Fox News personality Jesse Watters was forced to walk back an ill-landing comment on Vice President Kamala Harris during a panel discussion on Monday, Mediaite reported.
Waters, a prime-time anchor for the network, was met with some resistance when he claimed that, if Harris is elected president, generals in the Situation Room will “have their way with her.”
This sexually suggestive comment came during a discussion of the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the killing of 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans in 2021 suicide bombings. Republicans have long criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal.
“She was the last in the [Situation] Room [on] Afghanistan, she was the border czar, and she was the deciding vote on trillions in inflationary spending,” Watters said, Mediaite reported. “On those three most popular Joe Biden items, she’s basically like a conjoined twin. You cannot separate the two.”
Harris was never the "border czar," but was instead charged with helping Central American nations address the conditions causing people to flee. Contra Watters, Harris' vote for the Inflation Reduction Act was followed by a steady reduction in inflation.
But it was Watters' comment about the generals that prompted on-air pushback.
Jeanie Pirro was the first to react, reprimandeing Watters for his sexually suggestive comment. “I don’t like that. Take it back,” she said. Her colleague Dana Perino followed by condemning the comment calling Watters out using his full name.
Without apologizing, Watters tried to downplay the sexist nature of the comment.
“Figuratively, again: Have their way with her! Control her. Not in a sexual way,” he replied.
