Republican lawmaker doubles down on DEI comments about Harris

(The Center Square) – A Republican lawmaker said Wednesday he regretted saying Vice President Kamala Harris was a diversity, equity and inclusion hire, but said it was the "truth" as former GOP leader Kevin McCarthy called such attacks "stupid."

On Monday, Congressman Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said Harris was hired because she is Black.

"One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” he said. "Her record is abysmal at best."

On Wednesday, Burchett said he regretted making the comment, but said it was "the truth."

"When folks are explained that this was in fact a statement that the president had made, and that it was one of his criteria for putting her on the ballot with him, then folks understand it…. And actually members of Congress, both parties, have said, 'look, yeah, we get it, but this is what we gotta do because this is what our base and our leadership's demanding.' So, yeah. Do I wished I'd said it? No, but it was the truth," Burchett said on Laura Coates' SiriusXM program.

Burchett also said he wasn't racist.

"It's not racist behavior," he said on the program. "I'm not a racist and it's being interpreted that. And I would just ask folks to look at my record, and you know, you're not gonna know the content of my heart, but that's the furthest thing from my mind."

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said such attacks were "stupid."

"I would say, two attacks I’ve heard Republicans give that are totally stupid and dumb to do is the DEI attack, OK?" McCarthy said on NBC News's "Meet the Press NOW."

Harris, 59, has become a focus for Republicans after she replaced presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, swiftly earned enough delegates to secure her party's nomination and raised a $81 million for her campaign against GOP nominee Donald Trump.

"This election will be about policies and not personalities," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters a day earlier.