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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. In her post, she said El-Sayed spent just a “nanosecond” with a disavowal, the went into a “subsequent uninterrupted three-minute diatribe” that proved the questioner’s “exact point.” She called the exchange “the kind of spectacular self own most ppl only dream about triggering,” and offered a “congrats.”
By Sunday afternoon, Crawford had deleted the post. “Earlier, I tweeted a video from an Abdul El-Sayed town hall,” she said. “I deleted that tweet because it was a violation of CBS News standards. I apologize.”
CBS News declined to make executives available for comment.
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. Indeed, Disney’s ABC News opted not to renew the contract of longtime anchor and correspondent Terry Moran in June of 2025 after he called Trump administration official Stephen Miller a “world class hater” in a social media post.
The Crawford controversy comes as CBS News has embraced more opinion under Bari Weiss, a digital entrepreneur who was named editor in chief of the Skydance operation in 2025. Weiss, who founded the provocative site The Free Press, has brought it with her to CBS News, and some CBS News personnel have written for the site. Ross Douthat, a former conservative opinion writer for The New York Times who has been named a correspondent at “60 Minutes,” recently debuted a column he intends to produce for the lively digital operation.
Crawford is a journalist of long standing, working earlier in her career on the legal affairs beat for the Chicago Tribune after graduating from law school at the University of Chicago. She has also contributed analysis to what is now called the PBS NewsHour and worked for ABC News as well.
In April, Weiss told Variety she was looking for people who could wear many hats at CBS News. ““The kind of talent that we are looking for are people who are amphibious. They are capable of, yes, reading off a teleprompter when necessary, but also doing man on the street interviews, speaking fluently in a casual podcast, writing in a clear and crisp way,” she said. “Candidly, what we are asking for of talent in 2026 is a lot. It’s special. And it’s not what has historically been typical. But there are people capable of doing it. We are just always going to be hungry for these people wherever they exist, whether they are inside CBS or if they are on the outside
The attention to Crawford’s remarks comes as CBS News is trying to push forward after a series of surprising developments, including the overhaul by Weiss of “60 Minutes,” where ratings this season have been under constant scrutiny. The news division has recently seen some new momentum at “CBS Evening News,” where the overall audience watching anchor Tony Dokoupil has stayed above 4 million for two consecutive weeks, and is making notable tweaks to “CBS Mornings,” where Norah O’Donnell has joined the main on-air crew.
But the news division is also grappling with its recent handling of reports about conflict in the Middle East. A “60 Minutes” report by correspondent Lesley Stahl from the region spurred arguments between her and Weiss, according to a person familiar with the matter. And Shayndi Raice, the CBS News foreign editor, in a meeting last week chastised some journalists working under her for resisting edits to their work made by senior staff and said pushback on direction — typical in many newsrooms as reporters on the ground vie with recommendations made by editors — could be viewed as insubordination. Raice’s comments came after she asked that a report by veteran Holly Williams be changed for broadcast on a later program, and were made available via an audio recording by the media newsletter Status and confirmed by two people familiar with the matter, one of whom noted that much of CBS News staff remains put off by the notion that questioning editorial direction could be seen as a firable offense.
Crawford may have to decide if she wants to stay at CBS News and continue reporting on consequential affairs, or if she wants to pursue commentary, in which case she could follow the path of ABC News’ Moran. In April, the journalistlaunched his own website as well as a digital call-in show. Both allow him to speak his mind without having to worry about whether doing so will impugn the credibility of the legacy news organization for which he works.
