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Sarah Huckabee Sanders Apologizes for Imitating Biden Imitating a Stutter

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Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders apologized on late Thurday for imitating Former Vice President Joe Biden stuttering.

Though Biden himself has a stutter, his stuttering during Thursday night Democratic debates was an imitation of a child with a stutter who called Biden. He said:

My wife and I have a call list of somewhere between 20 and 100 people that we call at least every week or every month to tell them, ‘I’m here. I give them my private phone number. They keep in touch with me.”

The little kid who said ‘I-I-I can’t talk. Wh-wh-what do I do?’ I have scores of these young women and men who I keep in contact with.

If you didn’t happen to already know that Biden stutters, the remark might have appeared insensitive.

After reenacting the phone call during his closing remarks, Huckabee Sanders tweeted, “I I I I I I I I I I I I I  hhhave absolutely no idea what Biden is talking about. #DemDebate.”

Biden later replied to Huckabee Sanders tweet on Twitter stating, “I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.”

Huckabee Sanders apologized later Thursday night saying she wasn’t aware that Biden also had a stutter.

Biden opened up to The Atlantic about his stutter for its January 2020 edition ahead of the debates. It was the first time he talked about it publicly despite people picking up on his vocal differences.

Originally published: December 20, 2019
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