Housing and Urban Development (HUD) official Lynne Patton rejected suggestions from a Democratic congresswoman that she was used as “a prop” by Republicans during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing with Michael Cohen.
Patton said she was there to support President Donald Trump and to “pushback against a racist narrative,” she told “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
HUD official Lynne Patton stands behind Rep. Mark Meadows during testimony of Michael Cohen to Congress, Feb. 27, 2019. Fox News screenshot.
“I was not there to represent an entire race of people. I was there to represent one man [Donald Trump], one man who never minds having the lowest unemployment rate for blacks, minorities, Hispanics, women and who also gave $32 million more than the last administration to historically blacks colleges and universities,” she said.
During Cohen’s testimony, Patton was standing behind Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows. Her presence there provoked Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib to suggest first that Meadows, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, was a racist and that the congressman was merely using Patton as “a prop.” (RELATED: Rep. Rashida Tlaib Wrote Column For Nation Of Islam Publication)
Patton found that accusation revolting and she wondered why “the congresswoman from Michigan would take the word of a self-confessed perjurer and criminally convicted white male over a black female … that’s more racist.” Tlaib, who was first elected to the House in last November’s midterm elections, gained notoriety quickly for promising to “impeach the motherf****r” Trump.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) talks to other guests before the start of a funeral service for former Rep. John Dingell on Feb. 14, 2019 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC. (Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais – Pool/Getty Images)
Patton, a successful businesswoman, emphasized that the president is not a racist.
“The president does not see color, race, creed, religion; what he sees is success or failure,” she told Fox. (RELATED: Trump’s HUD Official Lynne Patton Moves Into Public Housing, Will Stay For A Month)
Patton also accused Cohen, former lawyer to Trump, of falsely claiming during his testimony before Congress that he never sought employment with the Trump administration.
“He told me personally,” she said, “that he wanted to work at the White House.”