Atlanta, Ga. — Investigative journalist and Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jon Ossoff joined Joy Reid on MSNBC to discuss the shocking clip of Senator David Perdue (R-Ga.) purposefully mocking Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ name, which is being widely panned as race-baiting.
A transcript of Ossoff’s response can be found below:
[OSSOFF]: “This kind of vile, race-baiting trash-talk is what President Trump has unleashed from sitting Republican members of the Senate.
“I mean, to mock his colleague’s name in that way — to show such disrespect for the Indian American community here in Georgia, for black women — to show that kind of open bigotry; but this is who Senator David Perdue, my opponent, has revealed himself to be during this campaign.
“This is the same guy who was running anti-Semitic attack ads on Facebook against me that lengthened my nose, now he’s out here mocking Kamala Harris’ name.
“Look, my mother came to this country as an immigrant when she was 23-years-old because she believed that this country was a place that welcomed people striving for opportunity, that welcomed people fleeing persecution, that we were embracing the idea that we’re all Americans. E pluribus unum: out of many, one.
“What’s happened in American politics in the last four years has broken my mother’s heart; it’s broken so many hearts.
“And that this is what our discourse has become — this kind of trash talk, this kind of open bigotry — we need to reclaim America’s soul as Senator Harris and Vice President Biden rightly say, and we can do it by defeating David Perdue here in Georgia.”
[REID]: “You know, and I think you make a point that I think is important, is that Senator Perdue actually serves with Kamala Harris — it’s not — this isn’t an unknown person to him. He serves with her right now. He knows what her name is. He’s doing that to please and to perform for Donald Trump.”
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