Shaun King Deletes ‘Gotcha’ Tweet Calling Out Hawaii Democrat Senator Brian Schatz After Factual Response

In a situation that some on the left might call “friendly fire”, Hawaii Democrat Senator Brian Schatz tweeted out yesterday, “We are seeing preventable mass deaths in the United States.”

New York Times reporter Shaun King saw this and replied by asking, “Do you support Medicare For All right now?” Schatz responded, “I don’t know why you are tweeting this like some sort of gotcha but I am a cosponsor of the bill.” Following the response, King deleted his question.

Ending the night with this: see you all tomorrow. Hang in there my friends. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CWt1J68Tho

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) April 4, 2020

Indeed, Schatz is a co-sponsor of the Medicare for all act of 2019 which was introduced by Democrat presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders but has yet to go anywhere due to the Republicans being in control.

King took to his own account to defend his question by saying, “I asked my question earnestly. I wanted to know if he is an active supporter of Medicare for All…. RIGHT NOW. During the pandemic. So many people co-sponsored it then literally never advocated for it again.”

He continued, “Multiple people who co-sponsored Medicare for All have bailed. Many others who ran for President, & co-sponsored it, hardly supported it by the time their campaign ended. I had NO intention on having a gotcha moment with Brian Schatz. Just wanted to gauge his current support.”

Multiple people who co-sponsored Medicare for All have bailed.

Many others who ran for President, & co-sponsored it, hardly supported it by the time their campaign ended.

I had NO intention on having a gotcha moment with @brianschatz.

Just wanted to gauge his current support pic.twitter.com/GbnLOE3pcr

— Shaun King (@shaunking) April 4, 2020

AOC has recently been a vocal supporter of Medicare for All and she had retweeted Schatz’s original tweet so perhaps that was the source where King saw it in the first place.