Rachel Campos-Duffy
(Photo : Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) along with his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy deliver a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016.

During a discussion about who should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy joked that Paul Pelosi may "need the hammer" instead of an honor.

She was referring to Pelosi's 2022  brutal attack by a home invader in his San Francisco house who bizarrely demanded to know the whereabouts of his wife, former Democratic House Speaker. Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time. Pelosi suffered a serious skull fracture, required surgery and was in the hospital for weeks.

Fox host Pete Hegseth smiled at Campos-Duffy's comment and noted that a hammer is "metal," joking about the play on the word "medal."

Social media critics were appalled at Campos-Duffy's glib comment about a vicious assault that could have killed Pelosi.

Campos-Duffy, the co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend, has made controversial comments in the past. After Biden won the 2020 presidential election she said there had been "fraud and shenanigans" in the voting.

In 2022, she claimed that the United States provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The newscaster got her start on TV by starring in the MTV reality series "The Real World."

On Friday, President Biden awarded Nancy Pelosi the Medal of Freedom.

"On January 6, Nancy stood in the breach and defended democracy with her husband, Paul," the president said, according to CBS News. "They stood up to extremism with absolute courage, physical courage."

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the country's highest civilian honor. Biden presented the award to 19 people on Friday. Among the other recipients was former vice president Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg.