GOP's Mike Braun scrambles to walk back claim that states should be able to ban interracial marriage

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) on Tuesday scrambled to backtrack after he said earlier in the day that he believed states should be allowed to ban interracial marriage.

In a statement provided to NBC News congressional reporter Julie Tsirkin, Braun claimed that he "misunderstood" a reporter's question about whether he'd be fine with the Supreme Court reversing its past precedent by leaving the issue of interracial marriage up to individual states.

"There is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form," Braun said.

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However, the complete exchange between Braun and the reporter makes it hard to see how Braun could have possibly "misunderstood" the question.

"So you would be okay with the Supreme Court leaving the issue of interracial marriage to the states?" the reporter asked him.

"Yes," Braun replied. "I think that's something where if you are not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you are not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too."

Braun made the remarks about interracial marriage to defend his argument that states should be allowed to set their own abortion policies instead of having them set by the United States Supreme Court.