Top conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats on Saturday criticized former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for a tweet he posted of five men who appear to be using hand signs associated with the MS-13 gang with the caption, “Nancy Pelosi introduces her campaign committee for the take back of the House.”
“Where did my friend and pastor @GovMikeHuckabee go? I want him back,” Vander Plaats tweeted. “I’ll assume someone hijacked his twitter account. He’s way better than this!”
Huckabee took the dig at Pelosi, a California Democrat who is the House minority leader, on Friday morning.
MS-13 is short for La Mara Salvatrucha, “a gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador” according to the Department of Justice. “In the United States, MS-13 has been functioning since at least the 1980s."
Huckabee’s tweet has generated backlash on Twitter, including accusations of racism and bigotry.
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, told CNN, "Trump and his surrogates will continue to repeat blatantly false attacks as long as the media continues to take the bait and print them."
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