Connor McNutt
Role at the time: Chief of staff to Rep. Ilhan Omar, in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital
Statement summary
In an emailed statement to Fox News Digital responding to Vice President JD Vance’s March 27 remarks, Rep. Ilhan Omar’s chief of staff, Connor McNutt, called Vance’s claim “a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract” from what he called “the pedophile protection party’s unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers.” He said the claim was “rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to ‘create stories’ to redirect the media.” McNutt’s characterizations of Vance and of the party he calls “the pedophile protection party” are his own.
“This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to ‘create stories’ to redirect the media,” … “This is a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from the pedophile protection party’s unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers.”
Why we used this label
McNutt rejects the accusation as “a ridiculous lie” and a “desperate attempt to distract,” and attacks the accuser’s credibility. That is criticism of the accusation itself, not only a dispute over facts. The closest competing label is “Challenged the characterization”, because he calls the claim false; it loses because he also denounces the accusation’s motive and timing.