Carly Fiorina Slams Tim Cook As A Hypocrite For Indiana Criticism

Carly Fiorina Slams Tim Cook As A Hypocrite For Indiana Criticism
Carly Fiorina speaks during the Freedom Summit, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Carly Fiorina speaks during the Freedom Summit, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Likely GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is calling out Apple CEO Tim Cook as a hypocrite for criticizing Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act while his company does business in multiple countries that discriminate.

“When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he’s in, including China and Saudi Arabia,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “But I don’t hear him being upset about that.”

Last week, Cook joined a chorus of other tech industry executives speaking out against Indiana's new law, which allows individuals and corporations to cite religious beliefs as a defense in a lawsuit. That prompted fears that businesses would use the law to legally refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) insisted that the legislation was never intended to shield such discrimination, but the public backlash mounted. On Thursday, state lawmakers added language establishing that the law does not authorize businesses to refuse service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Critics, however, said the fix was too weak and called for Indiana to pass comprehensive nondiscrimination protections.

Fiorina, whose criticism of Cook echoes that of other conservative commentators, told The Wall Street Journal that she found nothing objectionable in the original bill that Pence signed last week. While she has stopped short of endorsing same-sex marriage, she said last week that same-sex couples bound by civil unions should receive equal government benefits.

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Reactions To Indiana's 'Religious Freedom' Law

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