Abdul El-Sayed didn’t ‘fail’ Senate background check. He doesn’t need one

After Michigan voters elected Democrat Abdul El-Sayed as senator in November 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that he had failed the background check required for classified Senate briefings.

One X user named Jonathan Gregory who shared the claim wrote that El-Sayed’s alleged failure would exclude him from some meetings as a senator. The user wrote:

Abdul El Sayed has failed the background check required for classified Senate briefings. The denial blocks him from any session that involves sensitive national security information. Officials who conduct the clearances reported that the review did not meet the standards necessary for access to restricted materials. The failure leaves open the question of what specific issues prevented approval.

Senators who receive classified briefings must clear the same process before they can attend. El Sayed’s rejection means he cannot participate in those meetings. The decision places him outside the normal flow of information that other members receive. Americans who expect every senator to qualify for the same briefings now see one individual excluded by the clearance system.

(@TrumpNews_Baby, accessed via X)

The claim also circulated on Facebook (archived). Snopes readers contacted us to verify whether it was true. 

The claim was false. El-Sayed could not have “failed” a background check “required for classified Senate briefings” because no such background check exists.

Congress members, including senators, are not required to pass a background check to gain security clearance and access classified material, according to a Congressional Research Service “Frequently Asked Questions” report about security clearances from 2023. 

The U.S. Constitution, which lays out the requirements for senators, does not include a requirement for them to pass a background check to access classified information. According to Constitution Annotated, the Library of Congress’ legal analysis and interpretation of the Constitution, the document has never allowed for changes to the requirements for a senator because that would undermine the legislative branch’s investigative powers. 

Additionally, federal law exempts members of Congress, including senators, from legislation that governs background checks and security clearances.

The false rumor may have originated as satire. Snopes previously linked another false claim about election fraud to Jonathan Gregory, who shared the first instance of the rumor about El-Sayed that we identified on X. Gregory labels himself as a comedian on his Facebook page, though his Instagram and X accounts don’t display such a label. None of Gregory’s profiles specifically mention the word “satire,” though he has previously used the term near the very end of some of his posts — potentially as a way of hinting at the truth about his content. 

We’ve published fact checks about other matters originating from Gregory’s social media accounts, all of which involved false claims.

We contacted El-Sayed’s campaign to ask if he had ever applied for, been granted or denied government security clearance before becoming a senator-elect. We also asked the national intelligence director’s office whether it had ever granted or denied security clearance to El-Sayed in the past. We await replies to our questions.

Congress investigative powers allow members access to classified information

Members of Congress are implicitly allowed to access classified information because the U.S. Constitution gives the legislative branch investigative powers to inform laws and ensure they are being carried out. In practice, carrying out these investigations can mean that members of Congress need to access classified material, and the Information Security Oversight Office, which is responsible for the policy and oversight of the U.S. government’s security classification system, wrote in 2001 that this is generally allowed (PDF Page 66).

It is important to note, however, that though El-Sayed and any other member of Congress bypass the normal procedure for getting security clearance, that does not give them unlimited access to classified information. 

For example, the ISOO wrote in 2001 that though members of Congress were exempt from background checks and filling out the government’s classified information nondisclosure agreement, they were not exempt from the “‘need-to-know’ requirement” (PDF Page 66).

For example, the office wrote (PDF Page 66) that members of Congress, “are not inherently authorized to receive all classified information, but agencies provide access as is necessary for Congress to perform its legislative functions.”

Subject to election certification by state officials, the 120th Congress, which will include El-Sayed as one of two senators from Michigan, will be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2027.

For further reading, Snopes frequently investigates rumors relating to El-Sayed.