The White House called on Fox News to apologize after a host blamed Jill Biden for the Afghanistan chaos because she let her husband run for president

• Republicans have slammed Biden for his execution of the US Afghanistan withdrawal, which Trump started.
• Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy said it was Jill Biden's fault for letting him run for president.
• A White House spokesman called on Fox News to apologize.

The White House slammed Fox News after a host claimed that the first lady Jill Biden was responsible for the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan because she allowed her husband to run for president in the first place.

Rachel Campos-Duffy on Sunday sought to pin the blame on Jill Biden for allowing President Joe Biden, whom she described without evidence as "mentally frail," to run for office.

"When you look at what's hurting America, when you look at this lack of leadership, and you wonder, who are the people responsible for putting someone this incompetent and frankly this, you know, mentally frail in this position?" the host said.

"I'm sorry, as a political spouse, I can't help but look at Jill Biden," said Campos-Duffy, who is the wife of former GOp Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin. "No one knew better his state of mind than Dr. Jill Biden."

"And if you ask me, the most patriotic thing Jill Biden could have done was tell her husband - to love her husband and not let him run in this mental state that he's in. I think she failed the country as well."

Michael LaRosa, a spokesperson for the the first lady, in a tweet hit back at comments, calling them "disgusting."

-Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosa46) August 23, 2021

"They can do better and their viewers deserve better," he tweeted, tagging the network and Campos-Duffy. "I hope they'll apologize to the First Lady and leave this kind of talk in the trashcan where it belongs."

Fox News did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on LaRosa's tweet.

Republicans have long said Biden was unfit for office, pointing to his history of verbal slips and gaffes to claim he was cognitively impaired. No medical evidence has emerged to substantiate the claim.

Republicans have in recent days sought to gain political advantage from the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban swept back into power only weeks after the US withdrew most of its military forces, sparking a humanitarian crisis.

Biden and his advisors have blamed former President Donald Trump for making a deal with the Taliban to pull out troops, and blamed the Afghan forces for lacking the "will" to fight. Trump has supported the troop pullout but, like other conservatives, blamed Biden for the messy execution.