Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Vice-President Kamala Harris is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hire, after President Joe Biden stepped down as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and endorsed her.
“Biden said he’s gonna hire a Black female for vice president,” Burchett told CNN. “What about white females? What about any other group? When you go down that route, you take mediocrity and that’s what they have right now as a vice president.”
Asked directly whether he is suggesting that Harris is a “DEI hire,” Burchett responded: “One hundred percent, she was a DEI hire.”
Burchett was doubling down on comments he made on social media earlier on Monday referring to Harris as a “DEI Vice-President.”
“The media propped up this president, lied to the American people for three years, and then dumped him for our DEI vice president,” Burchett said on X.
Harris is the first female and Black vice president in the country’s history.
This is not the first time that Burchett, a Trump ally, has suggested that Harris was chosen as Biden’s VP because of her race and gender.
In an interview with Newsmax earlier this month, Burchett said whenever he listens to Harris speak, “I just scratch my head and think this is what DEI is really about.”
“It clearly is. She checks all the boxes,” he added. “She’ll say she’s of Indian descent one day, then she’ll say she’s of Black descent. It’s just box-checking.”
Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic nominee for president. She has reportedly secured enough delegates to officially become the party’s nominee for president.
