Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) on Friday tried to defend himself defended himself after he made what people called are calling a “shockingly racist comment” by suggesting that African American voters are not fully Americans. Then he stumbled as he tried to clean up his act.
“If you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans,” McConnell said Wednesday when he was asked whether voters of color would be hurt if Democrats’ election legislation did not pass.
Facing backlash, McConnell defended his record on race relations, claiming on Friday that he “misspoke” when he made the comment. Then things got really awkward.
“This outrageous mischaracterization of my record as a result of leaving one word out inadvertently the other day,” he told reporters, adding that he said he had meant to say the word “almost” before Americans in his comment.
At the end of his news conference, he returned to the mics after consulting with an aide, who seemed to tell him he had misspoken again, clarifying he had meant to say the omitted word was “all.”
McConnell’s office then told CNN the senator had meant to say “other” Americans.
