‘You’re Repeating Disinformation’: Stacey Abrams Cuts Off CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in Awkward Exchange About Her Election Rhetoric

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins spoke to Stacey Abrams about Vice President Kamala Harris’s rally in Georgia and brought up the awkward subject of Abrams’ claim that she “won” the gubernatorial race that she lost.

Citing a past article in The New York Times in which Abrams implied that she “won” the 2020 state-wide election against now-Gov. Brian Kemp (R), Collins asked about the claim, and Abrams explained what she meant:

Collins: I wonder if you have regrets about the language that you use, casting doubt on the outcome of that election in light of what we now see and how Republicans use that to bolster their defense of Trump’s claims of a stolen election.

Abrams: Well go back to elementary school again and use comprehension as the basis. I acknowledge that Brian Kemp won that election. What I called into question was the process that was used, and courts agreed with us again and again during the overtime after Election Day and again afterwards, so much so that he actually signed legislation to fix some of the problems that we were able to reveal. I never once said that he did not win. What I said is that the process was flawed, and that’s why we had the Voting Rights Act in the United States. That’s why we have the Help America Vote Act. We know that sometimes we don’t get it right, and it takes calling out the mistakes to improve.

But when Collins still pushed and cited Abrams’s language in the NYT article, Abrams cut her off:

Collins: Well, I do remember the time you told The New York Times “I won.” You did describe it as a stolen election. The courts did side with the Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, and so–

Abrams: That’s actually–

Collins: Just as well.

Abrams: Kaitlin, that’s actually incorrect. And normally I wouldn’t cut you off, but you’re repeating disinformation. What the court said, if you read the entire opinion was that despite the flaws in the process, that we acknowledge, that the courts acknowledge, they were no longer permitted to complete and fix them. They could not correct the mistakes because the law had changed between 2018 and 2022 when the case was finally adjudicated. There was never a moment where they said what happened was right. What they said was there was no capacity to correct the mistakes. And so it’s important that we not only use the headlines, but we read the fine print because that’s where the mistakes are made. That’s where the challenges are.

I believed then, and I believe now… I have never been the governor of Georgia. I have never claimed to be the governor of Georgia. What I have said is that voters were denied their full rights. Courts agreed with me in the time of that election. They agreed with me post-election. The state made changes to the flaws. Some of them, unfortunately, too many of them have been restored in different ways. And we continue to face voter suppression not only in Georgia but around the country, because Republicans are using the ability to change the laws, because we no longer have the protection of the Voting Rights Act, to make it harder for average voters to show up at the polls and have their votes counted. That should be the that’s should be where our focus is.

Watch the video above via CNN.

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