Jaime Harrison Blasts Lindsey Graham at Forum for Not Getting a Covid Test: He Should Be ‘Taking This Seriously’
The regularly-scheduled debate between Lindsey Graham and Jaime Harrison tonight was called off in favor of a candidate forum with both candidates being questioned for 30 minutes each, because Harrison requested Graham take a coronavirus test before the debate and Graham refused.
Graham tried to accuse Harrison of trying to duck the debate and claimed his opponent is demanding “special treatment” by requesting he get tested for the coronavirus prior to their debate.
Harrison was up first at the forum Friday night, and he was immediately asked about this issue.
“Just this past week, Senator Graham was in a hearing room with two people who have tested positive for the coronavirus,” he said. “Two senators who are now quarantined at home. We have to take this thing seriously. The president of the United States has been out of pocket because he has the coronavirus.”
He said this isn’t about special treatment, but about getting “our senior senator taking this seriously.”
“As someone who has a preexisting condition,” Harrison continued, “and I don’t know the conditions of all of you and your staffs and the other staffs, we need our leaders to actually lead by example.”
He favorably cited Vice President Mike Pence and several Republican senators for “being responsible” in taking coronavirus tests and called out Graham again for “asking for special treatment when all we are saying is let’s keep people safe.” Harrison brought up the coronavirus death toll in South Carolina and his own aunt who passed away.
“All we are asking is for one of the top leaders in the state to lead by example.”
When Graham’s turn started, he was first asked about next week’s Supreme Court hearings he will be presiding over as Senate Judiciary chairman and whether it’s appropriate for him to take a coronavirus test before then.
After defending the plan for those CDC guidelines, Graham went on to say this:
“How many of you are going to go to work tomorrow? How many of you are going to be around people tomorrow? If you’re a waitress and you go to the restaurant to earn your living, are you going to require of your employer that everybody be tested that comes into the restaurant? Are you going to require that all your coworkers be tested, whether they need to or not? You can’t make that requirement. If you did, it would break our economy. So we’re going to run the hearing in a medically compliant way, but I’m not going to live my life differently than you who have to live yours.”
He pointed to a doctor’s letter saying he’s CDC compliant and said, “This is not about testing. This is about political accountability.” He then pivoted to hitting Harrison on the Supreme Court.
You can watch both segments above, via WSPA.
