‘Did You Tell The Truth?’ Mehdi Hasan Grills El-Sayed On His Finances, Calling Himself a Physician
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“Well, that's a good line, but people would say it's also about, did you tell the truth?” Hasan pressed back at one point. The post ‘Did You Tell The Truth?’ Mehdi Hasan Grills El-Sayed On His Finances, Calling Himself a Physician first appeared on Mediaite.
Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan released a wide-ranging interview with progressive Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday, titled “Could This Be America’s First Muslim Senator?”
While the interview, which was taped before State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) dropped out of the race, was largely a friendly discussion between ideological allies, Hasan did grill El-Sayed at times on key criticisms he’s received during the campaign. El-Sayed is currently locked in a tight battle with moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in the Michigan Democratic Party primary for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Hasan asked at one point during the discussion, “You got attacked by your rivals for calling yourself a physician, not just a doctor, even though you don’t have a valid state medical license in New York or Michigan, which apparently is what you need legally to call yourself a physician. Do you wish you’d just stuck to calling yourself a doctor, which you are, to avoid all of this controversy and attacks on your physician status?”
El-Sayed replied, “You know, at the end of the day, it’s not about whether or not I’m a physician or a doctor. The question is, can you see a doctor? It’s not about my education, it’s about whether your kid gets good education. So I’m just not spending time on that.”
“Well, that’s a good line, but people would say it’s also about, did you tell the truth?” Hasan pressed back.
El-Sayed replied, “Well, I would say that I was the health director for the city of Detroit, and I’ve done more to provide more people health care and eliminate medical debt than most doctors have done in their practice career.”
During another exchange, Hasan pressed El-Sayed on his net worth and why he filed to delay to release his financial disclosure form on August 13th, after the August 3rd Democratic Party primary.
“Haley Stevens has also attacked you and Mike Rogers for being millionaires who, she says, conveniently did not file their 2026 personal financial disclosures. You’ve sought an extension through August 13th, I believe, which is after the primary. Was this to avoid transparency with your voters? Why not release them before the election?” Hasan asked.
“No, just taxes get complicated. My wife and her family own property abroad, and so getting all those tax forms is a thing,” El-Sayed replied, adding:
And this is, by the way, the same extension that Congressman… She said you were a millionaire and that you’re hiding that. Well, if you take my assets and my wife’s assets together, then I guess they add up to something like that. But my career has never been about trying to maximize money, otherwise, I would have just gone and been a surgeon.
My focus has always been on public service. And it’s interesting to try to compare apples to oranges here: if you file on your own, then of course your assets look like one thing, which Congresswoman Stevens does; if you file with a partner, your assets might look like something else.
Watch the full interview above.
The post ‘Did You Tell The Truth?’ Mehdi Hasan Grills El-Sayed On His Finances, Calling Himself a Physician first appeared on Mediaite.