The liberal, elitist media erupted on Sunday in an attempt to attack and likely drive out Jan Crawford, A longtime CBS News correspondent, and one of the most public defenders of Bari Weiss and her team.
Crawford’s crime? She praised a man who demanded Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate Abdul el-Sayed disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, which, despite the media’s attempts to state otherwise, has ties to his family (according to el-Sayed’s sister).
Crawford — who’s best known as CBS’s longtime Supreme Court correspondent — had tweeted the following:
Tommy, thank you. I had to watch this twice to catch Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s nonsecond “Yeah absolutely” response. His subsequent uninterrupted three-minute diatribe proving your exact point is the kind of spectacular self own most ppl only dream about triggering. Congrats.
El-Sayed’s answer reflected Crawford’s summation as it boiled down to the candidate accusing the audience member of engaging in Islamophobia by asking such a question of a practicing Muslim.
Following the backlash below, she said: “Earlier, I tweeted a video from an Abdul El-Sayed town hall. I deleted that tweet because it was a violation of CBS News standards. I apologize.”
The torrent of woke scolds on X was immediate.
The single biggest offender was Variety’s Brian Steinberg, who sure seemed to be calling for Crawford’s firing, or at least a new title (click “expand”):
CBS News veteran Jan Crawford usually has the delicate task of covering the U.S. Supreme Court and the ways in which its decisions affect American lives and policies. On Sunday, however, Crawford was the one being judged.
Crawford, who joined CBS News in 2009, posted a note following a town hall meeting held Saturday night in Michigan during which Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed parried with a young man named Tommy who asked him if he would “disavow the Muslim brotherhood.” The politician won approval from liberals on social media by discussing the right to religious freedom held by Americans under the U.S. Constitution.
Crawford saw something different.
(....)
Crawford in recent years has walked on tricky terrain. She has become known for offering commentary, sometimes in public, sometimes in internal communications or meeting. Such behavior is typically frowned upon by most major news organizations, which want their reporters to be viewed as neutral chroniclers of the subjects and institutions to which they are assigned.
Steinberg went on to compare her to Terry Moran, whom ABC fired in June 2025 after a late-night tweet calling White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller “a world-class hater” whose “hatreds are his spiritual nourishment.”
So, yes, Steinberg implicitly called for Crawford’s head, even suggesting she “pursue commentary” “if she wants to pursue commentary,” because she’d otherwise have to button up to “continue reporting on consequential affairs” at CBS.
An X post of his article was particularly absurd as Steinberg argued, “the imbroglio comes as CBS News has embraced more opinion and commentary,” which is comical for anyone with a pulse and able to have watched broadcast or cable news in the last, say, 40 years.
Dan Rather, Jim Acosta, Brian Williams are just a few that come to mind (or anyone NewsBusters has placed in Notable Quotables packages going back through the Media Research Center’s entire existence).
The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr huffed, “Long history of … voice-y tweets from a network news correspondent.”
“The timing of this for CBS is challenging considering the comments made by the network’s foreign editor in a staff meeting on Tuesday. But, I’m told by someone who worked with her that Jan Crawford has a very deep SCOTUS rolodox and great access that insulates her position,” he conceded before noting she “has also been part of some reply-all beefs with other CBS staffers” in reference to a stand she took about transgenderism.
The Wrap media editor AJ Katz was similarly incensed: “Jan Crawford is CBS News’ chief legal correspondent, not an opinion commentator. Pretty striking language from a broadcast network news journalist about a Democratic senate candidate on her public account.”
Once again, have any of these people paid attention to what, say, New York Times reporter Peter Baker and wife Susan Glasser of The New Yorker tweet on a daily basis? Or, say, CNN’s Stephen Collinson?
Speaking of CNN, liberal political commentator Karen Finney was held up as another supposedly reasonable voice, expressing disgust with Crawford “spread[ing] false, racist lies about Abdul because he is Muslim.”
Longtime liberal media defender Bill Carter, who appears on CNN and other outlets to spew liberal punditry, whined: “Not sure what CBS News policies are abt launching diatribes abt political candidates. Hard to believe this would be acceptable on its face, but after learning the ‘voter’ was a Repub plant, it REALLY looks bad.”
Over at the place that insists CBS News is now “MAGA-coded” even though it’s clear they don’t actually read or watch anything, the pre-pubescent-like Mean Girls at The Daily Beast also joined in on the act. Their piece came with the headline, “CBS Star Forced Into Humiliating Apology for Wild Pro-MAGA Post.”
