Job well done.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell heaped praise on Republican colleague U.S. Sen. Katie Britt Tuesday for her official GOP response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last week in response to a question about her mischaracterizing a sex-trafficking story and amid reports that members of her own party thought it was a disaster.
“We were proud of Senator Britt, thought she did a great job, and I have zero criticism of her performance. I thought it was really outstanding,” McConnell said, per CNN’s Manu Raju.
Britt told a graphic sex-trafficking story about a woman who was sexually abused “over and over” by members of Mexican drug cartels on the United States side of the Rio Grande. She implied also that the woman had confided the story to her and that the events had occurred during Biden’s administration.
But Jonathan Katz, a former reporter for The Associated Press, detailed in a lengthy video posted to social media that it appeared Britt was misleading, at best. The woman has told her story many times publicly, including to Congress, it didn’t occur in the U.S., and they happened during George W. Bush’s presidency.
“We wouldn’t be OK with this happening in a third-world country,” Britt said in her response. “This is the United States of America, and it’s past time we start acting like it. President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable.”
As Britt gave her response, meanwhile, it was so cringy that even GOPers apparently had to look away.
“She really thinks she’s killing it. But it’s comical. Like SNL quality.” Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger reported a GOP Hill staffer told him, likening the rebuttal to “giving high school freshman speech.”
And from Rolling Stone: “Into the late hours of the night, Rolling Stone was inundated, sometimes completely unprompted, with messages from longtime GOP operatives, right-leaning pollsters, conservative Capitol Hill staff, MAGA lawyers, and even some senior members of Trump’s own 2024 campaign absolutely torching Britt’s absurdly over-dramatic rebuttal.”
“What the hell am I watching right now?” a Trump adviser reportedly asked someone at Rolling Stone, according to the report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
