CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin turned a segment about birthright citizenship into a blistering attack on Kris Kobach, the Republican candidate for governor in Kansas.
“Kris has devoted his entire career to stopping black people and poor people from voting,” Toobin said on Wednesday night’s “Anderson Coooper 360.” “That’s been your goal for decades.”
“That’s an outrageous accusation,” Kobach snapped back, with host Anderson Cooper in the middle of a split-screen. To which Toobin responded: “Well, it’s completely true.”
Kobach, currently the Kansas secretary of state, has cultivated a reputation for voter suppression, as the Kansas City Star noted in an op-ed this week. He headed a so-called integrity commission on voter fraud for President Donald Trump that was disbanded after it reportedly couldn’t find evidence of widespread voter fraud.
He also supported a law requiring Kansas residents to prove their U.S. citizenship to register to vote ― a measure targeting minorities who tend to vote for Democrats, critics contend. A judge struck down the ID law in August, saying it “disproportionately impacted duly qualified registration applicants, while only nominally preventing noncitizen voter registration.”
Kobach attempted to defend himself against Toobin’s accusation, but Toobin kept up the offensive and dismissed his claim to be a crusader against voter fraud.
“Your problem is some people vote for Democrats, and you want to stop that,” Toobin said.
Watch the fireworks above.
