Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) thought he was being clever when he munched on Kentucky Fried Chicken in Congress Thursday to make the point that Attorney General William Barr chickened out by refusing to testify before the Judiciary Committee.
But the Tennessee Democrat conceded on MSNBC Sunday that the near day-old chicken “was cold and it wasn’t wonderful.” (Check out the video above beginning at 9:10). He also admitted he “hammed it up” a bit by eating it at his desk.
It “was humor. The New York Times referred to it as levity. That’s what I intended,” said Cohen, who had also placed a ceramic chicken figurine in the seat where Barr was supposed to sit. “I intended to create the hashtag ’Chicken Barr,’ and bring home the fact that he was chicken. A little humor’s okay.”
But the edible chicken was purchased the night before the stunt, he noted, correcting a bit by Colin Jost in “Weekend Update” on “Saturday Night Live” that claimed a “poor intern ... had to go find a KFC at dawn.”
Given the choice, Cohen said he “would have gone with the Four-Way grill ... or Gus’ from Memphis,” but FedEx couldn’t deliver the chicken from there in time.
Nevertheless, thanks to the KFC stunt, people “know more about ‘Chicken Barr’ than they ever did before,” he crowed.
Check out what else he had to say in the video about President Donald Trump’s power grab and his worry that Trump will refuse to leave the White House quietly if he loses the next election.