‘You’re Starting to Sound like Marco Rubio’ GOP Rep. Tells Robotic Hearing Witness

Rep. John Katko (R-NY) accused a repetitive committee witness of sounding like presidential candidate Marco Rubio during the last Republican debate.

“You’re starting to sound like like Marco Rubio did Saturday night,” Katko told Hillary Batjer Johnson, the State Department’s deputy coordinator for Homeland Security in the Bureau of Counterterrorism, during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Johnson had repeated a number of phrases in her answers.

Rubio came under fire in the GOP presidential primary debate Saturday night for repeating himself and sticking closely to his campaign talking points.

Johnson was testifying Wednesday about the Obama administration’s unilateral decision to provide waivers for dual nationals and travelers to terror hot-spots — particularly Iran — from a new law requiring such travelers first obtain a visa to come to the U.S.

“Not trying to sound like Marco Rubio but there is an option for a waiver under the law,” Johnson responded when asked why the administration did not chose an alternative to the waiver approach.

In his primary concessions speech Tuesday evening in New Hampshire, Rubio acknowledged his poor debate showing telling the crowd, “I did not do well on Saturday night.” He added that “that will never happen again.”