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A leftist Democrat sparked fierce backlash after he appeared to insist that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s views on Cuba carried less weight because he has not visited the island.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., made the striking claim during a heated exchange with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Wednesday at a committee hearing.
Pocan, who has compared Cuba to a “silent Gaza,” visited the communist island earlier in July, where he called for the U.S. to relent on its pressure campaign against the Cuban government, blaming U.S. sanctions for the island’s economic devastation and fuel shortages.
During his questioning of Waltz, he did not address the Cuban government’s likely hoarding of resources as it maintains a firm grip over the economy or its continued access to luxuries amid economic turmoil.
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“During your visit, did you visit the private island from the Castro regime?” Waltz asked Pocan. “Did you visit their private jet which seems to have fuel to get back and forth?”
Pocan dodged the question and fired back, “Considering you’ve never been to Cuba, I’m not going to take your advice on where to go.”
“Marco Rubio has never been to Cuba, so many others who have strong opinions,” the Wisconsin lawmaker added later.
“His entire family is from Cuba and fled the regime,” Waltz replied.
“They left before the revolution,” Pocan responded. “That is decades ago. That’s a ridiculous answer. It’s worth going there if you’re going to have such strong opinions and I think you’d maybe look at it a little differently.”
The exchange drew swift criticism on social media, with several conservative commentators accusing Pocan of parroting the Cuban government’s talking points.
“It is completely insane that @RepMarkPocan is using a Congressional hearing to shill for the communist regime in Cuba,” Cody Sargent, communications director for Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, wrote on social media. “Americans need to see how absolutely crazy @TheDemocrats have become.”
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“Mark Pocan (who consistently makes a strong case for dumbest member of Congress) proves once again how he fails to have a functioning brain,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella wrote Wednesday. “This exchange is exactly the kind of thinking communist regimes love to cultivate.”
“A perfect example of what Rubio’s report on Cuba warned about re: Communist Cuba’s influence and espionage in America ,” NewsNation anchor Katie Pavlich observed.
Pavlich referenced findings the State Department released earlier this week detailing a decades-long influence campaign the Cuban government allegedly pushed within the United States to sow division and push Communist ideas.
“From its earliest years in power, the Cuban regime has believed that its own survival and strategic interests were inextricably linked to the advance of the revolutionary left inside the United States,” the report states in part.
Pocan notably dismissed the report as “ridiculous,” arguing Rubio issued the document as a pretext for regime change on the island.
“It may be the stupidest, most fantastical, most biased thing I’ve ever read from a governmental agency,” Pocan said in a statement released Tuesday.
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Pocan also pressed Waltz on whether the administration plans to pursue military action against Cuba. The top diplomat declined to take any option off the table for the president.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pocan for comment.
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