Abby Phillip told her CNN panel Wednesday that Abdul El-Sayed never supported defunding the police.
CNN reported the opposite a month ago.
What Phillip said when a panelist pointed out this fact is something else entirely.
The Moment CNN’s Left Hand Fact-Checked Its Right Hand
Former Trump official Caroline Sunshine opened the exchange by calling out El-Sayed’s record directly – saying the Michigan Senate nominee “wants to defund the police.”
Phillip pushed back immediately.
“I will say El-Sayed didn’t – does not support defunding the police,” she told the panel.
Sunshine held her ground, noting El-Sayed has taken that position and is now trying to run from it.
Phillip doubled down: “He has said that he doesn’t support defunding the police.”
That’s when former New York City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli delivered the kill shot.
“I also don’t mean to fact-check you, but CNN’s reporting is saying that he has called to defund the police, despite his own denials of doing so,” Borelli said, citing a CNN KFile article published July 7 on CNN’s own website.
Phillip’s response to being corrected using her own network’s journalism?
She pivoted to lecturing Republicans about whether they’re focused on the right issues.
“I think the question that I’m fundamentally asking is, by dredging up the sort of wedge issues of 2020, are you missing the point?” she said.
What CNN’s Own Reporters Actually Found
The CNN KFile investigation Borelli referenced wasn’t a conservative hit piece – it was CNN’s own investigative unit catching El-Sayed in a lie.
The reporting showed that El-Sayed had “repeatedly endorsed defunding the police” in 2020 interviews, even as his 2026 Senate campaign insisted he “never, never called for defunding” the movement.
In one 2020 Detroit Public Radio interview, El-Sayed said directly: “I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets.”
He deleted his social media posts supporting the defund movement before launching his Senate campaign – then claimed he deleted them because he “didn’t want them to be taken out of context.”
There’s no context in which “we do need to defund the police” means something other than what it says.
The Record Goes Deeper Than Deleted Tweets
El-Sayed’s connection to the defund movement isn’t just a handful of social media posts.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that El-Sayed served as a board member – and twice as president – of Michigan United, an anti-police organization that compared cops to “slave catchers.”
The group organized a May 2020 Detroit protest that devolved into a riot, with activists attacking officers and defacing police cars.
His campaign’s explanation for all of this?
https://twitter.com/MichaelARothman/status/2075530453013102869?s=20
His views have become “more nuanced” since he worked alongside law enforcement in Wayne County.
Michigan voters just made him their Democratic Senate nominee anyway.
He’ll face Republican former Congressman Mike Rogers in November in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country – a race that could decide Senate control.
Why Phillip’s Pivot Is the Real Story
When Borelli corrected Phillip using CNN’s own journalism, she didn’t acknowledge the record or update her earlier claim.
She asked whether Republicans were “missing the real issue” by focusing on El-Sayed’s 2020 positions.
That’s a tell.
When a CNN anchor gets caught defending a Democrat using false information – on CNN – and her response is to question whether the truth is even relevant, you’re watching something important happen in real time.
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/2064169947928924462?s=20
Democrats spent 2020 watching defund-the-police cost them House seats they expected to hold.
Swing voters in Michigan haven’t forgotten what it meant.
Republicans don’t need to convince those voters that El-Sayed backed defunding the police – CNN’s own reporters already did that work.
Phillip’s job on Wednesday night was apparently to walk it back.
It didn’t work.
Sources:
- Ian Hanchett, “CNN’s Phillip Says El-Sayed Doesn’t Support Defunding the Police, Is Fact-Checked by CNN Report,” Breitbart, August 6, 2026.
- CNN KFile, “‘We do need to defund the police’: 2020 interviews undermine Abdul El-Sayed’s claim he never advocated for unpopular movement,” CNN Politics, July 7, 2026.
- Fox News Digital, “Abdul El-Sayed video surfaces contradicting his defund the police denial,” Fox News, July 2026.
- Washington Free Beacon, “Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Helped Lead Anti-Police Group as It Organized Detroit Protest Turned Deadly Riot,” Washington Free Beacon, 2026.
- Washington Examiner, “Michigan’s el Sayed backed defunding the police in 2020 despite denial,” Washington Examiner, July 2026.