When the deletions happened
- Before April 2025: CNN reported that his old X posts were already gone when he launched his Senate campaign, according to summaries of its November 2025 story. No source we checked gives an exact date.
- Nov. 10, 2025: CNN’s KFile first reports the deleted posts, including about a dozen supporting “defund the police.”
- Mid-2026: His campaign tells Politico he removed everything posted before July 2023 so it couldn’t be “taken out of context,” as later quoted by CBS News. It didn’t say when he deleted them.
- Aug. 2026: CNN reports he also made more than 100 YouTube videos private.
Deleted vs. still up, by year
Each of his posts in this archive was checked against X. Posts that X reports as missing are counted as deleted. Some could have been removed for other reasons, such as a reply to an account that no longer exists.
News coverage
Reports about the deleted posts, newest first. Outlets’ political lean is noted where it’s widely recognized.
- Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks CBS News · Aug. 31, 2026 Verifies two deleted 2020 posts comparing COVID-19 deaths to 9/11. Notes the campaign’s pre-July 2023 cutoff and that it didn’t say when the posts were deleted.
- Abdul El-Sayed Has A Deleted 9/11 Tweets Problem The Daily Wire (conservative) · Aug. 31, 2026 Follows the CBS report on the deleted 9/11 posts.
- CNN on YouTube videos made private CNN · Aug. 11, 2026 Reports that more than 100 of his YouTube videos were made private.
- Fact check: Abdul El-Sayed’s record on defund the police; Republican meddling Bridge Michigan (nonpartisan) · July 17, 2026 Confirms CNN’s reporting and quotes him saying he deleted posts so they wouldn’t be taken out of context.
- “We do need to defund the police”: 2020 interviews undermine Abdul El-Sayed’s claim he never advocated for unpopular movement CNN KFile · July 7, 2026 Says CNN counted thousands of deleted tweets, about a dozen on defunding police. His campaign said his perspective “has become more nuanced.”
- In Deleted Social Media Posts, Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Repeatedly Drew Equivalence Between 9/11 and the US Response Washington Free Beacon (conservative) · Dec. 22, 2025 Covers deleted posts from around September 2021. A campaign spokesperson criticized the story’s framing.
- Tlaib-backed Senate candidate in the hot seat after deleting ‘defund the police’ social media posts Fox News (right-leaning) · Nov. 12, 2025 Follows CNN’s report. His campaign pointed to his work with police and his sheriff endorsements.
- CNN KFile: Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted “defund the police” tweets CNN KFile · Nov. 10, 2025 The first report on the deletions.
The deleted posts
Every post in this archive that’s no longer on X, most popular first. Each one links to its own page, to the Wayback Machine capture it was rebuilt from, and to its old X address (which now shows a missing page).