Jon Ossoff tells Fox News viewers Kelly Loeffler campaigned with a Klansman

Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff said on Monday that outgoing Republican state president Senator Kelly Loeffler had “campaigned with a Klansman,” in reference to his Dec. 11 photo with Chester Doles, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan and member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance.

Ossoff made his comments during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday after the interviewer asked him if he thought recent allegations of wrongdoing against his fellow Georgia Democratic Senate candidate, Rev. Raphael Warnock, would discourage maybe the state’s voters pick one or the other Democratic candidate.

Although the interviewer did not elaborate on the exact allegations in question, he recently resurfaced that Warnock was arrested during an investigation into the physical abuse of children at a religious camp on July 31, 2002.

Prosecutors at the time dropped obstruction charges against Warnock, called his arrest a misunderstanding, clarified that Warnock had never been suspected of child abuse, and said he had in fact provided useful information for investigators, depending on Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Reverend Warnock brought up this issue a year ago,” Ossoff told the Fox News interviewer. “And here’s the gist: Kelly Loeffler campaigned with a Klansmen. Loeffler campaigned, with a Klansmen, and so, I mean, we deserve better than that here in Georgia.”

Loeffler said she had no idea who Doles was or his involvement in racist groups when she posed for a photo with him at a campaign event on December 11.

After the photo began circulating online, her campaign spokesperson told the Journal-Constitution, “Kelly had no idea who he was, and if she had, she would have kicked him out immediately because we condemn in the loudest terms everything he stands for.”

Loeffler referred to Warnock’s past arrest during their debate on December 6.

News of Warnock’s arrest picked up after November 11 when a Twitter account called @AnOpenSecret posted a mention of it and a link to a Baltimore Sun press article about his arrest. The Twitter account is owned by Gabe Hoffman, a millionaire who has donated hundreds of thousands to Republican candidates, the Journal-Constitution found. Hoffman also appeared on InfoWars, the online show of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Numerous Republican and Conservative websites, such as Republican Senator from Oklahoma Tom Cotton and Breitbart.com, also circulated the news of Warnock’s arrest.

When Loeffler raised the issue during the debate, Warnock explained that he was arrested while “working and trying to ensure that young people who were questioned by law enforcement had the advantage of ‘a lawyer, a lawyer or a relative “. Prosecutors handling the case backed up his claim.

With a week before the state’s special election, more than half a dozen polls in the past two weeks have shown Democratic candidates neck-to-neck positions or business leaders within the margin of error against their Republican opponents. The race will determine the party’s control over the US Senate.

The Republicans’ chances in the Georgia Senate runoff could be complicated by unverified claims by President Donald Trump, his re-election campaign and his supporters that the Republican Governor and Secretary of State allowed the election is rigged in favor of the elected Democratic president. Joe Biden.

Newsweek contacted Loeffler’s campaign for comment.