Daytime Talk
Raphael Warnock Hammers Kelly Loeffler for 'Profiting Off the Pandemic' on 'The View'
'WHO DOES THAT?!'
"When she heard about the coronavirus pandemic, instead of thinking about the people of Georgia and what they need, she was busy dumping millions of dollars of stock."
Matt Wilstein
Updated Dec. 17, 2020 1:55PM ET / Published Dec. 17, 2020 1:16PM ET
Rev. Raphael Warnock has been remarkably disciplined at staying above the fray during his ultra-high stakes campaign against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA). Even as she robotically accused him of being a "radical liberal" a total of 13 times during their recent debate, he repeatedly brought the discussion back to policy issues facing Georgia voters.
So it was no surprise that he took a similarly genial approach on Thursday morning during an appearance on The View. But at a certain point, he had no choice but to highlight the most damning parts of his opponent's record.
When co-host Sunny Hostin brought up recent attacks from the Illinois-born Loeffler and others, including incoming GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who have tried to paint him as a carpetbagger despite his deep roots in Atlanta, Warnock just smiled. "I can't be distracted by that," he said. "As we say in the South, God bless her heart."
"Listen, Kelly Loeffler's trying to change the subject and I don't blame her," he continued. "She cannot justify why she still has that seat. She was appointed to that seat because she is a high Republican donor and she's an investment professional and she didn't waste any time trying to make good on her investment."
Referring to news that was first reported by The Daily Beast back in March, Warnock said, "When she heard about the coronavirus pandemic, instead of thinking about the people of Georgia and what they need, she was busy dumping millions of dollars of stock."
"She profited from the pandemic. I mean, who does that?!" he asked.
"And then when it came time to give ordinary people basic relief, $600 of additional unemployment insurance, Kelly Loeffler said that she didn't see any need for that," Warnock added. "She called it counterproductive. Apparently, she didn't think it was counterproductive to profit off the pandemic."
After outlining how his church made efforts during that time to lift people out of poverty, Warnock said, "The people of Georgia deserve somebody who is thinking not about herself but is thinking about them."