As the Biden administration's foreign policy undergoes advanced scrutiny for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Republican former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for what he said was a botched tribute to the late Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
McCain was famously held captive for years in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, where he was repeatedly tortured and held in unsanitary conditions.
In a recently-concluded visit to Vietnam, Vice President Harris commemorated McCain on the third anniversary of his death by laying flowers at a monument on the spot where McCain's plane was shot down.
.@VP Harris lays flowers at Hanoi memorial where John McCain\u2019s plane was shot down. \n\n"He was an extraordinary American. A hero...he loved our country. He was so courageous and really lived the life of a hero...always fought for the best of who we are."pic.twitter.com/9KgZJ9GWCm— CSPAN (@CSPAN) 1629890029
Harris said at the site:
"John McCain was an extraordinary American hero. I was honored and privileged to serve with him for a short time in the United States Senate. John McCain, he loved our country."
Gingrich, however, claimed the memorial celebrated McCain's capture and dismissed the tribute as an embodiment of the administration's so-called naïveté.
Kamala Harris taking flowers to memorial honoring the North Vietnamese who captured John McCain in the mistaken belief it was honoring McCain tells you everything you need to know about the incompetence and na\u00efvet\u00e9 of Biden team. They can\u2019t tell who the friends and enemies are?— Newt Gingrich (@Newt Gingrich) 1630329863
Gingrich is flat out wrong, and numerous officials have visited the site in years past, including Senator McCain himself, as well as members of the Trump administration.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pointed this out and even provided pictures.
Harris visited the same site Trump's ambassador to Vietnam, a US military rep from the embassy, and lots of American and Vietnamese people visited to pay tribute to McCain upon his death. McCain himself visited the site more than once as a senator. https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/1432333380109180933\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/YNVpCbEHPG— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1630333024
Others did the same.
Dude.pic.twitter.com/QNLoC5r6O9— Mary Quite Contrary (@Mary Quite Contrary) 1630333200
pic.twitter.com/QlChmvNbfw— Amy Rovin (@Amy Rovin) 1630344038
FYI @newtgingrich, \u201cMcCain himself went to that memorial.\u201d @BradMossEsqpic.twitter.com/JuC0sJl5I7— Laura M (@Laura M) 1630340344
You shameless rotting hate-potato.pic.twitter.com/qBgBdYjMLH— Dennis Perkins (@Dennis Perkins) 1630347190
They commended Dale for his fact checking.
Thank you once again for bringing us the TRUTH.— Bettyann (@Bettyann) 1630336890
Thanks, Daniel. The Truth Teller par excellent.— Judie Hall (@Judie Hall) 1630360938
All of this disinformation is killing our nation. Thank you Daniel for always setting the record straight.— mary anne star (@mary anne star) 1630347127
Thank you Daniel for being so dedicated to the truth!!!— Marian Johnson (@Marian Johnson) 1630365097
Gingrich hasn't retracted the claim.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social