McAuliffe spokesperson Renzo Olivari apologizes for past offensive tweets: 'I am ashamed and I profoundly regret what I tweeted'



Renzo Olivari, a spokesperson for Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, has apologized for past Twitter posts.

"Terry McAuliffe's comms guy kinda sounds like a racist," Arthur Schwartz tweeted, along with images of two 2012 tweets from Olivari.

One tweet said "#TweetLikeAGuy going out with da nigguhs" and another said "#ThingsBlackFolksNeverThrowAway broken lamps."

Terry McAuliffe’s comms guy kinda sounds like a racist. https://t.co/7IE32ECWGE

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) 1635545330.0

Fox News reported that the tweets have been deleted, but the outlet said it obtained screenshots prior to when the tweets were taken down.

"As a person of color, I have tried to live my whole life fighting for communities like mine," Olivari said in a statement to the outlet. "When I was in high school student, I tweeted things that were clearly unacceptable."

He also noted, "I am ashamed and I profoundly regret what I tweeted. I take full responsibility and I want to profoundly apologize and use this as a moment to grow and learn from my mistakes. I will continue working to fight for communities like mine in every way that I can."

Olivari's Twitter bio says he does "Comms for @TerryMcAuliffe." He also describes himself as an "Alum of @JoeBiden , @Mike2020 , @KamalaHarris , @NVDems , @VADemocrats , & @JMU."

McAuliffe, who previously served as governor of Virginia from early 2014 until early 2018, is aiming to defeat Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin during the state's gubernatorial election on Tuesday next week.

Pentagon spox downplays leaving Americans stranded in Afghanistan: 'We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time'



Pentagon press secretary John Kirby continued to put his foot in his mouth Tuesday while trying to convince the public that the Biden administration has things under control in Afghanistan.

What happened?

While speaking with MSNBC's Willie Geist on "Morning Joe," Kirby trotted out a strange talking point regarding the American citizens currently stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as evacuation efforts have ended.

The beleaguered spokesman appeared to downplay the situation by essentially arguing that this sort of thing happens "all the time."

"So what does that look like, how does diplomacy get those people out of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan?" asked Geist.

"It's not completely unlike the way we do it elsewhere around the world," Kirby replied. "I mean, we have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time."

Biden’s Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby: “We have Americans that get #stranded in countries all the time.” https://t.co/VXH5vxAwlI

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) 1630415090.0

What was the reaction?

The response immediately drew backlash on social media.

"Imagine being an American stranded in Afghanistan and hearing the spokesman for the department who is responsible for getting you out saying this," tweeted Amy Tarkanian. "Absolutely unbelievable."

"This is the message we are left with from the Biden administration as hundreds of our citizens may never make it home," added Republican Rep. Andy Biggs (Ariz.)

"Not so much 'stranded' as abandoned," clarified Andrew Malcolm.

Jerusalem Post columnist Emily Schrader said simply, "Shame!"

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey noted that Kirby's language makes it seem as if the Americans still left in Afghanistan got themselves stranded there under their own volition, an argument he points out is completely invalid.

"These Americans didn't get themselves stranded. They were abandoned by their own government in Biden's haste to get out of Afghanistan," he argued.

What else?

In addition to being extremely insensitive, Kirby's remarks also contradicted the administration's previous argument regarding the left-behind Americans

During a press briefing last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted that Americans are not "stranded" and that it is "irresponsible" to refer to them as such.

"I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home," Psaki said. "We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via e-mail, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home."

TODAY: Biden's Pentagon Spokesman: “We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time”LAST WEEK: Bide… https://t.co/kNUwNbf6Gc

— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) 1630415890.0

Kirby on Tuesday added that he didn't have an "exact figure" for the number of Americans left in Afghanistan, but said he estimates the figure is "probably in the low hundreds."

Gov. DeSantis torches Biden over his forgetfulness in the latest chapter of escalating feud



The feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden escalated this week. Biden pretended not to know who DeSantis was, and the Republican governor of Florida blasted the president's forgetfulness.

The recent friction between DeSantis and the White House increased this week when White House press secretary Jen Psaki attacked DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for not following "public health guidelines," in regard to not obeying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated guidelines about wearing face masks. Last month, DeSantis signed an executive order banning mask mandates in public schools.

"But if you aren't going to help, if you aren't going to abide by public health guidance, then get out of the way and let people do the right thing to lead in their communities," Psaki said on Tuesday. "Whether they are teachers, university leaders, or private sector leaders or others who are trying to save lives."

The DeSantis administration responded to Psaki's criticisms, "She might want to brush up on the Constitution and learn more about the role of a state governor. As it turns out, freedom matters."

"Every day, nearly a thousand Americans relocate to Florida — mostly fleeing from the ever-changing, contradictory COVID restrictions pushed by federal bureaucrats on lockdown states," the DeSantis administration told Fox News. "By contrast, Governor DeSantis keeps up with the latest research and makes data-driven decisions. If he had 'gotten out of the way' as Psaki suggested, and let the CDC run our state, many of those lives might have been lost — as we saw with the tragic situation in New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, where the age-adjusted death rates are significantly higher than in Florida."

DeSantis himself fired back on Wednesday when he asked the Biden administration, "Why don't you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure?"

"And until you do that, I don't wanna hear a blip about COVID from you, thank you," DeSantis lambasted Biden. "This is a guy who ran for office saying he's going to shut down the virus. And what has he done? He's imported more virus from around the world by having a wide open southern border."

Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, revealed last month that at least 87 Border Patrol agents from just two sectors tested positive for COVID-19, and 27% of unaccompanied children deported also tested positive.

"Florida is a free state, and we will empower our people," DeSantis said in a recent fundraising email. "We will not allow Joe Biden and his bureaucratic flunkies to come in and commandeer the rights and freedoms of Floridians."

On Thursday, NBC News White House Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell asked Biden about the remarks made by DeSantis, to which he facetiously replied, "Governor who?"

The squabble continued on Friday when DeSantis, governor of the fourth-most populated state with over 21 million residents, torched Biden.

"I guess I'm not surprised that Biden doesn't remember me," DeSantis said at an event at Chipola College in Marianna, Florida. "I guess the question is 'What else has he forgotten?'"

"Biden's forgotten about the crisis at our southern border, I can tell you that," DeSantis continued to mock Biden's forgetfulness. "Biden has forgotten about the inflation that's biting the budgets of families all throughout our country. Biden has forgotten about the demonstrators who are fighting for freedom down in Cuba. Biden's even forgotten about the Constitution itself, as we saw with what he did with this moratorium."

"I can just tell you, I'm the governor who protects parents and their ability to make the right choices for their kids' education," DeSantis hammered Biden. "I'm the governor who protects jobs and education and businesses in Florida by not letting the federal government lock us down. I'm the governor who answers to the people of Florida, and not the bureaucrats in Washington."

DeSantis: “I’m not surprised that Biden doesn’t remember me . . . The question is what else has he forgotten?” https://t.co/uO3yy12Hbj

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) 1628275936.0

This isn't the first time that Biden has been mocked for his forgetfulness. In June, at the G7 summit in England, where Biden suffered from several mental lapses and gaffes, world leaders laughed at the U.S. president for his absent-mindedness.

The ongoing rivalry between DeSantis and Biden could be a potential preview of the 2024 presidential election. DeSantis was voted the most popular Republican 2024 candidate in a straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit in June. At CPAC in February, the Florida governor was voted the favorite presidential candidate if former President Donald Trump isn't a candidate.

CNN's Chris Cuomo dares Twitter user to name just one time he's denied facts he doesn't like — then the replies come rolling in



After the tongue lashing President Joe Biden gave CNN's Kaitlan Collins for her Vladimir Putin question earlier this week — for which Biden later apologized — far-left actress Rosanna Arquette was in no mood to make nice with the media.

Instead, she tweeted that the president was "right to lose his patience with a journalist or any journalist who tries to twist his words. Calling that crap out is the way forward. Enough bulls**t. The truth and nothing but the truth."

With that CNN's Chris Cuomo replied to Arquette that the "problem is truth is now at the mercy of what people want to be true. If you don't like it...it isn't the truth."

That apparently was too much to take for another Twitter user, who promptly called out Cuomo: "The story of your life, you constantly deny facts you don't like."

Uh oh.

Given the CNN host once threatened a guy in public who referred to him as Fredo, the weak brother in "The Godfather," Cuomo shot back and challenged his Twitter adversary to "name one" example:

It's on!

As you might guess, Twitter went a little nuts after Cuomo threw down — and his tweet has been getting ratioed ever since, showing about 2,500 replies to just 741 likes as of Friday afternoon.

And what did some of those replies contain? Well, a decent number answered Cuomo's dare to name just one example of him denying facts he doesn't like.

Commentary writer Drew Holden offered a few examples:

@ChrisCuomo Rebekah Jones https://t.co/jV0KbgwXDy

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) 1623938217.0

@ChrisCuomo Antifa https://t.co/9Hb66i8s3A

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) 1623938250.0

The Daily Caller chimed in, too:

@ChrisCuomo https://t.co/aFMwe3olRK

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) 1623939880.0

This guy put a humorous spin on his contribution:

@ChrisCuomo https://t.co/VH3IaTldiv

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) 1623939425.0

Also:

@ChrisCuomo Will you admit that the Hunter Biden laptop isn’t Russian disinformation or are you still clinging to that lie?

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) 1623985364.0

Another user offered a doozy of a reply: "Not enough Twitter space for your idiocy. Michael Avenatti BS; Covington kids lies; Brett Kavanaugh distortion; Russia Collusion over and over; Your Covid deception, etc. When people look for the 'Great Deceiver' on CNN they will say…'I knew it was you, Fredo. I knew it was you!'"

Here's more on the matter from Sky News:

Twitter roasts CNN's Chris Cuomo after he dares them to show examples of him denying factsyoutu.be