Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) have denounced a series of racist comments Cliven Bundy made to Adam Nagourney, reporter at The New York Times, in a story published Wednesday.
“His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Paul said on Thursday morning in a press release.
Bundy referred to “the Negro” in his comments, saying they “abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.”
“And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy?” Bundy asked. “They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”
The Times requested comment from Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Dean Heller, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott about the comments.
A spokesman for Heller told the newspaper that the senator “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.”
A spokeswoman for Abbott said his comments about federal lands “was regarding a dispute in Texas and is in no way related to the dispute in Nevada.”