CBS Journalist in Trouble for Praising Man Who Questioned Muslim Candidate; Deletes Post and Apologises

Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent of the influential US television network CBS, has faced intense controversy over a social media post. After posting praise for a man who questioned Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood at a town hall meeting, she deleted it and publicly apologised.

The incident began at a town hall meeting on Saturday. A man who introduced himself only as "Tommy" asked Abdul El-Sayed, a US Senate candidate from Michigan: "Will you repudiate the Muslim Brotherhood?" In reply, El-Sayed said: "Of course. Yes, absolutely. Why are you asking this question?"

Tommy then said: "Because they are a terrorist group." In response, El-Sayed said he was implying something — whether it was being assumed that he would not repudiate it, or that he might have some loyalty greater than the Constitution. It was over the video of this exchange that Crawford made her controversial post.

In the deleted post, Crawford thanked Tommy and wrote that she had to watch the video twice to catch El-Sayed's momentary "yes, of course" reply, and that El-Sayed's subsequent three-minute monologue had in fact proved Tommy's point; she also sarcastically congratulated him.

On Sunday, Crawford wrote on X that she had tweeted a video of Abdul El-Sayed's town hall, but had deleted the post because it violated CBS News standards; she also apologised. Crawford first joined CBS in 2009 and is currently the network's chief legal correspondent.

The post also created a strong reaction inside CBS. The Guardian's media reporter Jeremy Barr wrote on X that he had been told there was widespread negative reaction inside CBS News over Crawford's tweet — perhaps that is why she deleted the post.

Other journalists have also criticised it publicly. Journalist AJ Katz wrote that Jan Crawford is CBS News's chief legal correspondent, not an opinion commentator; such language on her public account about a Democratic Senate candidate is surprising. Tommy Vietor, co-host of "Pod Save America", called it "strange editorialising" by a chief legal correspondent.

CNN political commentator Karen Finney reacted even more strongly. In her words, Crawford was "caught red-handed" — she was trying to help spread false and racist tropes about Abdul because he is a Muslim.

El-Sayed himself has spoken out about the purpose of such questions. In an interview on Saturday with MS NOW host Ali Velshi, he said the whole purpose of asking this question is to imply that he might have dual loyalty. He said he is actively campaigning to protect abortion, the LGBTQ community and religious rights — to assume dual loyalty of such a person is "craziness".

The electoral context has also made this controversy significant. El-Sayed is contesting the Senate seat against Republican candidate Mike Rogers; in the midterm elections on 3 November, his party is forecast to gain seats. As a result, a question centred on religious identity and a top journalist of a national network commenting on it have moved to the centre of the election debate.

Crawford's apology came at a time when CBS is under intense scrutiny over allegations of political bias. In October 2025, conservative commentator Bari Weiss was appointed the network's editor-in-chief; before that, CBS's parent company Paramount Skydance had bought Weiss's right-wing digital outlet "The Free Press".

Meanwhile, veteran British broadcaster Sir Trevor Phillips, who recently joined CBS as a global affairs correspondent, strongly rebuffed critics who questioned the network's integrity at a heated meeting with staff of the London bureau. All in all, Crawford's post controversy has freshly brought forward the ongoing questions about CBS's impartiality; attention is now on whether the network states any further official position on the matter.