Abdul El-Sayed Gets Schooled By Jesse Watters In Tense Interview

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed sat for “Jesse Watters Primetime” and took questions on ICE, Iran, and cultural issues that his campaign would rather keep off the menu.
Watters pressed him on abolishing ICE. El-Sayed pointed back to the old INS. “We were able to enforce our immigration policies without shooting people in the face and the back of the head,” he said.
Abdul El-Sayed defends calling people against Sharia Law white supremacists.
WATTERS: “You said getting rid of Sharia law was white supremacy.”
EL-SAYED: “I don't begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose.” pic.twitter.com/GgcpNixkQt
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 25, 2026
He added, “To your point, we had far fewer under INS. … If you want to do that correlation, we have ICE now and we have far, far more undocumented people. So ICE is clearly not working.” He said Michigan voters care more about gas and groceries than immigration.
On Iran, Watters asked if El-Sayed was “glad the ayatollah is dead,” referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed after U.S. and Israeli strikes began in February. El-Sayed said he would “never defend the Iranian regime” but condemned the war.
“I understand selective memory about history, but we had a JCPOA that was well negotiated, that actually had nuclear nonproliferation far more securely than we have right now after having gone to war for the better part of six months,” he said.
Watters answered, “Yeah, I like the fact that the nuclear program is buried under a mountain of rubble.” El-Sayed shot back, “You understand that, like, nuclear material doesn’t just go away because you buried it under a mountain of rubble? You understand they can still go back and bury it out, right?”
Watters said Space Force was watching and that anyone digging it up would go “kaboom.”
El-Sayed defended past language calling opponents of Sharia “white supremacists,” then said, “I don’t begrudge you your right to practice your faith as you choose.” He accused Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of ducking debates and Watters’ show. “Can we all agree that Mike Rogers is a beta? He won’t even come on your show. He’s afraid of getting grilled.”
Holy crap, Abdul El-Sayed said circumcision is similar to sex change operations on minors. pic.twitter.com/U959IcQ90G
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 25, 2026
He said Rogers “thinks he’s running against Hasan Piker,” the Twitch streamer backing El-Sayed, and treated the Fox appearance as a favor to Watters. Watters closed with, “We’ll do it again, Abdul.”

Share your perspective and reply to other readers.
Free account required. You will stay on this page.