ICYMI: CNN Slams David Perdue For Dodging Questions, “Avoiding Nearly All Media Appearances”

Perdue refuses to debate, dodges local press, hasn’t held a public town hall in six years as a senator

ATLANTA — Yesterday at his exclusive campaign bus tour, where “only a select group is invited,” notoriously “stealth” campaigner Senator David Perdue repeatedly ducked and dodged attempts by CNN’s Kyung Lah to ask him why he refused to debate his opponent. CNN noted that “This isn’t just CNN. Local TV stations, Atlanta’s largest paper says the Senator has ducked reporters across Georgia.”

WATCH: 

Key excerpts from CNN’s repeated attempts to speak with Senator David Perdue:

Kyung Lah: “The only debate night for the Georgia senate runoffs began like this…”

Moderator: “Senator Perdue declined to participate in this debate and is represented by an empty podium.”

Lah: “It’s not that Republican incumbent Senator David Perdue hasn’t been campaigning. This is Senator Perdue’s bus tour across Georgia. Like most of Perdue’s events, he didn’t post this on his public schedule. We found out because Perdue’s guest, Representative Dan Crenshaw, tweeted this, then quickly deleted it.”

Lah: “The Senator took pictures with supporters who waited to meet him. As for us? ‘Senator? Senator? Will you take a minute? Senator? Senator? Senator Perdue? Senator?’ Perdue’s staff told us he would not take any questions.”

Lah: “That was stop one at the Senator’s bus tour. At stop two, Senator Perdue delivered his planned speech, and I talked to a staffer. ‘Excuse me, I’m with CNN, could we just get a couple of minutes with the Senator?’ Perdue took pictures and then, ‘Senator? Senator? Senator? Hi, Senator? Senator? Senator? I’m Kyung Lah from CNN, why won’t you debate, Senator?’”

Lah: “When it comes to the general public, only a select group is invited. By contrast, the Senator was eager to appear next to President Trump at his highly-publicized, nearly fact-free Georgia rally. As Perdue spoke, the crowd drowned him out, shouting support for President Trump who was leveling baseless attacks against the voting system in Georgia.”

Lah: “The Perdue campaign goes further in avoiding answers and avoiding nearly all media appearances. … Back on Senator Perdue’s bus tour, this is stop number three. I ask again. ‘Senator Perdue, Kyung Lah from CNN, can I just ask you a quick question, sir? Sir? Sir?’”

Lah: “And again. ‘Senator, can I get you to stop and answer just a couple of questions about the debate?’ We continue to the fourth and final stop. ‘Senator? Senator?’”

Lah: “This isn’t just CNN. Local TV stations, Atlanta’s largest paper says the Senator has ducked reporters across Georgia.”

Lah: “Now he did decide to sit down tonight with Newsmax, it is an outlet that actively engages in conspiracy theories and lies, it is a favorite of President Trump’s, and the Senator tonight said that his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff lost the debate even though the Senator is the one who didn’t show up.”

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