Sen. Katie Britt on Sunday denied accusations that she intentionally implied the harrowing sex-trafficking story she referenced in her State of the Union rebuttal took place under President Biden’s watch.
Britt (R-Ala.) had recounted, during her rebuttal Thursday, her conversation with a woman who was trafficked at age 12 and “raped every day.
“President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days. When I took office, I took a different approach,” Britt said at the time. “I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas. That’s where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me.”
After Britt’s speech, one of her reps said the senator was talking about Karla Jacinto Romero, who was trafficked between 2004 and 2008 and later testified before Congress.
“I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12,” Britt insisted to “Fox News Sunday.”
“So I didn’t say a teenager. I didn’t say a young woman. A grown woman, a woman who was trafficked when she was 12.”
Critics, including the Washington Post’s fact-checking arm, have slammed Britt for not clarifying at the time that the disturbing anecdote took place long before Biden was sworn into the White House.
Britt stressed Sunday that she used her rebuttal to assess Biden’s first 100 days, in which he loosened federal policy on the border, and contrast it with her first 100 days in office.
Her response to Biden’s State of the Union address sparked controversy and was ruthlessly pilloried on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, when Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson was tapped to mock the first-term senator.
“SNL” and others speculated that Republicans tapped Britt to deliver the rebuttal in a bid to sway suburban moms to their side, as concerns mount about the party hemorrhaging the key bloc of voters.
Britt pushed back on criticism from the left that Republicans don’t tend to the needs of female voters.
“I think the exact opposite is true, and that is exactly why I was sitting at a kitchen table. Republicans care about kitchen-table issues,” she said.
“We are talking about the issues that women care about. I am proud to be pro-life and want to make sure that we have an opportunity to protect life.”