Ossoff defends Warnock: Kelly Loeffler is ‘campaigning with a Klansman’
Loeffler was photographed with Chester Doles, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan who beat a Black man.
In an interview with Fox News, Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler called an alleged incident of abuse at a camp formerly run by her Democratic runoff opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, “disqualifying.”
Jon Ossoff, the Democrat running facing a runoff in the state against Republican Sen. David Perdue, responded by saying “Loeffler has been campaigning with a Klansman.”
“She is stooping to these vicious personal attacks to distract from the fact that she’s been campaigning with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan,” Ossoff added. “I mean, we deserve better than that here in Georgia.”
The former aide to longtime Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson was responding to a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who asked Ossoff if the allegations “could possibly be a drag on the Democratic ticket.”
Loeffler made a campaign stop earlier this month where she was photographed with Chester Doles, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan previously imprisoned for viciously beating a Black man.
A spokesperson from her campaign told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “Kelly had no idea who that was.”
Doles is also reportedly linked to the Hammerskins, a skinhead group.
Read More: Minneapolis police fatally shoot man during traffic stop, first death since Floyd
The alleged abuse incident involving Warnock occurred in 2002 when, as pastor of the Douglas Memorial Community Church in Maryland, he oversaw Camp Farthest Out. The reported victim in the case, Anthony Washington, was a 12-year-old who alleged camp counselors threw urine on him and locked him outside overnight.
Washington, now 30, recounted the incident in an interview with The Washington Free Beacon in which he said the experience ended with a lawsuit and a financial settlement.
“I don’t think nobody like [Warnock] should be running for damn Senate nowhere, running a camp like that,” Washington told the Free Beacon. “He should not be running for government.”
Read More: Walmart apologizes after calling Sen. Hawley a ‘sore loser’ over Biden win
Warnock was arrested for allegedly obstructing in the case, but charges were later dropped, and authorities acknowledged he had actually assisted them.
His campaign spokesperson, Michael Brewer, said the 15-year senior pastor of famed Ebenezer Baptist Church addressed the issue over a year ago.
Earlier this month, Brewer told Fox News the remarks of his candidate’s incumbent opponent are “yet another one of Senator Loeffler’s lowest of the low attacks that independent fact-checkers have said is ‘mostly false.’”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!
