El-Sayed challenges Trump to lie detector on Epstein

A YouTube channel called JP+ posted a clip under the title "Así le respondió Abdul El-Sayed a Donald Trump." In the channel’s own description, the Michigan Democrat is cast as throwing down a dare in Spanish: “Yo paso por un detector de metales si tú pasas por uno de mentiras y respondes sobre Epstein.”

The peg is a Thursday campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Mich., on the Western Michigan University campus. El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in the 2026 Michigan Senate race, was answering President Donald Trump’s line that he should face a metal detector if he reaches Congress. TMZ quoted Trump as saying, “He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate. I want him to have a metal detector.”

A receipt-style outlet logged 59 seconds of unedited Associated Press footage from the rally and transcribed El-Sayed’s reply. “Just recently he said that I should have to go through a metal detector. That’s all I mean he took that Wolverine thing seriously. He knows I got claws,” he said, according to that transcript. “But here’s the deal Donald, listen, I’ll go through a metal detector if you’ll sit for a lie detector, simple. I got nothing to hide. You’ve got so much to hide. My first question Epstein. Second question did you win the 2020 election? So that’s the deal.”

The Hill’s Sarah Davis, in a story dated Oct. 30 at 3:21 p.m. ET, reported the same bargain in shorter form. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis answered the Epstein charge in a statement shared with The Hill on Friday afternoon. “Just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” Bis wrote. “And by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, President Trump has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone before him.”

El-Sayed is running against Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers for the seat opened by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. If he wins, he would be the first Muslim senator. Decision Desk HQ’s Friday forecast gives him a 73 percent chance. Rogers sits at 27 percent. The Cook Political Report still rates the race a toss-up. El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens in the summer Democratic primary; Stevens’s fiancé said he would support Rogers.