Conservatives who spoke with Digital are raising concerns about what could happen if Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed wins his election and, by virtue of holding office, becomes eligible to receive certain classified information.

Unlike congressional staffers and many executive-branch officials, senators are not required to obtain a formal executive-branch security clearance to be eligible for classified information related to their official duties. If El-Sayed wins in November, he would not have to go through the same formal security-clearance process as many other government officials because members of Congress are generally considered eligible for access to classified information by virtue of holding elected office.

Those issues have raised concerns among some national security and policy experts.

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«Anyone refusing to disavow America-hater Hasan Piker should never be elected to Congress. El-Sayed will use his perch in the Senate to undermine America and empower its enemies,» Daniel Samet, a research fellow specializing in Middle East policy at the center-right American Enterprise Institute, told Digital.

Samet argued that El-Sayed has associated with people who support the intifada and terrorist causes and that he has shown sympathy for radical Islamist ideology.

Digital and other outlets have reported on El-Sayed’s appearances and political relationships with individuals who have expressed support for or made favorable statements about U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.

In April, for instance, El-Sayed was introduced at a campaign rally by Amir Makled, a man who previously celebrated dead members of the terrorist organization Hezbollah as «martyr[s].» A few months later, at a mosque opening, El-Sayed shared a stage with Sheikh Fadhel al-Sahlani, a cleric who has previously praised Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and made remarks minimizing the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

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He also accepted an endorsement from Osama Siblani, who has praised both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Critics have also pointed to El-Sayed’s relationship with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said that America «deserved 9/11.» El-Sayed has since called that statement «dumb,» and distanced himself from Piker, though stopped short of totally disavowing him.

«Abdul’s running to keep Americans safe and bring down costs for Michigan families. Mike Rogers spent his entire career selling out Michigan, and has directly profited off shady business dealings with foreign companies,» campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak told Digital.

«Rogers made hundreds of thousands of dollars working for companies that partnered with Chinese firms posing ‘national security threats’ to the US, and worked for a Saudi-linked company that pushed for regulations that could have ‘enabled Saudi Arabia to develop nuclear weapons.’ Mike Rogers got rich selling out Michiganders and he can’t be trusted to keep us safe,» the statement continued.

On China, the El-Sayed spokesperson was apparently referencing Rogers’ work in the telecommunications industry at companies that had business dealings involving Huawei. While serving in the House, Rogers was a vocal critic of Huawei. The Saudi Arabia jab was a reference to Rogers’ work with a Saudi-linked company that drew criticism over its efforts to transfer nuclear energy technology to the Middle Eastern kingdom.

The Rogers campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Digital on Thursday.

Beyond El-Sayed’s professional relationships, critics have also pointed to statements and past employment involving members of his family.

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«His affiliation with communists like Hasan Piker who claimed America deserved 9/11 combined with repeated calls to abolish ICE compound these concerns. Senators handle sensitive intelligence with major national security implications; Giving someone like El-Sayed access would put American lives at risk,» Heritage Action government relations director Chip Wyatt, who previously served as a mid-level staffer to Sen. Mike Lee, told Digital.

The Senate hopeful’s half-sister has also been criticized over an «October 7th blessing» she posted on the first anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack. El-Sayed previously told Digital that, while he loves his sister, the two have disagreements as it relates to foreign policy. His campaign has also stressed that no one speaks for El-Sayed except for the man himself.

Some have suggested that, with the crop of Democratic Socialists of America affiliated candidates making runs for office in 2026, the alleged problem could be much bigger than just El-Sayed.

«I think it’s a huge issue, and I don’t think it stops at just him,» America First Works president Ashley Hayek told Digital. «You have to look at all the candidates that are being adored by groups like the DSA, the Working Families Party, UnidosUS, the Party for Socialism and Liberation — they’re all tied together. A lot of these groups are also funded by Neville Singham.»

A 2023 New York Times investigation identified Singham as a major funder within a network of U.S. activist organizations that the newspaper reported had connections to pro-Beijing messaging.

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Concerns that a senator could leak information they’re not supposed to are not merely hypothetical, according to Bryce Poole, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, a think tank affiliated with former Vice President Mike Pence.

«It was not that long ago, it was 2024, when Robert Menendez was prosecuted and convicted for being a foreign agent of Egypt essentially and in 2025 I believe he was sentenced to 11 years,» Poole, who specializes in national security law, told Digital. «Now, if I recall correctly none of this stuff that he actually shared with the Egyptians was alleged to have been classified, but it was still non-public information that was sensitive information that he only had access to by virtue of his office as a senator. So it’s not that this is just a hypothetical problem.»

abdul el sayed, senate, national security, al qaeda terror, terror

EXCLUSIVE: Digital got an inside look at a Houston training site preparing blue-collar workers for construction jobs tied to the massive infrastructure buildout powering America’s artificial intelligence boom.

The site will host a new training program under America’s Workforce Academy, a Meta-backed initiative aimed at expanding the skilled-trades workforce needed for data centers and other infrastructure projects.

Meta is investing an initial $115 million in the academy and working with Associated Builders and Contractors, CBRE, the National Urban League and local organizations on workforce-training programs around the country.

In Houston, Meta is partnering with Associated Builders and Contractors on a general construction training program scheduled to begin Nov. 2.

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Separately, the academy launched its fiber technician training program, developed with CBRE, in July in Indianapolis and Columbus. The first class graduated in August, and new classes begin every week.

In an interview with Digital at the Houston training site, Joel Thames, ABC vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development, described America’s Workforce Academy as «the largest workforce development investment in history.»

He said that while blue-collar workers are often left out of the debate over artificial intelligence, the academy will give everyday Americans a stake in the data-center buildout while preparing them for jobs in construction.

«This program is heavily weighted towards the worker,» he explained.

«There’s a lot of controversy that surrounds data centers and we encourage folks to get involved and really question and understand what’s being built in their backyards,» he said. «But if they are going to be built, our goal is to ensure that the worker is safe, they go home safe every night, that they build them correctly, and that they earn credentials that they can take into other facets of construction.»

Announced earlier this year, America’s Workforce Academy has been praised by blue-collar advocate Mike Rowe for working to «completely rethink the way we train the next generation of skilled workers.»

According to Meta, graduates of the Houston program’s four-week intensive training will earn an industry-recognized National Center for Construction Education and Research credential and an America’s Workforce Certificate.

Thames said the program is responding to demand for skilled workers as construction expands around data centers and other infrastructure projects. He cited a shortage of approximately 349,000 U.S. workers needed to meet current construction demand.

Meta has framed the broader workforce initiative in similar terms.

«The United States labor market needs hundreds of thousands of fiber technicians, welders, plumbers, electricians and other skilled trade workers,» the company said in a news statement. «At Meta, we see this as an incredible opportunity for these American heroes to power America’s future.»

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Thames said Meta approached ABC with a plan that included job opportunities for workers and funding for the training, while ABC would handle instruction and credentialing.

The Houston-area program will operate out of an approximately 20,000-square-foot facility near the Houston Ship Channel equipped with classrooms, a computer lab and two bays for hands-on practical training.

The facility is operated by the Construction & Maintenance Education Foundation, a nonprofit educational affiliate of ABC Greater Houston that will host the Houston-area training for America’s Workforce Academy.

Houston is one of several locations involved in Meta’s workforce initiative, with additional programs underway in Ohio and Indiana, and another program scheduled to start in Louisiana in November.

A Meta spokesperson said 277 students have already graduated in Ohio and Indiana, with more classes graduating every week.

According to Thames, the workforce is rising to meet the need.

«As soon as [Meta] announced it, we had thousands of applicants,» he said.

Thames said the academy is expected to graduate about 300 people per month across its programs, with plans to expand.

He emphasized that the Houston curriculum is designed around construction skills and worker safety rather than instruction about artificial intelligence itself.

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«Even if the data center bubble burst and there’s no more data center work, they’re going to have credentials that they could build off of,» he said.

The growth of AI data centers has increased demand for electricians, plumbers, heavy-equipment operators and other skilled tradespeople needed to build and maintain the infrastructure supporting the technology.

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Rather than taking a position on the pace of AI development, Thames said ABC’s focus is on ensuring workers are prepared for the construction jobs being created.

«At the end of the day, if the data centers are being built, we want them built correctly, we want them built safely, we want to ensure that these workers have what they need to continue and build a long career in construction,» he said.

«If the data centers are going to be built, we want to make sure that those jobs land with Americans and American workers and keep those in house,» Thames concluded.

artificial intelligence, jobs, economy, infrastructure across america, education

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Ukraine delivered a barrage of missiles and more than 1,000 drones on Russia, which Moscow is calling the «largest ever» of the war and an attack on its parliamentary elections.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the strike at the «dollars that support the war machine» as a push for Russia to «end its brutal war and choose peace.»

«Tonight in the Moscow region, our long-range responses were felt very acutely,» Zelenskyy wrote early Sunday morning on X. «One of the key enterprises of the Russian Federation’s oil industry and an aggressor’s logistics facility have been struck. These are billions of dollars that support the war machine.»

UKRAINE UNLEASHES MORE THAN 400 DRONES NEAR MOSCOW IN ONE OF WAR’S BIGGEST ATTACKS

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Flames and smoke rise from Moscow’s oil refinery in southeast Moscow following a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack Sept. 20, 2026. (AP)

Zelenskyy added that the Ukraine attack was a stern response to Russian aggression, making a future call for the U.S., Europe and the G7 to deliver «new sanctions.»

«This week alone, Russia has launched more than 2,000 attack drones against us, most of them jet-powered, as well as 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles of various types,» he wrote on X. «Ukraine is constantly looking for and finding ways to defend itself and respond to these attacks on life.

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«It is important that our partners also look for and find ways to make Russia feel its war. Now is the right moment to take new sanctions steps against the aggressor and force peace through strength. The United States has the means to do this, Europe has them, and so does every G7 country. We are counting on new, strong steps.»

The Kremlin was wrapping up the third and last day of its parliamentary elections this weekend and said two were killed and 20 wounded, according local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov.

UKRAINE LAUNCHES WHAT APPEARS TO BE ONE OF ITS LARGEST DRONE ATTACKS AGAINST RUSSIA: REPORT

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Plumes of smoke rise from fires at an oil refinery following what authorities said was a Ukrainian drone strike during the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 20, 2026. (REUTERS/Stringer)

«The biggest attack by enemy drones has been repelled,» Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. «This unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed.»

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down a total of 1,110 Ukrainian drones across the country, as well as over the peninsula of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that 450 drones had been destroyed en route to the Russian capital, and that the attack had damaged the Moscow Oil Refinery and a residential building.

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«Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions,» Zelenskyy wrote in a second X post. «Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security. What is needed is political will. I thank everyone who is strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities. I am grateful to everyone who complements our long-range responses with responses through sanctions.»

Ukraine continued to fend off Russian attacks, according to Zelenskyy. A Russian drone strike hit a monastery in Ukraine’s Kherson region Saturday, killing a member of the clergy and wounding four people, he said.

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An office building burns following a Russian drone attack in central Odesa, Ukraine, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Michael Shtekel/AP)

A Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv also killed three children and their mother Saturday night, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional state administration.

Ukraine’s latest drone strikes took place on the final day of Russia’s first wartime parliamentary election — balloting that has been virtually devoid of opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s policies.

Russia was also holding the vote in the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed after the war began but still does not fully control, and in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was Russia invaded in 2014.

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Putin accused Ukraine of trying to interfere in the election, citing what he said was a Ukrainian strike that killed an election official in her home in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region Tuesday. Reuters could not independently verify details of the attack and there was no comment from Kyiv.

Putin told the nation in a televised address before the election that the vote would underline support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

«Your choice, and your will, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory, and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,» Putin said.

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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Eric Mack is a breaking news reporter and writer Sunday through Thursday, 6 a.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET, with a particular interest in stories that lead the news cycle on politics, elections, foreign affairs and government.

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ukraine, russia, volodymyr zelenskyy, vladimir putin, wars, elections, drones