Senate candidate and former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel (R) said CNN refused to air his interview with the network’s John Berman after Mandel “made him look like a total fool.”
Mandel posted a raw video of his interview with Berman from his end, in which the senate candidate can be heard pushing back to what seems to be questions about the January 6 Capitol Hill riot.
“As we all know, John, President Trump told everyone who was at the rally to march peacefully,” Mandel says in the video. “If others chose to march in a different way, and do things against policemen — that was on their own volition, but President Trump didn’t have a part in it.”
Watch Below:
While Berman’s comments during the interview cannot be heard in the video, at one point, Mandel tells the CNN host that he is an “out of touch elitist,” who “looks down on people from Ohio” while sitting on his “perch in New York City.”
“Listen, I’m born and raised in the Cleveland area, and let me tell you something, one of the reasons why President Trump won Ohio by eight points twice is because not only Republicans support him here in the state of Ohio, but Democrats support him here in the state of Ohio as well,” Mandel said.
“But you, John, with your Harvard degree, living in New York, you condescend on people like me from Ohio. You condescend on the 75 million of us who voted for President Trump,” the senate candidate can be heard saying at another point in the video.
“John, you’re getting really excited and defensive,” Mandel continued. “Are you okay tonight? Did you do drugs before this program? What’s wrong with you? Why are you so defensive and excited? Just calm down, John, this is your show. Why don’t you take control?”
“Aren’t you embarrassed? You’re losing your cool on your own show. You should be embarrassed for yourself,” Mandel said.
CNN ultimately decided not to air the interview, the senate candidate’s campaign staff said.
Mandel’s campaign manager Scott Guthrie told Breitbart News that “when CNN contacted Josh Mandel for an interview last week, they said they wanted to discuss Anthony Gonzalez’s vote to impeach President Trump and Jane Timken’s support for him.”
“Instead, as soon as Josh was on the air, the liberal elitist host spewed his left wing talking points and pushed his agenda,” Guthrie added. “When Josh pushed back and defended President Trump, CNN decided not to air the interview.”
Berman’s publicist did not immediately respond to request for comment.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.