CNN host Brianna Keilar grilled Dr.Nirav Shah on Friday, shortly after he threw his hat into the ring for a Senate seat in Maine as embattled Graham Platner withdrew, citing Democratic Illinois Sen.
Tammy Duckworth’s blistering criticism of his record.Shah finished second in Maine's Democratic gubernatorial primary, but faces stiff opposition from parts of his own party regarding his past record.Duckworth, a combat veteran herself, revived prior criticism of how he handled a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak during his tenure leading Illinois’ public health department."Maine deserves better than someone who put his public image before the safety of our Veterans," she wrote Thursday on X.
"Too many of our heroes lost their lives under Nirav Shah’s watch as Illinois Public Health Director.I called for his resignation then, and I strongly oppose his run for Senate now.""So as soon as you threw your hat in the ring for this Senate seat, as you are well aware, Illinois senator and combat veteran Tammy Duckworth opposed your run, citing your handling of outbreaks of Legionnaires disease at an Illinois veterans home that killed 13 people starting in 2015," Keilar noted on Friday, asking him for his response to Duckworth’s X post.DEADLY LEGIONNAIRES' DISEASE OUTBREAK SPARKS CONCERN IN MAJOR US CITY: KNOW THE SYMPTOMSSen.
Tammy Duckworth blasted Dr.Nirav Shah's record, saying he is unworthy to serve as Maine's senator.
(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)"Well, the outbreak that she‘s referring to back in 2015 was tragic," he said."And sadly, American veterans lost their lives.
And I deeply respect Sen.Duckworth and her service to this country.
In this respect, I happen to disagree with her.The health department, in the setting of a legionnaires outbreak, responds to the scene of an emergency, much like the fire department does."He added further, "In this situation, we responded after the outbreak was underway.
We helped tamp it down, and we...