Georgia U.S. Senate Democrat candidate Jon Ossoff said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that his opponent Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) was absolutely a “crook.”
Guest host Dana Bash said, “According to The New York Times, the Justice Department opened a probe into your opponent, Senator Purdue, to look into possible inside trader. You called Purdue quote, ‘a crook,’ but this is an important, the Justice Department closed the case. They didn’t bring any charges. What evidence do you have to support your claim that he is a crook?”
Ossoff said, “Well, I think that the standard of conduct for a sitting U.S. senator needs to be higher than that he wasn’t indicted for egregiously unethical misconduct. Senator Purdue was buying up shares of manufacturers of vaccines and medical equipment and dumping his casino shares while he had access to classified briefings on COVID-19 and told the rest of us this was no deadlier than the flu. All year Senator Purdue has been lying it the public and press insisting he had no control over his stock trades. But this new reporting reveals that the FBI investigation, the banking records reveal he was, in fact, personally directing his own stock trades. So now Senator Purdue needs to come out of hiding. It’s not enough for him to say I wasn’t prosecuted. He needs to explain why he has been lying all year about the level of personal control he has over his portfolio. This is grossly unethical misconduct for sitting U.S. senator.”
Bash said, “Calling him a crook suggests he committed a crime which again the Justice Department found in evidence of. They didn’t pursue charges. Fair?”
Ossoff said, “No, I don’t think so. I think that a sitting U.S. senator exploiting his office, exploiting his access to privileged information, exploiting his power to enrich himself while his own constituents are suffering and dying absolutely makes Senator Purdue a crook. He is afraid to debate me because he won’t answer these charges because he can’t defend the indefensible.”
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