Abdul El-Sayed
Abdul El-Sayed faced renewed scrutiny over deleted social media posts referencing the 9/11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic Abdul El-Sayed/Facebook

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss reportedly played a personal role in shaping a controversial headline about Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and his deleted posts referencing the 11 September attacks, prompting accusations of racism and Islamophobia and reported concern inside the network.

The dispute erupted after CBS News published an article on 31 August headlined, 'Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks.' The piece examined several old social media posts in which El-Sayed discussed 9/11, the COVID-19 death toll and America's response to both crises.

Weiss Reportedly Pushed for 9/11 Headline Reference

Media reporter Oliver Darcy reported in his Status newsletter that Weiss 'personally directed' the headline to be changed so that it specifically highlighted El-Sayed's deleted tweets referencing the September 11 terrorist attacks.

According to the report, Weiss also praised the article during the network's daily editorial meeting. The controversy subsequently spread beyond CBS, with politicians and commentators accusing the coverage of using racist or Islamophobic framing against El-Sayed, who is Muslim.

A person familiar with the matter offered a more limited account to The New Republic, saying Weiss 'strengthened' the headline but was not 'intimately involved in the reporting process'. The source also rejected claims that there was anything racist or Islamophobic about reporting on the deleted posts.

What El-Sayed Said About 9/11 and COVID-19

The posts at the centre of the CBS News controversy date back several years and included comments comparing the scale of America's response to 9/11 with its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In one 2020 post, El-Sayed compared the mounting US COVID-19 death toll with the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks. He said he hoped the country would spend the next decade fighting 'a war for public health & against poverty', drawing a comparison with the global War on Terror launched after 9/11.

CBS reports that El-Sayed's campaign previously told Politico that all of his posts older than July 2023 had been deleted 'to prevent any old posts from being taken out of context'.

His campaign also told CBS News that El-Sayed has 'always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11 attacks'.

CBS News Staff Reportedly Raised Standards Concerns

The controversy was not confined to social media. Status reported that some CBS News staff raised concerns about the story with the network's standards department.

One CBS employee told Status that the network had taken 'a small nugget of news' and turned it into something much larger, while a former senior staff member reportedly described the article as 'shameful' and alleged that 'the racism is overt'. Those characterisations represent the views of the individuals quoted and have not been established as findings by CBS News.

Weiss Faces Fresh Scrutiny at CBS News

Weiss, who previously worked as an opinion columnist at The New York Times and co-founded The Free Press, became CBS News editor-in-chief in 2025 after Paramount acquired The Free Press as part of a deal that brough her to the network.

Her reported intervention in the Abdul El-Sayed headline has renewed debate over her editorial leadership and involvement in CBS News coverage. The Independent reported that it contacted CBS and parent company Paramount for comment following the allegations.

Meanwhile, El-Sayed is campaigning in Michigan's general election against Republican Mike Rogers, making the dispute over his old social media posts part of an increasingly scrutinised Senate race.

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