Carly Fiorina bashes Tim Cook for weighing in on 'religious freedom' debate

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina thinks Apple chief executive Tim Cook is a big hypocrite.

Fiorina, a potential Republican presidential candidate, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that Cook should be speaking out against oppressive regimes worldwide instead of Indiana's new "religious freedom" law.

"When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he's in, including China and Saudi Arabia," she said. "But I don't hear him being upset about that."

Cook, who is openly gay, wrote an op-ed earlier this week warning that laws like the "religious freedom" ones being set up in Indiana and Arkansas, are part of a "dangerous" new wave of legislation targeting gays and lesbians for discrimination. Though other businesses threatened to withdraw from the state, Cook did not call for a boycott.

"These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear. They go against the very principles our nation was founded on, and they have the potential to undo decades of progress toward greater equality," Cook wrote.

But Fiorina told The Journal that there was "nothing objectionable" about the Indiana law, though it was amended by lawmakers on Thursday to forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Supporters of these types of "religious freedom" laws say they are needed to protect religious businesses owners from having to violate their faith.

"I think this is a ginned-up controversy by people who play identity politics that has divided the nation in a way that is really unhelpful," Fiorina said.

Click here to read the full Wall Street Journal article.