During this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” House Republican Conference chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) defended her record backing former President Donald Trump despite a 2022 New York Times article suggesting an element of reinvention by the New York State Republican congresswoman.
Stefanik resisted Bream’s questions about parts of the article. She called it a “disgrace” that Bream would mention it.
Partial transcript as follows:
BREAM: I want to talk to you about the veepstakes. Your name is continually thrown out as being on the shortlist, potentially, that this trip may be part of an audition. The New York Times had a lengthy piece where they talk about your transformation, they say, from somebody who is not supportive of President Trump to somebody who is full-throatedly supportive of him.
They say you called him a whack job at one point. They add this. “In August 2015, she told a New York radio station that he was ‘insulting to women’ and that his candidacy would hurt the party’s efforts to attract female voters. According to her former friends,’ they continue, ‘she thought Mr. Trump was too awful and ridiculous to be taken seriously. Her revisionism still shocks those who have known her the longest and who remember the disdain she expressed for Mr. Trump back then.”
So the question is when? More importantly, why did you change your mind about President Trump?
STEFANIK: Well, Shannon, it’s a disgrace that you would quote The New York Times with nameless, faceless, false sources.
BREAM: But they’re quoting your friends, so I’m giving you a chance to respond to that.
STEFANIK: No, no, no, Shannon — Shannon — Shannon, they’re not quoting my friends. Those names are not included because they are false smears. I was attacked as the only Republican from —
BREAM: There — to be fair, there are a number of names of people who are quoted in the article.
(CROSSTALK)
STEFANIK: Shannon, let me correct you.
BREAM: People can read it for themselves.
STEFANIK: This is a — this is a false smear, and let me tell you, let me tell you a fact, Shannon. In 2016, I was attacked as the only elected Republican from the Northeast who voted for President Trump. Democrats spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking me for that fact. So to say that I didn’t support him is just false.
I have been proud to be one of the strongest supporters, going back to when he ran for 2016, which was when it was my first re-election to the House. I have strongly supported him. He is going to be the next president of the United States. The American people know that. My constituents know that. And I’m proud to be one of his strongest allies in Congress.
I have always put my district first, New York 21 first, and America first. And this is an opportunity for us to stop the failures of Joe Biden and elect a president who led to a booming economy, a strong national security.
BREAM: I understand —
STEFANIK: But my record speaks for itself, Shannon.
BREAM: — where you are now. But let me ask you, though —
STEFANIK: My record stands for itself.
BREAM: OK, let me ask you, though, because they quote you on a radio station calling him insulting to women. Is that a misquote? Did you not say that?
STEFANIK: I said the statement that the Democrats leaked out in 2016 that that was insulting. However, Shannon, I stood by and supported him. And I strongly support him. And he has done so much to promote women in senior positions, as well as promote women’s economic opportunity that we experienced under the four years of his administration.
So I’ve been proud to support him. It’s a disgrace that you would take a “New York Times” article and just read negative quotes when the reality was, I was the only Republican-elected woman from the Northeast who voted for him in 2016 —
BREAM: OK.
STEFANIK: — who has strongly supported him. And I’m proud to be one of his strongest allies today.
BREAM: OK. We know where you are today. Folks can go read that article for themselves. There are plenty of names, people who went on the record. And we’ll leave it there. Clearly, you are supportive of him now. And we will track and follow where you are on the campaign trail.
STEFANIK: As I was supportive of him then.
BREAM: OK.
STEFANIK: As I was supportive of him then, Shannon. In 2016, as you know, so I hope you will tell the viewers that as well, which I voted for him in 2016 and was attacked for doing so.
BREAM: Congresswoman, we always appreciate your time. Safe travels.
STEFANIK: Thanks.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor