'Answer the question!' CNN anchor spars with GOP lawmaker over Walz's popularity

CNN's Sara Sidner sparred with Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) over newly announced Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

The Minnesota governor was tapped by vice president Kamala Harris to be her running mate, but Emmer, the House majority whip, insisted Walz was too liberal for voters to accept and had allowed crime to spiral out of control, but Sidner fact-checked him on each point.

"Tim's a great talker, but you've got to look at his actions," Emmer said. "I mean, in fact, this guy who tries to come across as the affable Midwesterner is a left-wing radical who, under his failed leadership in just six short years in my state of Minnesota, we've seen taxes skyrocket. We've seen violent crime at record highs, and Minnesota families are worse off, literally. He is incredibly pulling the ticket to the far left."

ALSO READ: Why ‘vanilla’ Tim Walz is the ingredient to beat Trump: Dem lawmakers

Emmer tweeted that Walz was turning Minnesota into a "liberal wasteland," and Sidner asked, if that was true, why was he elected to a second term.

"Well, bottom line is, this is a guy who taxed and billed Minnesotans an additional $8 billion in new taxes and fees after blowing through a $17.5 billion surplus, he has now put our state on a path to economic disaster."

Sidner was undeterred, and asked again.

"Congressman, do me a favor and answer the question," Sidner said. "Why do you think Minnesotans re-elected him with all the things that you're saying about him that are that are negative and attacking some of the things that he has done policy-wise, not personality-wise, because you agree that he's got a pretty big an affable personality. But why do you think Minnesotans seemed to disagree with you about what he has done in their state?"

Emmer suggested Sidner wouldn't understand unless she physically traveled to the state to see for herself.

"Well, you need to come to Minnesota," Emmer said.

Sidner said the election results from 2022 should give a conclusive assessment of what Minnesota voters think of the governor, who was first elected in 2019, and Emmer suggested the media was running cover for him.

"Tim Walz is finally going to be exposed," Emmer said. "Tim Walz was given a sweetheart, much Kamala Harris – the media, the mainstream media gives these people passes. They don't call out what they actually stand for, they don't point out that under Tim Walz's leadership, the Minneapolis police department is 40 percent down in manpower, but he wanted to move money away from police. This is the reason you see the violent crime at record highs in Minnesota. The economy has been wracked in Minnesota. He's not going to make it through a third term, it's never going to happen."

Sidner pointed out that crime is actually down substantially in Minnesota, which does not, in fact, have term limits for its governors, and Emmer questioned her numbers – which the anchor then backed up with citations from the FBI and the Department of Public Safety.

"Homicides are up dramatically in Minnesota," Emmer said. "I'm telling you, you can play whatever games you want with the numbers. Assaults are up, carjackings are up, murder is up. Oh, by the way, we've got to vice presidential candidate who, the last time he teamed up with Kamala Harris, they allowed Minneapolis to burn down. He didn't call out the National Guard, even though we've been asked to by the mayor of Minneapolis, he allowed the city to burn."

Walz did call out the National Guard in response to the 2020 protests over George Floyd's murder by police, three days after the demonstrations began, and Sidner challenged the congressman on another point.

"You believe in law and order, correct?" Sidner said, and Emmer agreed. "That has been something that you've been talked about quite a bit in your term, so I do want to ask you about the candidate that you're supporting that calls the Jan. 6 attackers hostages and says he will pardon them."

Sidner played video of Trump just last week pledging to pardon his supporters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of president Joe Biden's election win, but Emmer sidestepped the question.

"Let's let's keep in mind that we were told democracy is going to be on the ballot, and it absolutely is," Emmer said. "But it's not the Republicans that are a threat to democracy, it's actually the other side. You've got Kamala Harris, who didn't get one vote. What a democratic process and she's going to be the Democrats' candidate going into the fall. This couldn't set up better for November."

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