FLASHBACK: New Biden cabinet pick smeared Covington students as racist

Joe Biden named New Mexico Democrat, Rep. Deb Haaland, who smeared the Covington Catholic high school students in 2019, as Interior Secretary, Thursday.

Haaland joined in on the media-wide defamation of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, after a deceptively edited video from January 2019 showed students appearing to mock a Native American activist in Washington D.C.

"This Veteran put his life on the line for our country," Haaland tweeted, referring to Native American activist Nathan Phillips

"The students' display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration," her tweet continues.

The Covington Catholic students were later exonerated from allegedly mocking a Native protester, and it was later reported that Phillips approached and confronted the high school kids who were minding their own business.  

Several media outlets at the time reported that Phillips was a Vietnam War veteran, though later, the Military Times reported that he did not serve in Vietnam.

Haaland faced a defamation lawsuit from Covington Catholic students which was later dismissed by a federal judge on the basis that "the claims against them are barred by sovereign immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act," the Huffington Post reported.

Haaland will be the first ever Native American Cabinet secretary, Axios reports. Her role as Interior secretary would include overseeing the federal government's relationship to 567 federally recognized Native tribes across the U.S.

Haaland would also oversee large amounts of federal land that could be instrumental in Biden's energy proposals, which could include utilizing federal land to develop renewable energy sources, Axios reports.