Mika Trashes DHS Sec. Nielsen: ‘She acted like a hapless robot’

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski was not impressed with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen‘s testimony before Congress yesterday.

The Morning Joe co-host not only criticized Nielsen but also said  “she’s become the face of the Trump administration’s abuse of children at the border.”

Nielsen was on Capitol Hill on to brief the House Homeland Security Committee, but she ended up coming under fire for claiming the Trump administration’s southern border policy didn’t separate migrant families, nor did it result in children being kept in cages.

“When she says they don’t use cages, look at these pictures. She’s defying the obvious in the most Trump-like way,” Brzezinski said. “The situation is shameful, and it just seems like she lacks the ability to care about the border crisis in a real way. …I’m just praying public pressure will force her to change course, maybe have her do her best and save these children from further heartbreak and suffering because that is what’s happening and that’s not who we are.”

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“She’s become the face of the Trump administration’s abuse of children at the border,” Brzezinski said. “Secretary Nielsen is presiding over a humanitarian crisis caused by the White House that now requires skill, urgency and humanity to resolve. Instead, once again at Wednesday’s hearings, she acted like a hapless, hostile, hopeless robot.”

“There are a lot of failed cabinet secretaries in the Trump administration, but secretary Nielsen’s incompetence is having a direct impact on the most vulnerable — children,” she added.

Nielsen insisted the government was not keeping migrant children in cages, although MSNBC reporters and others, including members of Congress, have seen and documented those conditions.

Yesterday she said “We never purposefully put a child in a cage,” but this just doesn’t make sense.

As PoliticusUSA managing editor Sarah Jones wrote yesterday:

“Why is Nielsen in the position of lying once again in public? When Nielsen says they didn’t purposefully cage children, well. It’s worth the same as when Trump claims he is a stable genius. That is to say, nothing except probably the opposite.”

In January, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) formally asked the FBI to investigate  Nielsen for perjury. We don’t know if that charge will stick, but it certainly appeared yesterday that Nielsen is living in a fantasy world where nothing she says makes sense. And very little of what she says is true.

CLICK HERE to watch the video of Mika’s commentary on Morning Joe.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.