South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace reiterated her comments calling Hunter Biden “the epitome of white privilege” after the president’s son made a surprise appearance at a hearing.
Mr Biden showed up at the hearing room – unannounced – on Wednesday as the House Oversight Committee deliberated on whether to move forward with a resolution holding him in contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with a subpoena.
After the hearing, Ms Mace echoed her earlier comments, telling The Independent: “I mean, the nerve of him to show up to our committee is the epitome of privilege. He should be held accountable like everybody else.”
This wasn’t the first time she referred to the president’s son’s “privilege.”
Earlier in the day, upon Mr Biden’s arrival, the South Carolina Republican asked: “My first question is who bribed Hunter Biden to be here today? That’s my first question. Second question, you are the epitome of white privilege. Coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a Congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls to come up here.”
Her comments met the wrath of two of her House Democratic colleagues – Texas Rep Jasmine Crockett and New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I just can’t get over the gentlelady from South Carolina talking about white privilege,” Ms Crockett said. “It was a spit in the face, at least of mine as a Black woman, for you to talk about what white privilege looks like, especially from that side of the aisle.”
“Y’all don’t know what white privilege looks like,” she added.
Ms Mace said she takes “great pride as a white female Republican to address the inadequacies in our country,” referring to her prior position on the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee. She also defended that her district is “rich and poor is literally Black and white, Black versus white on most days”.
Rep Ocasio-Cortez then chimed in, calling Ms Mace’s speech “very beautiful” but “exemplary of the point that she also oversaw the elimination of the civil rights subcommittee on this committee, which really kind of gives the whole game away”.
The New York lawmaker continued: “We show up, we give speeches, we give flowery words, but at the end of the day, participate in the structural erosion of the rights and representation of people that are marginalised – women, people of colour, people that just need to see their due process and civil liberties protected in this country.”
