below:

BILL HEMMER: I want to give you a chance to hear you out. You know what Iran has done for almost 50 years. Why did the comment come off that way with your staff, sir?

ABDUL EL-SAYED: Look, I’ll tell you this, we’re in the midst of a war we don’t need to be fighting. It’s illegal. It’s immoral. It’s using our tax dollars to raise our gas prices from a MAGA-backed movement that told us that they would never get us into another foreign entanglement. And here we are. And I just want to remind you that most people in the city of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights are not Arab-American. They are white. And they’re worried, just like I am, they’re saddened by the fact that their tax prices go up and they are watching their gas prices go up with it all to fight a war that we shouldn’t really be a part of.

HEMMER: I appreciate the fact that you’re against the war. I understand that. But there are more people in Michigan that are going to decide your fate politically who don’t live in Dearborn, Michigan. Would you accept that? And would you also accept the idea that some Arab-Americans in Dearborn may see the downfall of this regime as a good thing?

EL-SAYED: You know, Bill, I’ll tell you this. There are many people who see the downfall of the regime as a good thing, but the question of whether or not it was pursued legally, that’s a different question. Whether or not it’s worth $31 billion of our taxes and counting, a billion dollars a day. That’s another thing, whether or we should be paying higher rates at the pump every single time we try to just get to where we’re going — and pump gas, a dollar more on average across this country. We’re up over four bucks across the country now, 30 percent in Michigan alone. Whether or those things are good things, that a big question. And I’ll tell you what, there are a lot of people who are really sad about the fact that they thought that the era of foreign wars, of never-ending regime change wars were over, and here we are. Now, ask yourself whether or not any of this is making you more likely to be able to afford your home, whether it’s making you more likely be able live your life, whether your kids are going to better schools, or whether or you can see a doctor without having to worry about whether or or not you’re gonna fall into debt. Those are questions that Michiganders across the board, Arab, non-Arab, in Dearborn, outside of Dearborn, are asking every single day, and those are questions that this administration is not answering.

HEMMER: That’s why we have elections. Just one more question on this. Would it not be better for the people of Iran, the Arab world, and the people of America, frankly, would we all not be better off if the radicals in Iran did not make the decisions for the people of Iran in that region?

EL-SAYED: Look, at the end of the day, I agree with you. Radicalism of any sort is bad, which is why this MAGA movement taking us into yet another war in my lifetime, and I’m only 41, is so ridiculous, because that kind of radicalism, that idea that we should just rattle our sabers and go to war with anybody, that’s an open question. Meanwhile, you’ve got the Saudis, you’ve the Qataris who are buying the Trump administration a jet that he plans to take after he’s done with the presidency. Those are all radical regimes too, and we’re not going to war them. To me, the question of whether or not we go to war ought to be a question of whether or not it’s in the best interest of our government, of our people, whether or or not it actually makes our lives better. And I think the answer to this question is already no when it comes to Iran, like it had been when it came to Iraq.

Watch above via Fox News.

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