US President Joe Biden landed in hot water again on Wednesday during a meeting with the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference when critics accused him of making light of a mother who lost two sons to fentanyl overdoses as he made fun of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
During a House hearing on the southern border crisis, the Georgia Republican blamed the Biden administration for its inability to prevent the influx of illegal drugs into the United States. She made her remarks before Rebecca Kiessling testified about the loss of her two sons on July 29, 2020, due to fentanyl poisoning. The Detroit News reported that the two had ingested pills they believed were Percocet but instead contained fentanyl.
“This government has failed you, and it’s failing American families, and it’s failing, most of all, it’s failing our children and our young people”, Greene said during the Tuesday hearing.
“Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administration’s refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl”, Greene wrote on Twitter after the hearing in a post containing a video of Kiessling’s testimony.
Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl. pic.twitter.com/HRD5SX0Td8
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 28, 2023
While discussing Greene’s comments and the loss of Kiessling’s sons, Biden let out a laugh.
“Isn’t [Marjorie Taylor Greene] amazing? Oof”, Biden said as he chuckled. “I should digress, probably, I’ve read, she, she was very specific recently, saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that, that I killed her sons. Well, the interesting thing is that fentanyl they took came during the last administration”, Biden said while chuckling.
It’s not clear that Biden was laughing at the mother’s loss, it should be said. Also, he is correct in that those deaths occurred in 2020, during then-President Donald Trump’s term.
But nevertheless, Biden was criticized for the appearance of making light of the situation to score political points against Greene.
“Shameful and embarrassing”, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., remarked about Biden’s actions, a video clip of which was shared by the Republican National Committee.
Shameful and embarrassing … https://t.co/dWFF6UWvWI
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) March 2, 2023
“An evil man”, noted Gov. Ron DeSantis’ rapid communications chief, Christina Pushaw.
An evil man
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 2, 2023
“He tries to pass the blame, but forgets all the work they did against ‘build the wall’”, another user noted.
He tries to pass the blame, but forgets all the work they did against “build the wall.”
— LeAnn (@LeAnnMReyes) March 2, 2023
“Blaming the other guy … how typical. At least he wanted to build a wall. And what’s with the ironical stupid smile?” said another.
https://twitter.com/pladomor/status/1631190447019159552
Senior CNN reporter Daniel Dye, whose Twitter bio says he is “fact-checking the president, 2024 candidates, others,” noted on Twitter Wednesday in a post containing a video clip of the Georgia Republican at the hearing that he confronted her staff over the exchange, which generated fiery responses from her spokesman.
“I asked Greene’s office last night about her tweet blaming the Biden administration for these deaths in 2020 under Trump. Spokesman Nick Dyer responded by saying lots of people have died from drugs under Biden and ‘do you think they give a f***k about your bullsh*t fact checking?’ Dye tweeted.
He followed that up with this: “I also gave Greene congressional spokesman Nick Dyer an opportunity to comment regarding Greene’s multiple false claims yesterday about the 2020 election, such as the lies that Trump won Georgia and that there were thousands of dead voters there. His response: ‘F*** off’”.
According to the National Safety Council, fentanyl-related deaths have skyrocketed under the Biden administration, as has smuggling of the drug from Mexico amid lax border security policies that have also seen a surge of illegal migrant crossings.
“The majority of preventable drug overdose deaths (77%) involve opioids, totaling 75,785 in 2020. Opioid drugs include both prescription and illicit drug categories”, the NSC noted in a web post. “The drug category most frequently involved in preventable opioid overdoses and growing at the fastest pace is ‘synthetic opioids other than methadone.’ This category includes fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and tramadol”.
According to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who has been covering the border since Biden was inaugurated and lifted most of former President Donald Trump’s tough security policies, tweeted this week: “NEW: Per federal source, Border Patrol has now seized over 800 lbs of fentanyl between ports of entry in the last 4 months. In the same time frame, CBP reports seizing at least 12,000 lbs of fentanyl at POEs since 10/1. DEA says 2.2 lbs = potentially 500,000 lethal doses”.
NEW: Per federal source, Border Patrol has now seized over 800 lbs of fentanyl between ports of entry in the last 4 months.
In the same time frame, CBP reports seizing at least 12,000 lbs of fentanyl at POEs since 10/1.
DEA says 2.2 lbs = potentially 500,000 lethal doses.— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 28, 2023
