NewsNation host Chris Cuomo unloaded on Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed this week, accusing the progressive candidate of ducking him for months and playing “the victim card.”
Cuomo aired his frustrations during a walk-and-talk segment on his podcast, “The Chris Cuomo Project,” revealing that he has been trying unsuccessfully to land an interview with El-Sayed and accusing the campaign of giving him the runaround.
The former CNN anchor pointed out that he had given El-Sayed a national platform back in 2018, when he interviewed him on CNN at a time when few people knew who he was.
Cuomo opened by criticizing El-Sayed for casting himself as a victim and for his recent non-answer on whether Israel or Iran poses a greater threat to the United States.
The NewsNation host acknowledged that El-Sayed had largely handled himself well on the campaign trail, though he added a caveat.
Things heated up when Cuomo described a conversation with a press official for El-Sayed’s campaign. According to Cuomo, the staffer repeatedly told him that the “window’s tight” for scheduling an interview.
Cuomo said he told the official that if El-Sayed wasn’t willing to speak for himself, then he didn’t want to hear complaints about the network’s coverage of the campaign, including any interview with El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers.
The staffer’s response, according to Cuomo, was to ask whether he was threatening her.
“Are you f—ing kidding me?” Cuomo said, recounting his reaction.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The outburst comes as El-Sayed faces mounting scrutiny over his media strategy and his positions on hot-button issues in the final days of one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races.
El-Sayed, a physician and former public health official, scored a surprise primary win over the Democratic establishment in Michigan earlier this year. President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Rogers, called El-Sayed’s primary victory “great news for the Republican Party.”
The Democrat has had several high-profile and contentious media appearances. In August, he clashed with Fox News host Jesse Watters during an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” when he responded to a question about sex-change procedures for minors by asking Watters whether he was circumcised. The exchange sparked widespread backlash from conservatives.
El-Sayed also faced questions this week during an interview on “Breaking Points,” where host Saagar Enjeti pressed him on whether he would support a universal health care plan that excluded gender transition treatments for minors. El-Sayed did not give a direct answer.
Cuomo has spent part of the campaign reporting from Michigan. In a separate segment, he spoke with a Black voter in Detroit who told him he planned to vote for Rogers.
Cuomo, who was fired from CNN in 2021, joined NewsNation in 2022 and has frequently positioned himself as a critic of both parties.
The Michigan Senate race will be decided Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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