Since then, Republicans have offered additional misleading advertisements in which both Democratic candidates, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, have been attacked. Here is a breakdown of two of these ads.
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler has made a concerted effort to portray Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, as ‘radical’ and ‘dangerous’.
Facts first: All of these Loeffler ads misleadingly take Warnock’s remark out of context. He advocates the release of especially people who are sent to prison for marijuana offenses, and not a general release of people who are jailed for all sorts of offenses.
Here’s what he said: “Marijuana is seen as an illegal drug. It’s a terrible irony, and we feel that there are people in America right now who are becoming billionaires to sell the same stuff that our children have all locked up. “Across America. Where’s the justice? It’s not enough to criminalize marijuana. Someone has to open the prisons and let our children go.”
Loeffler can criticize Warnock for pleading for the release of people imprisoned for marijuana offenses. But the ads give the impression that he is advocating a kind of mass amnesty for all imprisoned criminals. He was not.
“Reverend Warnock supports the efforts to remove the records of those convicted of non-violent cannabis offenses, and has worked in the community to erase records so that Georgians who have served their sentences can seek employment and housing without discrimination, “the Warnock said. campaign said in an email to CNN.
Ossoff and a Senate Committee
The ad uses the Ossoff review to suggest that he has a ‘China scandal’, claiming that the Democrat “was paid by the Communist Chinese government by a media company.” The ad indicates that the payment was suspicious, stating, ‘Why China really does Ossoff pay? ‘
There is no evidence to suggest the advertisement that the Chinese government paid Ossoff for bad reasons. According to Ossoff’s campaign, his company received about $ 1,000 in royalties because the Hong Kong media company, PCCW, broadcast two of its investigations into ISIS war crimes.
We can not independently confirm the statement of the Ossoff campaign on the reason for the payment or the total amount, but neither the Purdue campaign nor anyone else has given a credible alternative statement or alternative figure. And a modest fee for licensing documentary films to a media businessman from a media company in which the Chinese government is not the majority owner – would certainly not be enough to portray Ossoff’s advertisement as a suspicious stamp on China. to justify.
Furthermore, the Ossoff campaign says that the payment of about $ 1,000 was actually made to the Ossoff company, not by the Hong Kong company itself, but by a third-party production and distribution company, Sky Vision, which is investigating licensed by the Hong Kong company (as well as to other companies around the world).
The campaign says Ossoff PCCW itself listed on its amended disclosure forms because it wanted to be transparent about who broadcast its company’s productions. According to the campaign, transparency is also the reason why he listed PCCW on the forms, although the payment was below the $ 5,000 threshold at which reporting is required.