Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (SC) found herself in a tense exchange with CNN host Brianna Keilar on Friday during discussions over Joe Biden's cognitive ability, her support of former President Donald Trump, and "post-birth" abortions.
Mace hit out at a Biden, saying there's "no way" people in the center will support the current president in his bid for re-election. She also levied an accusation that Biden isn't actually running the country.
When Keilar asked Mace to explain her reasoning, Mace pointed to Biden's "cognitive decline."
"Last night," she said, referring to Biden's widely criticized debate performance, "For me, it was kind of heartbreaking — I had aging parents, I'm a mom, to see what they put him through, I thought was abusive. He should not have been on that stage. He should not have been in that debate. He is definitely not running the country."
Keilar acknowledged Biden should answer questions raised about his debate performance, but pushed back on Mace again, firing back: 'What evidence do you have?"
Mace pointed to the 90 minutes of Biden on stage.
"He needed an interpreter. You couldn't even understand what he was saying when he was answering the questions.," Mace said. "Something is not right. Something cognitively — he's clearly in a massive decline."
She blasted Democrats in the White House for "covering up" for Biden and slammed the media for "aiding" them. When Mace pointed to the debunked "cheap fake" video of Biden at the G7 Summit in Italy, Keilar pushed back yet again.
"He was greeting someone, just to be clear," she shot back, later acknowledging Mace was "raising some valid points."
"We all watched this debate last night, but I do just want to be specifically clear about all the videos that we've seen," she said.
Undeterred, Mace hit back.
"The mainstream media were calling these real videos, 'cheap fakes,' I mean we've all seen him dazed out, frozen, confused ...," said Mace.
But she was cut off by Keilar, who responded the media wasn't owning that statement.
"I think it was the White House press secretary who was calling it that," she said.
When the discussion pivoted to policy issues, Keilar played a clip of Trump's remarks that many abortions happen in the eighth, ninth or even "after birth." Keilar hit back at the president's comments as "not even in the zip code of reality" and asked Mace her thoughts.
But Mace defended the former president's remarks, pointing to a case several years ago in which legislation filed in Virginia about "post-birth abortion."
Keilar again cut her own guest off.
"That's not accurately — you're not accurately representing that," she tried to interject.
"I am," said Mace, "adding emphatically: "And Roe v. Wade would allow by law abortion up to the ninth of a pregnancy. So those are just facts."
"Letting a baby die is a crime," Keilar retorted. "Just to be clear."
The pair then went toe-to-toe over what Mace called Democratic-led efforts to legalize post-birth abortion.
"You're not accurately ...," Keilar began, again cutting off Mace. "That's not what this is."
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She later added: "When you talk about it like that, that is not an honest conversation. As you are aware, or I hope you are aware, abortions that occur later account for about 1 percent, right? We're talking after the 20-some-odd week mark. The sort of post-viability mark. The vast majority occur so much earlier."
She noted the ones that occur later have to deal with the health of the mother. When Mace tried to say she also cares about mothers who face life-threatening situations, Keilar steamrolled her.
"These tend to be — these tend to be wanted pregnancies, and these tend to be decisions that are done with so much emotion, questions of morality as well — they are not done lightly. The people who have actually been in that situation look at this characterization, and it's incredibly insensitive to them."
Mace accused Keilar of "mischaracterizing" what she said, and added she's always supported abortion when it involves the health of the mother. She's pushed back against far-right extreme positions on the issue coming out of states like Texas, she said, and has tried to find "middle ground."
Keilar shifted the conversation to Mace's support of Trump in 2024 despite his refusal to commit to accepting the results of the election.
When Mace tried to say she's seen enough of Biden after four years, Keilar interjected yet again.
"So you can overlook that? The fact that he will not commit to accepting the outcome of a free and fair election?"
Mace again said she's seen four years of Joe Biden, and again was cut off by the CNN host: "Why not answer the question?" And when Mace pointed to undocumented immigrants crossing the border, Keilar refused to let her dodge the question.
"Why not answer the question?"
Keilar tried to nail Mace down when the congresswoman said she felt Trump would win outright, noting it's key to her support.
"There is, of course, a possibility that he doesn't, and so the answer to that question is important," she said.
Alas, she didn't get Mace to answer.
"Unfortunately we're out of time," Keilar said, thanking her guest.
