Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) had an opportunity to apologize to White House Chief of Staff and former United States Marine Corps general John Kelly for his outlandish attack following Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The representative, who has never served in a military role, said that Kelly was a "disgrace to the uniform" for letting DACA go by the wayside. CNN's Alisyn Camerota gave him a chance to clean up his remarks.
.@RepGutierrez on his criticism of John Kelly: "I could have been more careful with the use of my words" https://t.co/twu3jvSoFu
— New Day (@NewDay) September 18, 2017
“I could’ve been more careful with the use of my words and there are times you need to reevaluate,” Gutierrez admitted.
There was a big “but.”
Having said that, I saw him, as head of Homeland Security deport grandmothers who had been for 15 years reporting dutifully to Homeland Security with their American grandchildren. Heartless actions and increasing deportations against people who presented no threat. He said to me not further than this distance, ‘I’m the one stopping DREAMers from getting deported,’ when he was head of Homeland Security. ‘I care about them. I’m defending them. I’m protecting them.'
... It was a pretty heartless thing to do. So, yes you can always be more careful, and I will be talking more about that in the future. And you can probably choose your words more carefully, but having said that, it really hurt. It was really painful. And I think that we need to set a standard for everybody to move forward.
Again though, why bring in Kelly’s military service, Camerota pressed.
Hundreds of Dreamers are serving in the armed forces, Gutierrez noted, asking "Where was he?"
Kelly doesn't need an apology from Gutierrez. He's capable of sticking up for himself.
"As my blessed mother used to say ‘empty barrels make the most noise.’”
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