Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the NY-17 congressman entangled in a tight battle with Republican Mike Lawler, was confronted by CNN’s Jake Tapper over the DCCC, which Maloney heads, paying for ads supporting Republican candidates who Democrats say are dangers to democracy.

Throughout the primaries earlier this year, Maloney’s Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spent millions to help far-right candidates who they viewed as easier to defeat in the general election.

Tapper showed footage of Maloney decrying the loss of integrity in elections, then noted that the DCCC spent $53 million to boost candidates who question elections.

“By amplifying these election deniers, aren’t you undermining democracy?” Tapper asked.

“Oh my God, Jake. Let’s be clear,” a confounded Maloney responded. “What that question you just played was about was who’s questioning the outcome of elections. And that started with Donald Trump. And we all know it. Let’s be clear, that $53 million, it’s $400,000 at the DCCC in one race, where we ran a true general election ad two weeks early. Calling John Gibbs an extremist who’s too conservative.”

“Come on!” an annoyed Tapper shot back. “You guys were boosting John Gibbs, an election denier, a MAGA Republican so he would beat congressman Peter Meijer, who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the Capitol attack. You thought Gibbs was be easier for your Democratic candidate to beat, so you boosted him.”

“Well, you’re using that word ‘boost’ to be kind of cute,” Maloney answered, looking for an exit ramp. “If you want to warm up these leftovers, we can keep going. But right now we have five or six days until we have an election and that’s where my focus is.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)