CNN Host Drops Video Receipt on Democratic Senate Candidate Calling for Defunding the Police — After Denying He Ever Said That

CNN anchor Manu Raju on Sunday asked Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) why he denied he ever called for defunding the police, considering there is audio evidence of the wannabe congressman doing just that.

“I want to ask you about some scrutiny you’ve gotten for past social media posts that you deleted, including about defunding the police,” Raju said, before referencing a denial El-Sayed made to The Detroit News. “Now you’ve said recently you ‘never, never called for defunding’ the police. But our K-File team at CNN found interviews in the past where you did repeatedly, including in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.”

CNN then played a clip from a 2020 local radio interview where El-Sayed unmistakably advocated for defunding the police.

“I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating or killing them on the streets,” El-Sayed said in the clip. He then said he wanted more money to go to public schools, social services, and libraries.

“So why did you say you never called for defunding the police, when it sounded like you did in the past?” Raju asked when the clip finished.

El-Sayed said Raju was taking him far too literally.

“You know, what’s interesting about that comment is I go as far as defining what I mean by that. Do you disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services? You fixate on the word ‘defund,’ but what I’m talking about is war materiel that we made too much of during the war in Iraq,” El-Sayed said. “And then because we had too much of it, we had to find somewhere to sell it. So we sold it to a whole bunch of local police departments.”

He continued, “I believe in investing in retention and retirement for law enforcement. I’ve done work with law enforcement during my time in Wayne County—”

Raju then tried to jump in and ask whether he felt this would become an “electibility issue” for El-Sayed. “Let me finish my answer,” El-Sayed said, before denying it would be a problem.

“I think the way that we have thought about law enforcement is we answer every social problem with somebody with a gun, and you talk to folks in law enforcement with whom I’ve worked very closely, they’ll tell you they don’t want to go on those runs where they know that somebody is in mental crisis,” El-Sayed added. “So maybe instead of investing in war materiel for police, we invest in a safe retirement for them. And then, instead of sending a guy with a gun, we send a trained mental health professional.”

He then gave Raju a little more grief for wanting to “keep talking about one particular word that was en vogue.”

Watch above.

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