Watch: Jen Psaki torches Ted Cruz's remarks on reverse racism with his own words

Watch: Jen Psaki torches Ted Cruz's remarks on reverse racism with his own words
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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently fired back at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) following his controversial remarks on reverse racism — and she used the Republican senator's own words against him.

Psaki's clap back was in response to Cruz's remarks made during a podcast he was featured on last weekend. At the time, Cruz described President Joe Biden's decision to nominate a Black woman for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy as "offensive."

“The fact that he’s willing to make a promise at the outset that it must be a Black woman — I gotta say, that’s offensive,” Cruz said on his podcast over the weekend. “Black women are, what, six percent of the U.S. population? He’s saying to 94 percent of Americans: ‘I don’t give a damn about you. You are ineligible.'”

He added, “It’s actually an insult to Black women."

During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, February 1, NBC News' Kristen Welker asked Psaki about the remarks and the press secretary wasted no time firing back. She recalled Cruz's remarks when former President Donald Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“Just over a year ago, the previous president also promised to select a woman for the Supreme Court,” Psaki said in reference to Trump's nomination of Barrett. “Not only were there no complaints about choosing a nominee from a specific demographic — from the same corners — but there was widespread praise of now-Justice Barrett on those grounds, with Republican lawmakers widely highlighting that they thought this was positive for women in America.”

Psaki noted that Cruz had no objection to Trump's promise to nominate a woman. “He had no objection to Donald Trump promising he’d nominate a woman in 2020,” Psaki said. “I repeat: No objection at all.”

She went on to echo Cruz's remarks praising Trump's decision.

“In fact, he praised her on these grounds during— praised her on these grounds, the nominee. During her confirmation hearing, Senator Cruz said, quote, ‘I think you’re an amazing role model for little girls. What advice would you give little girls?'”

Not backing down, Psaki concluded with details about the president's decision and the Supreme Court history leading that precedes it.

“The president’s view," Psaki said, "is that after 230 years of the Supreme Court being in existence, the fact that not a single Black woman has served on the Supreme Court is a failure in the process, not a failure — or a lack of qualified Black women to serve as Supreme Court justices.”

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