WATCH: Challenged on CNN, Ossoff doubles down on attacks on Loeffler
Image by Getty Images
By David Ian Klein January 4, 2021
Jon Ossoff, the Jewish Democrat trying to oust one of two United States Senators in Georgia’s runoff elections on Tuesday, doubled down on his accusations that Sen. Kelly Loeffler is dangerously racist during a CNN appearance on Sunday.
Though Ossoff is technically running against Sen. David Perdue, while the Rev, Raphael Warnock is challenging Loeffler, the twin races have become somewhat intertwined. Ossoff has repeatedly claimed that Loeffler is “campaigning with a Klansman.”
Loeffler was photographed with Charles Doles, an active white supremacist and former member of the Ku Klux Klan in December. But when the photo began circulating on social media, her campaign quickly denounced him.
During an appearance on the CNN Sunday show “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper, the host, challenged Ossoff on the issue.
“You said that, quote, ‘Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a Klansman,’ unquote. That’s not true,” Tapper said. “I’m sure you’ve taken photos with thousands of strangers, Isn’t it important for candidates to tell the truth?”
Ossoff did not back down.
“It is, and it’s even more distressing that this isn’t an isolated incident,” he said. “Kelly Loeffler has repeatedly posed for photographs and been seen campaigning alongside radical white supremacists.”
“I believe they’re drawn to her campaign,” Ossoff added, “because her campaign has consisted almost entirely of racist attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement and on the Black church.”
Last week, Loeffler had called Ossoff a pathological liar.
“Every Georgian knows that Jon Ossoff is a pathological liar,” she said in an appearance on Fox News Thursday. “And he’s a trust-fund socialist who’s never had a job, other than through the Chinese Communist Party.”
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