A Republican senator known for his support of Donald Trump insulted a member of the media this week – as he spoke about the recent terror attack in New Orleans.
The quip from Louisiana’s John Kennedy, 72, came hours after 14 were killed on the city’s iconic Bourbon Street, by a 42-year-old Army veteran shot dead at the scene.
As Kennedy was tasked with giving members of the media an update, a reporter was heard reminding the conservative that NBC News was ‘here on the right.’
Kennedy’s response – uttered alongside law enforcement officials and the state’s governor Jeff Landry – has since lived in infamy, seemingly unable to resist lampooning the network’s progressive reputation.
‘That’s an unusual position,’ he said aloud Wednesday, to a combination of laughter and confusion.
As he spoke, Kennedy was seen moving his hands to the right – further hitting home the idea that NBC is a left-leaning outlet.
The jab was seemingly met in jest, but quickly spurred a torrent of outrage on social media.
On the floor in New Orleans, it appeared to confuse the reporter who had shouted the directional in the first place. She’s heard calling out, ‘I don’t get it’ – to which a Kennedy responded, ‘You wouldn’t,’ before taking over the podium.
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The rest of the conference contained far fewer jokes – not surprising considering the occasion.
Kennedy, however, did have some strong words about the federal support the city was receiving during the investigation at the time, before the FBI eventually intervened.
As a result, the outspoken senator’s comments were riddled with contempt, as he appeared visibly frustrated by the situation.
‘I did talk to the Secretary of Homeland Security a little while ago, and I told him that, with all the respect I could muster, that we expect [him] to put the full force and resources of the federal government behind this investigation,’ he said.
Taking occasional sips out of two red solo cups, the politician also promised to ‘raise fresh hell’ and ‘chase the federal government’ for more information.
At the time, specifics of the believed terror attack were still trickling out, leading to an erroneous report from Fox News that the Texas-born suspect’s truck crossed the US border in Eagle Pass ‘two days ago.’
Attributed to anonymous sources, the bit of misinformation brought politics into the budding investigation, and was quickly aired as fact by a fervent President-elect Trump.
‘When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,’ he wrote on Truth Social eight minutes later.
Before Fox could amend the report, he added: ‘The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.
‘Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.’
Hours later, it was revealed the suspect was a US citizen, Beaumont-born Shamsud-Din Jabbar. He served in the US Army Reserve, and the car he drove into a crowd gathered in the city’s famed French Quarter was not even his.
He had rented it via an app known as Turo, and the person who Fox reported had driven the Ford-150 across the border was found to be someone else.
The timeline was also wrong, with the conservative news station later changing the ‘two days’ assertion to ‘two months.’
But the damage was already done, and spawned unfounded accusations online that feds on the scene were in the midst of covering the incident up.
As this was occurring, Kennedy continued to offer his update – appearing somewhat disheveled as he insulated his plastic cups with paper towels.
He promised to chase’ feds as if ‘they stole Christmas’ to find out the ‘truth,’ as his earlier joke sparked some pushback online.
The checkmarked account ‘Republicans against Trump’ wrote that Kennedy was a ‘disgrace’, tweeting to more than 780,000 followers.
Conservative political commentator Kimberly Klacik conference added how the conference was ‘definitely one of the worst’ she’d ever seen, tweeting, ‘I can barely take notes.’
‘There’s a lot of information going around. Some of it is actually true. Some of it isn’t,’ Kennedy said earlier in the day – as information continues to come out.
Hour later, President Joe Biden promised to give onlookers updates – as the case continues to fold. The FBI is handling the investigation.
