GOP Lawmaker Gets Sunday-Schooled Over Botched Religious Reference

Ed Mazza

A Republican congressman called thousands of missing FBI text messages “the greatest coincidence since the Immaculate Conception,” then struggled to explain just what he meant.

The FBI said the messages were lost due to a technical glitch.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) made the comments in a Fox News interview on Wednesday. Later, however, Gaetz stammered his way through a CNN interview when Chris Cuomo asked him to clarify.

“Where is the analogy?” Cuomo asked. “That’s what I don’t understand. What do you think happened with the Immaculate Conception?”

“Look, did you really bring me on to discuss my religious views, Chris?” Gaetz replied. “I’m a Christian. I believe that the Immaculate Conception was how Jesus was born.”

It was not, in fact, how Jesus was born and Cuomo quickly took Gaetz to church on this one.

See the full exchange above.

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