Sen. Katie Britt acknowledges anecdote used to criticize Biden’s border policies didn’t happen during his presidency

CNN

By Samantha Waldenberg, Sam Fossum and Michelle Shen, CNN

(CNN) — Alabama Sen. Katie Britt on Sunday acknowledged that the graphic anecdote she employed to criticize President Joe Biden’s border insurance policies didn’t happen throughout his presidency.

In the course of the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, Britt described a lady’s story of being “intercourse trafficked by the cartels beginning at age 12” earlier than saying, “President Biden’s border disaster is a shame. It’s despicable. And it’s nearly fully preventable.”

Requested by Fox Information’ Shannon Bream on Sunday whether or not she meant to present the impression that the story had taken place throughout Biden’s time in workplace, Britt responded: “No, Shannon,” earlier than criticizing the president’s border insurance policies.

“I very clearly stated I spoke to a lady who informed me about when she was trafficked when she was 12. So I didn’t say a teen, I didn’t say a younger girl, a grown girl. A girl, when she was trafficked, when she was 12,” Britt stated.

In a detailed video posted on TikTok on Friday, freelance journalist Jonathan Katz tracked down what seems to be the story Britt referenced and located that it occurred in Mexico within the mid-2000s.

Katz cited a 2023 press release from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who, together with Sens. Britt and Cindy Hyde-Smith, went to Eagle Go, Texas, in January 2023 – shortly after Britt took workplace – to listen to from Karla Jacinto Romero, a human trafficking survivor, amongst others.

“The Senators discovered about cartel exercise in Mexico and the work being performed to rescue victims of human trafficking,” the press launch stated.

Jacinto Romero has shared her story publicly, together with in a 2015 hearing on intercourse trafficking held by the Home Overseas Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights. By way of a translator, she stated that for 4 years, ranging from the age of 12, she was “emotionally and sexually violated time and time once more.” She defined how, at age 16, she was capable of escape to a shelter and “develop into the activist” she turned.

Britt has beforehand referenced the story she gave Thursday – together with on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2023, based on her social media account.

White Home spokesman Andrew Bates informed CNN in an announcement Sunday, “As a substitute of telling extra debunked lies to justify opposing the hardest bipartisan border laws in trendy historical past, Senator Britt ought to cease selecting human smugglers and fentanyl traffickers over our nationwide safety and the Border Patrol Union.”

Senate Republicans final month blocked a major bipartisan border deal and overseas support bundle that might have enacted restrictive border measures amid a torrent of assaults on the invoice by former President Donald Trump and prime Home Republicans.