Mike Rogers’ Senate Email Claims He Saw Osama bin Laden’s Body

The statement appears in a broader self-portrait in which Rogers describes himself as a former U.S. Rogers is running for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat against progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

The Guardian

Rogers told reporters that he was not in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011, when the raid that killed bin Laden took place, nor was he in the White House Situation Room. He said he was at his home in Washington, D.C., serving as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and learned of the raid via a phone call from CIA Director Leon Panetta. Rogers later clarified that he had seen a photograph of bin Laden’s dead body, not the body itself, and that he supported President Barack Obama’s decision to keep the graphic images from public release, arguing that “the risks of release outweigh the benefits.”

The GuardianRaw Story

Multiple outlets, including *The Guardian* and *Raw Story*, reported that Rogers’ claim about personally seeing the corpse was false. A 2011 Roll Call interview shows Rogers describing the photos as “pretty gruesome,” confirming he viewed images rather than the body. A New York Times fact-check further noted that Rogers’ later accusation that El-Sayed’s campaign “believes America deserved 9/11” misidentified the source; the remark originated from a supporter, streamer Hasan Piker, not El-Sayed himself. Journalists have characterized Rogers’ language as an exaggeration intended to bolster his anti-terrorism credentials during the campaign.

The Guardian

• “When I served as a US army officer and an FBI special agent, I swore a sacred oath to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” — Mike Rogers

The Guardian

• “The risks of release outweigh the benefits,” — Mike Rogers

The Guardian

• “Abdul doesn’t represent a vision for the future. He’s leading a movement grounded in ideological fanaticism,” — Mike Rogers

The Guardian

• “I watched terrorists with names like mine attack my country in the name of my faith. Three thousand of my fellow Americans were killed in the craven terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. The attack devastated me.” — Abdul El-Sayed

The Guardian