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The Trump campaign issued a mealy-mouthed comment saying the "joke does not reflect the views of President Trump," but it was quickly verified that the joke had been loaded into the teleprompter.

“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students,” said the committee chair, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx.

Mr DeSantis, 45, began proceedings by calling his opponent "another mealy-mouthed politician that tells you what she thinks you want to hear".

On one side, some students at a handful of elite universities have made harsh anti-Israel statements, some crossing the line into outright antisemitism, and some university presidents have been diffident and mealy-mouthed in their responses.

Durbin was even forced into a mealy-mouthed statement about how it "falls short."