Camerota Frets Protecting Police 'Tainted' Georgia Hate Crime Law

bradwilmouth | July 9, 2020
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Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog

On Thursday's New Day show, during an interview with Georgia Republican Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, CNN co-host Alisyn Camerota hit him from the left with objections to the passage of a new law to protect police officers at the same time as a new hate crime law that was passed in response to the Ahmaud Arbery killing.

Camerota cited complaints by Arbery's mother that enacting a pro-police law had "tainted" the passage of the hate crime law.

After spending the first part of the segment discussing the pandemic in Georgia, the CNN host brought up the new laws:

[video:https://www.mrctv.org/node/551670 align:center]

ALISYN CAMEROTA: I want to talk to you about Georgia's new hate crime law. We have followed every step along the way as you have championed that law -- it has come to pass, as you predicted on our air. There were some hiccups, obviously, and some major speed bumps with it.

She then recalled that it was viewed as a "poisoned pill" when attempts were made to include police protections in the hate crime bill:

One of them was that Senate Republicans tried to include protection for the police in the hate crime law, and that was seen, I think, as something of a poisoned pill, so it ended up being turned into two separate bills.

Noting that the two issues were separated into two bills that were passed, Camerota then read from Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, making a statement complaining about the way it was handled:

And Ahmaud Arbery's mom basically felt that that was -- somehow it actually tainted the results of the hate crime law -- having this other law being passed in tandem to it. …

She says: "Though we stand in support of all law enforcement, we believe that" this separate bill "HB838 is more dangerous to our community than" the hate crime law "HB426 is good. To see the legislature prioritize (HB)838 instead of repealing citizens arrest is heartbreaking and does not do justice for my son."

After Camerota asked her Republican guest for his reaction, Lieutenant Governor Duncan praised the bipartisanship that resulted in the legislative success and argued that he believed it was right to protect police officers from "bias-motivated" crime.

This episode of New Day was sponsored by Ensure nutrition drinks, and Pet Smart. Their contact information is linked.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, July 9, New Day on CNN:

7:25 a.m. Eastern

ALISYN CAMEROTA: I want to talk to you about Georgia's new hate crime law. We have followed every step along the way as you have championed that law -- it has come to pass, as you predicted on our air. There were some hiccups, obviously, and some major speed bumps with it.

One of them was that Senate Republicans tried to include protection for the police in the hate crime law, and that was seen, I think, as something of a poisoned pill, so it ended up being turned into two separate bills.

And Ahmaud Arbery's mom basically felt that that was -- somehow it actually tainted the results of the hate crime law -- having this other law being passed in tandem to it. So let me play for you what she says. Oh, I'll read it to you.

She says: "Though we stand in support of all law enforcement, we believe that" this separate bill "HB838 is more dangerous to our community than" the hate crime law "HB426 is good. To see the legislature prioritize (HB)838 instead of repealing citizens arrest is heartbreaking and does not do justice for my son."

What's your reaction to that?

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Well, certainly, you know, I've been with you all the way through this process over the last month trying to get the hate crimes bill from committee room up to the floor for a vote and then to the governor's desk, and we've gotten to see all of that play out. Certainly very proud of the Georgia State Senate and the bipartisan cooperation.

State Senator Harold Jones and State Senator Bill Cowsert came together and worked with us to get this across the finish line. It will never leave my mind, the importance of bipartisan teamwork to tackle tough issues. Certainly the Georgia State Senate and Georgia as a whole definitely supports law enforcement. And having two separate bills, I don't believe taints the effort.

I believe making sure that we protect bias-motivated crimes -- which is what we were able to accomplish in House Bill 426 -- and then House Bill 838 was an opportunity to make sure that if somebody uses a bias-motivated, you know, intimidation against a law enforcement officer, we're able to make sure that there's recourse there, too, so certainly proud of the great work. I'm certainly glad to sit here today and be able to tell you Georgia is no longer on that list of states that does not have a hate crimes bill on the books.

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