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Tom Cotton Urges Dem Party Chair to Seek Help After Bizarre 'Maggot-Infested' Barb

Sen. Tom Cotton (Getty Images)
April 6, 2022

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said he hopes the top official at the Democratic National Committee seeks help following a bizarre Wednesday morning rant in which the party official called the Arkansas senator a "little maggot-infested man."

Asked about the comment from DNC chair Jaime Harrison on MSNBC's Morning Joe, a spokesman for Cotton said he didn't even know who Harrison was until hearing his comment this morning but is now concerned about his well-being.

"While Senator Cotton was not familiar with Jamie Harrison before this morning," a Cotton spokesman told the Free Beacon, "he wishes him the best and hopes Jamie gets the help he needs."

(The assertion that Cotton was unaware of the DNC leader's existence prior to Wednesday morning is bolstered by the misspelling of Harrison's name in his statement to the Free Beacon.)

Harrison's eyebrow raising rant singled out Cotton as the "lowest of the low" in the U.S. Senate. 

"In a Senate where there's Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton is the lowest of the low," Harrison said before calling him a "maggot-infested man" and saying he "doesn't deserve to be in the United States Senate representing the good people of Arkansas."

Harrison is best known for losing a Senate election in South Carolina by more than 10 points in 2020 after raising $130 million. He was given the DNC post despite his election failure and has reportedly been a disappointment in his first year on the job in the eyes of the White House.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee called Harrison's Wednesday morning rant "a truly disgusting insult against a sitting United States senator."

"Harrison just called Sen. Tom Cotton, a U.S. senator and an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, a 'maggot-infested man,'" the spokesman said. "Apparently, Harrison reserves his worst, most unhinged insults for America’s veterans."

The failed South Carolina politician made similar comments regarding Cotton on Tuesday, writing on social media that there is a "tiny, mold and maggot infested space where [Cotton's] heart is supposed to be."

Before his failed Senate run, Harrison made millions of dollars working for the Podesta Group as a lobbyist representing clients in the banking, pharmaceutical, and energy industries. The Podesta Group shuttered in 2017 during the Russiagate investigation after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that the firm’s founder, Tony Podesta, failed to register as a foreign agent while he lobbied on behalf of Ukraine.