Story perspectives

NYT Fact-Check Flags Rogers’ Bin Laden Claim as False

8/30/2026

Summary

Story summary

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers claimed in a fundraising email that he saw Osama bin Laden’s dead body with his own eyes.
He said he only viewed a photograph of body and was at home in Washington, D.C., on May 1 2011.
Rogers was not in Abbottabad, Pakistan, nor in the White House Situation Room during the raid.
A New York Times fact-check found Rogers’ claim that Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed said America deserved 9/11 was false.
The false 9/11 remark was originally made by El-Sayed’s supporter Hasan Piker, who later apologized.

History

Historical Context

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed 2,977 victims and prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, reshaped American politics. In the aftermath, the New York Times reported that President George W. Bush authorized the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden, a mission costing $2 billion by 2011. Decades later, Republican Senate hopeful Mike Rogers falsely claimed personal sight of bin Laden’s corpse, echoing the era’s politicized 9/11 narratives that also misattributed statements to Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and his supporter Hasan Piker. Such distortions revive the post-9/11 climate of partisan mythmaking, prompting fact-checkers and media watchdogs to demand stricter verification of election rhetoric.

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Story summary

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers claimed in a fundraising email that he saw Osama bin Laden’s dead body with his own eyes.
He said he only viewed a photograph of body and was at home in Washington, D.C., on May 1 2011.
Rogers was not in Abbottabad, Pakistan, nor in the White House Situation Room during the raid.
A New York Times fact-check found Rogers’ claim that Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed said America deserved 9/11 was false.
The false 9/11 remark was originally made by El-Sayed’s supporter Hasan Piker, who later apologized.

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