‘Isn’t she amazing?’ Biden leads laughter at Marjorie Taylor Greene after false fentanyl claims

‘The interesting thing is, that fentanyl they took came during the last administration,’ says Biden

US president Joe Biden led the laughter at representative Marjorie Taylor Greene during a recent event where he spoke about her false statement blaming the deaths of two brothers who overdosed on fentanyl on his administration.

Responding to Ms Greene’s comments on Wednesday during a House Democrats retreat in Baltimore, Mr Biden sarcastically asked “isn’t she amazing?”

“She was very specific – I shouldn’t digress, probably – I read, she was very specific recently saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that I killed her sons,” Mr Biden said.

“Well, the interesting thing is, that fentanyl they took came during the last administration.”

His remark prompted laughs from the audience consisting of mostly Democrats.

“Look folks. Anyway, I don’t want to get started,” he said, letting out a chuckle.

During a hearing on Capitol Hill, the firebrand congresswoman, known for her history of pushing conspiracy theories, had asked Rebecca Kiessling, a mother who lost two children to fentanyl-related deaths, whether her sons would be alive “if our government would secure our southern border”.

Ms Kiessling responded “absolutely”, and criticised politicians for drug dealers who have crossed the border illegally. She called the deaths of her two sons – Caleb, 20, and Kyler Kiessling, 18 – who died on 29 July 2020 due to a fentanyl overdose “murders”.

She said: “You talk about welcoming those crossing our border seeking protection? You’re welcoming drug dealers across our border. You’re giving them protection. You’re not protecting our children.”

Ms Greene posted a clip of the exchange on Twitter, blaming the Biden administration for the deaths.

She wrote: “Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administration’s refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl.”

However, a CNN fact-check pointed out that the Georgia representative’s comment was falsely blaming the Biden administration as the incident occurred during the Donald Trump presidency.

After pointing out the false claim, Mr Biden urged bipartisan cooperation on police reform, immigration reform, and protection of voting rights.

He suggested that moderate GOP lawmakers could help Democrats usher in those initiatives and said middle-of-the-road conservatives may move toward Democrats if more Republicans like Ms Greene emerge.

“We need to come together on police reform and immigration reform,” he said. “We need to protect voting rights and the right to choose.”

“Ladies and gentleman, we got to reinstate Roe v Wade and pass it nationally. We really do,” Mr Biden said.

“And look, I know as well as you the MAGA Republicans are not gonna get on board for most of these things. But that leaves a lot of Republicans that are still left. By the way watch, watch, I predict, watch, watch what happens. Republicans can help make a significant majority on some of these things.”