WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Loeffler REPEATEDLY Refused to Acknowledge Biden Victory in Disastrous Debate

Loeffler made “the definition of a dodge” and refused to admit Trump lost the election while also not defending her political patron Kemp

ATLANTA — Unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler’s disastrous debate performance last night not only featured her dodging questions on whether senators should be allowed to trade stocks but also her refusing four separate times to acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost the election.

Loeffler has been caught in in the middle of “a full-blown civil war” in the GOP for weeks now as Trump has slammed her political patron Governor* Brian Kemp as “hapless” and claimed he’s “ashamed” to have endorsed him. But last night, Loeffler not only refused to acknowledge Trump’s defeat, but also once again failed to defend the man who appointed her to the Senate in “the definition of a dodge” during the debate.

See what they’re saying about Loeffler’s refusal to acknowledge reality in last night’s debate: 

• CNN’s Maeve Reston: Loeffler made “the definition of a dodge”:

• AJC’s Jim Galloway:

• CNN’s Ryan Nobles:

• MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin:

• CNN’s Manu Raju:

• Washington Post’s Amy Gardner:

• GPB’s Stephen Fowler:

• New Yorker’s Charles Betha:

• CNN’s DJ Judd:

AJC: Loeffler, Warnock face off in heated debate

• [Loeffler] refused multiple times to answer whether President Donald Trump had lost the 2020 election, including Georgia.

• Loeffler often avoided answering questions directly.

• When asked whether members of Congress should be allowed to trade individual stocks, Loeffler deflected. 

• Loeffler had been accused earlier in the year of trading stocks based on information she got in a classified briefing during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was cleared following an investigation.

AP: In Georgia, Loeffler again refuses to say Trump lost

• Sen. Kelly Loeffler repeatedly refused Sunday to acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost re-election in November, as she debated her Democratic opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, ahead of twin Georgia runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.

• Asked specifically about President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia and whether she agreed with Trump’s unfounded accusations of widespread voter fraud, Loeffler sidestepped the matter. “The president has every right to every legal recourse, and that’s what’s taking place,” Loeffler said.

• The senator later alleged, without any supporting details, irregularities in the November elections and repeated Trump’s right to “legal recourse” without acknowledging that the president’s campaign has lost round after round of post-election court challenges, including in Georgia, which has already certified its results.

NYT: In Georgia Debate, Kelly Loeffler Won’t Say Trump Lost

• In a televised debate on Sunday night, Senator Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican, declined to say that President Trump had lost the election, arguing instead that the president had “every legal recourse available” to pursue his baseless assertion that the vote in Georgia was rigged against him.

• The debate came one day after Mr. Trump held a rally in Georgia in which he falsely claimed that he had won the state — and after he made a phone call to Gov. Brian Kemp, asking him to call a special session of the Republican-controlled legislature so that lawmakers could appoint new electors who would subvert the will of the state’s voters when the Electoral College meets on Dec. 14.

• Prominent Republicans are worried that Mr. Trump’s airing of his grievances about his loss in the state might convince his supporters that Georgia’s voting system is indeed rigged and that they should sit out the crucially important runoff elections.

Washington Post: Loeffler ducks questions on Trump’s false claims of fraud

• Loeffler has been pressed multiple times so far in the debate to weigh in on President Trump’s false accusations that Biden’s victory in Georgia resulted from fraud. She also refused to say whether Trump won the election.

• She has ducked at every turn, highlighting the awkward spot she’s in trying to court Trump supporters — and the president himself — without directly repeating his false claims that hundreds of thousands of votes were tainted by fraud in Georgia.

• Asked what she thinks about Trump’s attacks on Gov. Brian Kemp (R) — who appointed Loeffler to her seat — Loeffler fell back on a rehearsed Republican line that the president “has the right to pursue every legal recourse to make sure that this was a free and fair election in Georgia.”

CNN: Loeffler does not answer multiple questions on whether she thinks Trump attacking Gov. Kemp is wrong

• Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler sidestepped the question on whether President Trump attacking Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and inviting Rep. Doug Collins to run against him in 2022 was wrong.

• Loeffler used an often repeated line, saying, “The President has the right to pursue every legal recourse to make sure that this was a free and fair election in Georgia. And we know that these audits have turned up thousands of votes that were initially uncounted. And I’ve called for a signature audit.”

• She again avoided giving a direct answer, and said she appreciates both the President and the governor’s support of her candidacy and that they both are encouraging Georgians to vote for her and Sen. David Perdue in the runoffs on Jan. 5.

• The questioners then tried one more time and this time asked it in a different way – asking if her loyalty lies with Gov. Kemp or President Trump.

•  Again, Loeffler did not answer the question she was asked.

NBC: Loeffler refuses to say whether Trump lost, spars with Warnock over their agendas, records

• Sen. Kelly Loeffer, R-Ga., repeatedly refused to acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost last month’s election in a Sunday evening debate against her Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock.

• Loeffler was asked right at the start of the debate whether she felt the election in the state, where President-elect Joe Biden won the presidential contest, was “rigged” — a charge Trump has leveled without proof. She responded that it was “very clear” there were issues, calling for investigations to be completed quickly. But she did not go further.

• Asked again, she said the process “is still playing out” and that “we also have to make sure that Georgians know we have a process that works.”

Reuters: Georgia Republican Senator Loeffler dodges questions on Trump during debate with challenger Warnock

• Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler danced around questions about whether President Donald Trump lost the Nov. 3 election in a debate with her Democratic challenger on Sunday before two Georgia runoffs that will decide control of the U.S. Senate.

• As the debate began, Loeffler sidestepped a question about whether she agreed with Trump’s baseless claims that last month’s election was “rigged.” Trump has not conceded to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, instead insisting without evidence that the result was due to widespread fraud, claims that state and federal officials have repeatedly rejected.

• Warnock countered by asking why Loeffler “continues to cast doubt on an American democratic election. It’s time to put this behind us.”

Newsweek: Kelly Loeffler Declines to Defend Her Ally Georgia Governor Brian Kemp From Trump’s Attacks

• Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler declined to defend her ally Georgia Governor Brian Kemp from President Donald Trump’s attacks on Sunday night during a debate against her Democratic challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock—prior to their runoff election in Georgia on January 5.

• Trump has repeatedly attacked Kemp in recent weeks for allegedly not doing enough to help him overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. On Saturday, the president suggested that Georgia Republican Congressman Doug Collins should run against the governor in 2022 as he continued to scold officials in the Peach State.

• Lisa Rayam, the debate’s second moderator, jumped in to press the senator on Trump and Kemp’s feud, but Loeffler declined to answer directly for the third time. 

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