Fox News Host Confronts Katie Britt on Widely Mocked SOTU Response

Senator Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican, was confronted on Fox News Sunday by host Shannon Bream regarding a statement she made during her widely criticized State of the Union (SOTU) rebuttal address on Thursday night.

Bream specifically asked Britt about the story she told about a sex-trafficking survivor and the implication that it happened on President Joe Biden's watch.

When asked if she meant to imply if the story happened during Biden's time in office, Britt replied, "No, Shannon. I very specifically said, 'This is what President Biden did during his first 100 days.' Minutes after coming into office, he stopped all deportations, he halted construction of the border wall and he said, 'I'm going to give amnesty to millions.' Those types of things act as a magnet to help more and more people here."

The Context:

Accusations have emerged that Britt's rebuttal featured a "whopping lie" in her reference to a woman who said she had been sexually trafficked from Mexico to the United States at the age of 12. Britt claimed to have met this woman during a visit to the southern border in the "Del Rio sector of Texas."

On Friday, however, Talking Points Memo journalist Jonathan M. Katz posted a lengthy video to TikTok in which he cited evidence to suggest that Britt's portrayal of the woman's situation was inaccurate. According to information Katz found, including from her own past testimony before Congress, the woman that he believes the senator likely spoke to, Karla Jacinto Romero, was trafficked at a young age entirely within Mexico. This occurred during a time when Biden was not in the White House in any capacity, between 2004 and 2008.

"These events didn't happen in the United States," Katz said. "These crimes didn't take place in the United States. Or even near the border. They took place in Mexico."

What We Know:

When pressed by Bream on Sunday about the timeline related to the woman in question, Britt said, "I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12. I didn't say teenager, I didn't say a young woman, a grown woman."

She also blamed the "liberal media" for not wanting to tell stories about human-trafficking.

"It is disgusting of trying to silence the voice of telling the story of what is like to be sex-trafficked," Britt added.

Views:

In response to an inquiry from The Washington Post, Sean Ross, a spokesman for Britt, confirmed Saturday that she had been referring to Romero's story and claimed that what she said "was 100 percent correct," though did not specifically refute Katz's evidence or arguments.

"The story Senator Britt told was 100% correct," Ross said. "And there are more innocent victims of that kind of disgusting, brutal trafficking by the cartels than ever before right now. The Biden administration's policies—the policies in this country that the President falsely claims are humane—have empowered the cartels and acted as a magnet to a historic level of migrants making the dangerous journey to our border."

This response, in turn, was met with criticism from some notable figures on social media, including George Conway, the conservative lawyer and co-founder of the anti-Trump political action committee, The Lincoln Project.

"This. Is. The. Epitome. Of. A. Non-denial denial," he posted on X, formerly Twitter. "WOW."

What's Next?

Voters in Republican presidential primary contests in North Carolina, Virginia and California appeared particularly focused on immigration, according to the results of Super Tuesday exit polls conducted by Edison Research and reported on by Reuters.

Following are figures from the polls:

* 41 percent of North Carolina voters said immigration mattered most when deciding how they would vote in the contest, compared to 33 percent who said the economy mattered most.

* In Virginia, immigration was also the top concern, while in California, voters were slightly more likely to say the economy mattered most, with immigration cited nearly as often.

* In North Carolina, 63 percent thought immigrants without legal status should be deported and 33 percent said they should be able to apply for legal status. In Virginia, 61 percent said they should be deported, while in California, 69 percent said they should be deported.

Update 3/10/24, 10:49 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

Update 3/10/24, 10:36 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.