Jon Ossoff, the Democratic nominee in one of Georgia’s two Senate races, slammed Senator David Perdue, his Republican opponent, as “a crook” on Wednesday night and accused him of trying to profit from the coronavirus pandemic.
The remark came during a bruising debate that underscored the bitter partisan divide in what was once a safely Republican state. Mr. Perdue, 70, said he had done nothing wrong, and accused Mr. Ossoff, 33, of pursuing a “radical socialist agenda” that would result in higher taxes.
Mr. Perdue, a wealthy former corporate executive, bought stock in DuPont de Nemours, which sells personal protective equipment, on Jan. 24, the same day he received a classified briefing on the threat posed by the coronavirus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“It’s not just that you’re a crook, Senator,” Mr. Ossoff said, turning to face his socially-distanced opponent as Mr. Perdue’s eyes remained fixed on the camera. “It’s that you’re attacking the health of the people that you represent. You did say Covid-19 was no deadlier than the flu. You did say there would be no significant uptick in cases. All the while you were looking after your own assets and your own portfolio.”
Mr. Perdue has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and said any transactions he made were executed by a financial adviser without his knowledge.
“The thing I’m most upset about,” Mr. Perdue said of Mr. Ossoff, “is that he’ll say and do anything to my friends in Georgia to mislead them about how radical and socialist” his agenda is.
Recent polls have found Mr. Perdue and Mr. Ossoff in a dead heat. If neither candidate hits 50 percent of the vote, they will compete in a runoff election in January.
Mr. Ossoff — echoing a national Democratic strategy of focusing on health care — went on to criticize Mr. Perdue for voting repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act and attempting to gut Obama-era safeguards for patients with pre-existing conditions.
Mr. Perdue pointed to legislation he co-sponsored that he claimed offered “protection for pre-existing conditions.”
The senator’s bill, which went nowhere, does say that insurance companies can’t deny coverage based on “any pre-existing condition,” but it contains a major loophole, giving insurers the option of rejecting a patient if a provider does “not have the capacity to deliver services adequately.”
Georgia’s other Senate race is also close, though the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat and pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, has led in recent polls. He faces Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Republican who was appointed to her seat; Representative Doug Collins, another Republican; and several other candidates. That race will almost certainly result in a runoff.
"bitter" - Google News
October 30, 2020 at 12:00AM
https://ift.tt/31UaWWV
Jon Ossoff calls Perdue ‘a crook’ over stock purchases during a bitter Senate debate in Georgia. - The New York Times
"bitter" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3bZFysT
https://ift.tt/2KSpWvj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Jon Ossoff calls Perdue ‘a crook’ over stock purchases during a bitter Senate debate in Georgia. - The New York Times"
Post a Comment