Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman says U.S. Virgin Islands Congressional Delegate Stcey Plaskett was lying when she claimed that he made racist attacks on black families on the House and used a racist phrase behind closed doors.
"She is a lying person," Grothman told "The Dan O'Donnell Show" Thursday morning in his first remarks about the controversy. "I was defending the black family from this organization which, they say--the founders--'We are trained Marxists. I do not like the fact that way too many politicians in the last election cycle accepted help from Black Lives Matter, a group that says they are against the nuclear family."
The Black Lives Matter organization did indeed have a statement on its website indicating that it believes in "disrupt[ing] the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."
The group removed the statement in September following widespread criticism of its radicalism. Grothman made mention of it during a speech on the House floor Wednesday blasting what he called a "marriage penalty" in Democrats' COVID-19 relief bill.
"I bring it up because I know the strength that Black Lives Matter had in this last election," he said. "I know it's a group that doesn't like the old-fashioned family. I'm disturbed that we have another program here in which we're increasing the marriage penalty."
Plaskett, a non-voting delegate to Congress who participates in floor debates, followed his speech with one of her own.
"How dare you, how dare you say that Black Lives Matter, black people do not understand old-fashioned families despite some of the issues, some of the things that you have put forward that I've heard out of your mouth in the Oversight Committee, in your own district,” she said. "We have been able to keep our families alive for over 400 years, and the assault on our families to not have black lives or not even have black families. How dare you say that we are not interested in families in the black community. That is outrageous. That should be stricken down."
At no point during Grothman's speech did he say "we are not interested in families in the black community" or that "black people do not understand old-fashioned families." He referred only to the now-deleted phrase on the Black Lives Matter website.
On Thursday night, Plaskett claimed to MSNBC host Joy Reid that Grothman has used racist phrases such as "welfare mamas" during committee meetings and that one needed only to "look up Glenn Grothman" to find evidence of this. A Google search for "Glennn Grothman" "welfare mamas" produced no results save for a transcript of Reid's show in which Plaskett made the allegation.
"She's lying," Grothman said Thursday. "It's not a phrase I use. She's making it up. This is why so few people trust the mainstream media. It's unfortunate that they would give her a platform and not do any follow-up themselves as to whether she's telling the truth or just making something up. I think [Reid] surprised her with the question and Stacey didn't have anything to say so she made something up. That's what I think."
Click on the player below to listen to Dan O'Donnell's exclusive interview with Congressman Grothman and click here to subscribe to "The Dan O'Donnell Show" on iHeartRadio.