Democratic Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff got defensive with Peter Doocy after the Fox News reporter asked him about potential business links to the Chinese government during a Thursday campaign event in Suwanee, Georgia.
After Ossoff amended a campaign financial disclosure, the Georgia Republican Party earlier this month accused Ossoff of “knowingly failing to disclose” earnings from PCCW Media Limited, a Hong Kong company that is connected to the Chinese government, Fox News reported.
“Why is it that you waited until after the primary to reveal that your business did business with a company in Hong Kong that was linked to the Chinese government?” Doocy asked, pressing Ossoff on the timing of the disclosure.
“This is utter nonsense,” Ossoff replied, insisting his company “has produced multiple investigations of atrocities committed by ISIS war criminals” that have been aired “all over the world.”
The Democratic Senate candidate went on to criticize Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue for running factories in and outsourcing jobs to China.
“Since he’s not here – we’re gonna try to catch up with him and to get more information on some of this – but why did that happen after the primary and not before?” Doocy pressed.
After Ossoff again defended his company, the Fox News reporter brought up recent revelations involving Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell.
“Recently we saw the Chinese government tried to make inroads with a young Democratic lawmaker, Eric Swalwell,” Doocy said. “Are you concerned that through a payment to a well-known young Democrat, somebody linked to China or the Chinese through another company could be trying to influence you?”
“C’mon, man! You’re a serious reporter,” Ossoff responded. “Do you really believe that a TV channel in Hong Kong airing an investigation that my company produced of ISIS war crimes in Iraq is what you’re implying that it is or what David Perdue is implying that it is?”
“So the Chinese government does not try to influence young politicians in the United States?” Doocy asked.
Calling Chinese intelligence operations in the U.S. “a grave threat to our national security,” Ossoff again criticized Perdue’s business dealings.
Perdue’s office called Ossoff’s response to Doocy “flippant and dismissive.”
“Ossoff refuses to take the threat of China seriously even after Congressman Eric Swalwell, one of his supporters, was preyed on by a suspected Chinese operative,” said Perdue for Senate Communications Director John Burke in a statement. “With his history of promoting Chinese propaganda and taking payments from their government through a media company, Georgians should be concerned about his dismissiveness of the threat they pose to our nation.”
Story cited here.
