The allegation originated in part from Mike Rogers, the Republican contender in Michigan’s Senate race.
LANSING, MICHIGAN: Leading up to the Michigan Senate primary, a viral rumor spread across social media alleging that Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed stated he believed the United States brought the 9/11 attacks upon itself. This claim quickly generated widespread concern online, making a fact-check necessary.
Claim: Abdul El-Sayed asserted that America deserved the 9/11 attacks
According to the widespread rumor, El-Sayed made remarks suggesting that the US deserved the tragic events of 9/11, which destroyed the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
The narrative was heavily pushed by Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent.
Rogers took to X and Instagram to write, “Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11.”
While the posts amassed over a million views—with many commenters accepting the statement at face value—numerous others flagged it as disinformation, accusing the campaign of manufacturing fake news for political leverage.
Fact Check: The statement was falsely attributed to Abdul El-Sayed
In reality, the claim is entirely false. There is no record or evidence of El-Sayed ever making such a comment.
Instead, the remark amplified by Rogers and other conservative commentators actually originated from Hasan Piker, a progressive Twitch streamer who had campaigned for El-Sayed. Piker uttered the phrase during a personal broadcast in August 2019.
“America deserved 9/11, dude,” Piker said during the stream. “F*** it. I’m saying it.”
When later questioned about the viral quote, Piker attempted to clarify his comments.
“No. Obviously not,” he stated, acknowledging the widespread circulation of the soundbite.
“If those people were at least even remotely charitable or cared about the actual truth of what I was talking about they would understand that within context, I was simply referencing the fact that all of the foreign policy decisions, and our arming of insurgent groups in the region, and our efforts in destabilizing the Middle East have a direct consequence — a boomerang effect rather, if you will — in causing 9/11. Of course, every part of what I advocate for is against violence. I abhor violence. I think it’s awful.”