Hot mic catches Dem Senate hopeful asking aide to sideline conservative press corps

FIRST ON FOX: Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was caught on live video asking a senior campaign official to separate conservative journalists — whom he called “bogeymen” — from the rest of the press after a campaign event with Hasan Piker last week.

The heated moment on the mic came while Piker’s team was live streaming backstage before the event, when El-Sayed’s communications director, Roxie Richner, told him and Piker, “We’re going to do a quick scrimmage with Fox, the Free Beacon and these people,” prompting El-Sayed to ask, “Could you separate, like the bogeys, from everyone?”

After Richner responded in the affirmative, El-Sayed punched her before Piker intervened to let both men know they were being filmed.

The candid moment follows days of retaliation El-Sayed faced for hosting an event with Piker, the controversial podcaster who had to walk back comments saying Americans deserved 9/11, justified Hamas attacks and massacres, including rape, against innocent Israelis, and recently told his supporters that “you really don’t need suicide bombers anymore” because cheap drones made in China can be purchased online for anyone interested in carrying out a terrorist attack.

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Streamer Hasan Piker, left, and Abdul El-Sayed, progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, center right, take a selfie with young fans following a campaign event, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

El-Sayed responded to these concerns by insisting that his goal was to ensure his message spoke to a “broader audience” who feel excluded from contemporary politics, during an interview just days before the event with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.

He told Hemmer that he spoke to him, even though they often disagreed, for precisely this reason of trying to reach a wider audience. “When I said I’d talk to anyone, I meant it. I’ll be on Fox News at 9:15 with Bill Hemmer,” El-Sayed tweeted ahead of his interview with Hemmer earlier this month.

Piker quickly intervened after the punch was filmed to tell Richner and El-Sayed that he was filming. The trio quickly separated, but the camera continued rolling as it followed a visibly disturbed Piker.

“There’s probably some progress being made,” Piker’s cameraman said after the trio broke up, and the live feed cut back to Piker, who had walked away and started drinking a bottle of water. “I don’t think so,” Piker replied as he continued to gulp down the bottle of water.

Richner, an El-Sayed staffer seen punching him, told Fox News Digital that the campaign fielded questions from a “large melee” after the event that day, as well as after a second event later the same day at Michigan State University. Richner also reiterated El-Sayed’s assertions that he welcomes conversations with people of all political stripes.

“After both rallies, our campaign answered questions in a large scrum that included all media present: local media, student journalists and national media covering all ideologies,” Richner said. “We go everywhere and talk to everyone.”

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Abdul El-Sayed attends the Detroit Association of Black Organizations (DABO) Christmas 2025 Party at the Bridge Center on December 16, 2025, in Detroit, Michigan. (Monica Morgan/Getty Images)

Since entering the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, El-Sayed has faced retaliation for holding fringe anti-Israel and anti-law enforcement positions, such as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and blaming Israel for committing “genocide.”

Fox News Digital previously reported how El-Sayed quietly deleted old social media posts he made online supporting the “defund the police” movement between 2020 and 2021, including calling the police “standing armies that we deploy against our own people.”

Meanwhile, newly discovered audio showed that El-Sayed did not want to say anything publicly about the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamanei because he feared that some Michiganders would be “sad” after the death of the terrorist regime’s leader.

El-Sayed recently came under fire for campaigning with Piker, who was criticized for justifying Hamas attacks and massacres, including rape, against innocent Israelis, was forced to walk back his comments about how Americans deserved 9/11, and told his supporters that “you really don’t need suicide bombers anymore”, because cheap drones made in China can be purchased online for anyone who is interested to carry out a terrorist attack. Piker sympathizes with communist ideals, but has called himself a socialist and a Marxist while rejecting communist labels. At the same time, Piker also described communism as the “honorable end goal” of socialism.

Streamer Hasan Piker hands his energy drink to producer Mauricio Miranda before taking the stage to speak at a campaign event for Abdul El-Sayed, progressive candidate in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Michigan, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

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When asked during his event with Piker if he would disavow any of the podcaster’s controversial comments, El-Sayed did not do so and defended the far-left podcast and internet personality’s emerging position within the Democratic Party.

“It’s an active decision to reach out to people who feel excluded from their politics to have a conversation, just like I’m making an active decision as a candidate in the Democratic primary to have a conversation on Fox News,” El-Sayed told Hemmer about his decision to campaign with Piker. “Just because you invite someone to campaign with you, or interact with them, doesn’t mean you agree with them.”

Primary elections for El-Sayed’s Democratic Party, facing a slew of other formidable candidates, will take place in August, followed by general elections in November.