Perdue Selectively Edits China Connections From Campaign Video After Using Issue As “Political Football”

“Fearmongering About China Has Been A Central Theme Of Perdue’s Campaign, So A Picture Of Him At The Great Wall And Boasts About Time Spent In Asia Aren’t Politically Convenient”

Senator David Perdue recently re-released a biographical campaign video from 2014 with a small, but significant, change – he cut references to living in Asia as a corporate executive. As HuffPost reports today, Perdue’s updated video “removes a mention of the two years he spent in Hong Kong working for Sara Lee and takes out a picture of him and his wife at the Great Wall of China.” 

Perdue has used China as a “political football” in his re-election bid, “fearmongering” and lobbing false attacks at his opponent that independent fact checkers say he “should be ashamed” of in a desperate attempt to distract from his own extensive experience outsourcing to China and Asia. 

His business ties to China aren’t the only aspect of his record Perdue is trying to erase in 2020. He also deleted a reference from his 2014 video of Dollar General being under a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation before he took over as CEO. With his own shady stock trades drawing the attention of federal investigators at the SEC and Department of Justice and remaining a “subject of scrutiny” today, it’s no wonder Perdue is trying to distance himself from another SEC investigation.

Read more about Perdue’s attempts to rewrite his record:

HuffPost: David Perdue Edits Out His Asia Experience From Senate Campaign Ad

By Amanda Terkel

Key Points:

• Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) is out with a new biographical campaign video touting his family roots and his successful business career as he fights to hold on to his seat ahead of a Jan. 5 runoff against Democrat Jon Ossoff. 

• The biographical information is nearly identical to a video he put out in 2014, with a key difference: The new one removes a mention of the two years he spent in Hong Kong working for Sara Lee and takes out a picture of him and his wife at the Great Wall of China. 

• “For Sara Lee, David led their expansion into Asia, living in Hong Kong for two years,” the narrator says at 1:45 into the video.

• Fearmongering about China has been a central theme of Perdue’s campaign, so a picture of him at the Great Wall and boasts about time spent in Asia aren’t politically convenient. Perdue has accused Ossoff of being funded by the Chinese government and endorsed by the Communist Party.

• But both of Perdue’s claims are false. 

• Perdue actually has had significant work with Asia during his career. From 2002 to 2003, he was CEO of Pillowtex, a failed North Carolina textile manufacturer. There, part of his job was to essentially outsource the company’s manufacturing operations to cheaper foreign factories, especially in Asia. 

• In a 2005 deposition, when asked about his “experience with outsourcing,” Perdue bluntly admitted, “Yeah, I spent most of my career doing that.” 

• And during his time with Sara Lee, Perdue oversaw a restructuring that closed factories in places like Georgia while expanding operations in Asia. 

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