DHS Sec. Nielsen on Booker 'amnesia' rant: It was a 'frustrating distraction'
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen discussed her fiery exchange with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on Wednesday during an interview on FOX Business.
“It was a distraction and it was very frustrating to me on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security,” Nielsen told Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The New Jersey Democrat ripped Nielsen during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over her "silence and amnesia" after President Trump's reported remarks during an Oval Office meeting earlier this month. Nielsen responded saying she didn't recall the president describing some African and Latin American nations as "s***hole" countries.
"I was there to talk about real threats and their needs, to do the job that the American people asked them to do, and it became 11 minutes of a lecture about a meeting he was not in—about one word—and whether or not I heard it,” she said.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) responded last Wednesday accusing Booker of "mansplaining."