On a Morning Joe interview that aired on Tuesday morning, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden responded to questions about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s handling of the ultra-liberal group of freshmen lawmakers known as “the squad.” Biden said he believed that Pelosi was “masterful” in her work, but further heaped high praise on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying, “I think the freshmen, particularly AOC, is smart as hell.”
Biden’s response on Tuesday comes the morning after Ocasio-Cortez, along with three other female freshman lawmakers condemned the weekend tweets by President Trump in which he said if the congresswomen were unhappy with the United States they should, “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
The president reiterated his sentiment on Monday saying that if anyone was unhappy with the United States they were free to leave. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez of New York was joined by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan in an evening press conference in which they described Trump’s words on Twitter as “racist,” “bigoted,” and “xenophobic.” Omar and Tlaib also called for impeachment proceedings against the president.
Joe Biden’s praise of the four congresswomen comes in response to rumors of infighing among the Democratic Party between veteran lawmakers like Pelosi and the young, outspoken faction of freshmen congresswomen. Pelosi bristled last week at the idea that the four members of “the squad” wielded any real power in Congress saying, “They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got.”
