Sen. John Kennedy Rips Biden Appointee Neera Tanden’s Mean Tweets: ‘You’ve Called Senator Sanders Everything BUT an Ignorant Slut!’

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s appointee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, on her past tweets, faulting her for calling Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “everything but an ignorant slut.”

Tanden appeared before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday, with Sanders as committee chairman, and was repeatedly questioned on past attacks she has made in social media posts.

Tanden generally targeted Republican senators, claiming that “vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz,” and that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is “the worst,” but also went after progressive figures.

“But of course your attacks were not just made against Republicans,” Sanders said to Tanden during the trial. “There were vicious attacks made against progressives, people who I have worked with, me personally.”

Referencing her attacks on Sanders, Kennedy questioned Tanden on her past tweets, noting that he was “very disturbed” by what she has said about people.

“It’s not just one or two, I think you deleted about a thousand tweets,” Kennedy said to Tanden, later adding, “But the comments were personal. I mean, you call Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut.”

The comment was likely a reference to a Saturday Night Live skit from the 1970s, during which Weekend Update host Dan Aykroyd calls co-anchor Jane Curtin an “ignorant slut.”

Tanden insisted Kennedy’s remarks were untrue, prompting him to ask if she believed the things she said in the past.

Tanden noted that she regrets the comments, once again prompting Kennedy to repeat his question: “Did you mean them?”

The two engaged in a lengthy back and forth, during which Kennedy consistently asked Tanden if she meant what she said in her tweets, while she continued to dodge the question by noting she feels “badly.”

“I — I mean, I feel badly. I look back at them. I said them. I feel badly about them. I deleted tweets. Over a hundred of them,” she said, later noting that she “must have meant them” but regrets them.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Kennedy added, “I want the record to reflect that I did not call Senator Sanders an ignorant slut.”

“I don’t know how I should take that, Senator Kennedy,” Sanders replied.

Watch above, via C-SPAN.

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