CBS News veteran correspondent Jan Crawford apologized and deleted a controversial social media post thanking a heckler of Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

“Earlier, I tweeted a video from an Abdul El-Sayed town hall,” Crawford, the network’s chief legal correspondent, wrote on X Sunday. “I deleted the tweet because it was a violation of CBS News standards. I apologize.”

In the post, Crawford wrote, “Tommy, thank you. I had to watch this twice to catch Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s nanosecond, ‘yeah, absolutely,’ response. His subsequent diatribe proving your exact point is the kind of spectacular self-own is the kind ppl only dream about triggering. Congrats.”

Her since-deleted post included a video of the exchange between the heckler, identified only as “Tommy,” and El-Sayed. Tommy had questioned whether El-Sayed would “disavow the Muslim Brotherhood,” a talking point often used by El-Sayed’s opponent, Republican Mike Rogers.

“Sure. yeah, absolutely,” El-Sayed answered before adding, “Why are you asking the question?”

“Well, because they’re a terrorist group,” Tommy replied.

“But what are you implying?” El-Sayed asked. “Do you assume that I wouldn’t?”

The heckler simply replied, “Yes, because I have not heard you disavow them yet.”

“You’re asking the question because implicitly you assume that I’ll have dual loyalties right?” El-Sayed responded. “You assume that somehow I wouldn’t disavow, or that I’ll have some higher order allegiance than the Constitution.”

Before she deleted the post, Crawford’s comments drew sharp criticism from social media users and media watchdogs.

“This woman endorsing a GOP operative’s smear campaign against @AbdulElSayed is apparently a ‘straight news’ CBS reporter. This is what David Ellison paid for. This is what Bari Weiss delivered,” British American journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote on X.

“For those who choose not to watch, CBS’s top legal affairs reporter is glorifying an anti-Muslim bigot who refused to say that Christian doctrine should not be incorporated into US law,” HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Date wrote.

The post also reportedly drew internal backlash at CBS, according to The Guardian’s media reporter Jeremy Barr.

Crawford later received even more criticism after deleting the post.

“This is … quite something. From the network of Edward R Murrow,” wrote Reuters national security reporter Patricia Zengerle.

“Well, well, that'll make everyone forget her partisan s***,” another X user joked.

The misstep by a longtime correspondent comes as the network has lost numerous veteran correspondents following clashes with CBS News’ Editor-in-Chief, Bari Weiss.

Weiss was tapped to lead CBS News in October 2025, following Paramount Skydance’s $150 million acquisition of her online outlet, The Free Press. She previously served as an opinion writer for The New York Times and has described herself as a “radical centrist” and a “Zionist fanatic.”

In her time at the helm of the company, she has been accused by critics of steering the coverage in a more favorable direction toward the Trump administration and the Israeli government.

The Independent has contacted CBS News for comment.