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As the Biden administration's foreign policy undergoes advanced scrutiny for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Republican former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for what he said was a botched tribute to the late Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.
McCain was famously held captive for years in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, where he was repeatedly tortured and held in unsanitary conditions.
In a recently-concluded visit to Vietnam, Vice President Harris commemorated McCain on the third anniversary of his death by laying flowers at a monument on the spot where McCain's plane was shot down.
.@VP Harris lays flowers at Hanoi memorial where John McCain’s plane was shot down. "He was an extraordinary Amer… https://t.co/v0K8fhmlAB— CSPAN (@CSPAN) 1629890029.0
Harris said at the site:
"John McCain was an extraordinary American hero. I was honored and privileged to serve with him for a short time in the United States Senate. John McCain, he loved our country."
Gingrich, however, claimed the memorial celebrated McCain's capture and dismissed the tribute as an embodiment of the administration's so-called naïveté.
Kamala Harris taking flowers to memorial honoring the North Vietnamese who captured John McCain in the mistaken bel… https://t.co/hhASQKuHG0— Newt Gingrich (@Newt Gingrich) 1630329863.0
Gingrich is flat out wrong, and numerous officials have visited the site in years past, including Senator McCain himself, as well as members of the Trump administration.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale pointed this out and even provided pictures.
Harris visited the same site Trump's ambassador to Vietnam, a US military rep from the embassy, and lots of America… https://t.co/flxC4lzwbX— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1630333024.0
Others did the same.
@newtgingrich Dude. https://t.co/QNLoC5r6O9— Mary Quite Contrary (@Mary Quite Contrary) 1630333200.0
@newtgingrich https://t.co/QlChmvNbfw— Amy Rovin (@Amy Rovin) 1630344038.0
@newtgingrich FYI @newtgingrich, “McCain himself went to that memorial.” @BradMossEsq https://t.co/JuC0sJl5I7— Laura M (@Laura M) 1630340344.0
@newtgingrich You shameless rotting hate-potato. https://t.co/qBgBdYjMLH— Dennis Perkins (@Dennis Perkins) 1630347190.0
They commended Dale for his fact checking.
@ddale8 Thank you once again for bringing us the TRUTH.— Bettyann (@Bettyann) 1630336890.0
@ddale8 Thanks, Daniel. The Truth Teller par excellent.— Judie Hall (@Judie Hall) 1630360938.0
@ddale8 All of this disinformation is killing our nation. Thank you Daniel for always setting the record straight.— mary anne star (@mary anne star) 1630347127.0
@ddale8 Thank you Daniel for being so dedicated to the truth!!!— Marian Johnson (@Marian Johnson) 1630365097.0
Gingrich hasn't retracted the claim.