MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell lauded Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett for sharing her story about being a White mother of Black children during her confirmation hearing Tuesday, saying it made her “very accessible” and “appealing” to Americans.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee took a break for lunch, Ms. Mitchell discussed with colleague Chuck Todd the answer Judge Barrett had given Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin when he asked for her thoughts about the police-custody death of George Floyd.
Judge Barrett, a mother of seven including two adopted children from Haiti, said Floyd’s death was “very personal” for her family and led to many tearful discussions.
“I think it is an entirely uncontroversial and obvious statement, given that we just discussed the George Floyd video, that racism persists in our country,” she said during the hearing.
Mr. Todd noted that it was a real moment, not from a judge, but from “an American citizen, a mom.”
“That made her so relatable,” Ms. Mitchell agreed. “This is a White mom with Black children explaining the talk that Black parents have had to communicate to their kids for generations, for centuries, if you will.
“This is an interracial family, a multiracial family,” she continued. “It’s something that is more and more present in America — something not conceived, perhaps, by some people in the Senate, but others. There are people on this panel who have Black children and can relate to this. And it’s just very accessible and touching to me and I think that makes her — it’s one of the reasons why she was considered to be a very appealing candidate.”
Ms. Mitchell’s comments were highlighted by the Republican National Committee on Twitter.
NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell: Judge Barrett was “very accessible and touching to me”https://t.co/3SY5PrsjDD pic.twitter.com/0ebniY0Yv4
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 13, 2020
