Parliament official calls statement by Laura Thornton from McCain Institute “hostile”

Davit Matikashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules, on Friday criticised Laura Thornton, the Senior Director of the Global Democracy Programs at the McCain Institute, calling her recent statements “hostile” toward Georgia.

Matikashvili’s comments followed the article by Laura Thornton, the Senior Director for Global Democracy Programmes at the McCain Institute, who said that an economic crisis in Georgia was necessary for the protest to succeed and for cracks to emerge within the Government.

“This is not the first time that the McCain Institute and this particular individual have made anti-Georgian and anti-state remarks”, the Parliament official said.

In his remarks, Matikashvili noted that these persons openly expressed their disappointment that Georgia had not experienced a failed “Maidan” or an unsuccessful revolution.

“The deep state did not prevail in Georgia. Hostile forces failed to overturn the political situation or undermine the will of the people. That is why they are willing to go to any lengths”, the MP pointed out.

“Laura Thornton’s calls can be regarded as hostile. When they lament the absence of casualties and bloodshed during protests, when they wish economic crisis upon our country, when statements from Thornton, other representatives of the McCain Institute, and even Salome Zourabichvili are aimed at undermining our sovereignty and inciting unrest, there is only one conclusion to be drawn - they are openly hostile toward our country”, Matikashvili continued.

He further highlighted that this force and the radicals in Georgia were part of a single entity, a faction of the global war party - the seep state that Trump was fighting in Washington.