'You know this': CNN's Tapper confronts GOP governor supporting election conspiracy-spouting Kari Lake
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," host Jake Tapper both confronted and lectured Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) over his plan to head to Arizona this week to support the gubernatorial bid of 2020 election denier Kari Lake.
Youngkin, who likes to present himself as a moderate while pushing far-right policies, ducked condemning Lake for her conspiratorial rhetoric despite the fact that he parts ways with her over the legitimacy of Joe Biden's election over Donald Trump in 2020.
"I do think there are a lot of reasonable, pragmatic fact-based Republicans who are disappointed that you're doing this," host Tapper prompted the Virginia Republican.
"In order for us to press forward in the Republican Party we, in fact, need to do that, look forward, not backwards," Youngkin parried without addressing the issue. "What I found in Virginia was that we could bring together forever-Trumpers and never-Trumpers and libertarians and Tea Party members and lots of independents and lots of Democrats. I think the Republican Party has to be a party where we're not shunning people and excluding them because we don't agree on everything."
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"Until recently, I thought standing up for democracy and the rule of law and election integrity was also a Republican value," the exasperated Tapper shot back. "This isn't a disagreement over tax policy. This woman doesn't believe in legitimate elections. She says she wouldn't have certified the election for Joe Biden which is nothing that you would do and it's nothing that the current Republican governor did. This isn't about, 'oh, we have a disagreement on education.' This is about democracy."
"Let me just step back," Youngkin attempted. "First of all, this is not about January 6th. January 6th was an abomination. In fact, anybody who committed violence on January 6th and broke the law should be held fully accountable. This is about making sure we understand that there is distrust in the election process. Let's just be clear, by the way, that distrust was expressed by Democrats in 2000 and 2016. I ran against an election denier."
"This was an effort by the president of the United States to undo the election not just rhetoric or a vote here and there," Tapper lectured. "You know this; it was an effort by Donald Trump to hold on to power."
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