Media, Democratic lawmakers and White House officials have defended Vice President Harris this week over her handling of the border crisis, her past support for the controversial Minnesota Freedom Fund and her rating as the “most liberal” U.S. senator by a government accountability site.
Controversy emerged this week over whether Harris acted as a “border secretary” in the early days of the Biden administration, despite saying she would take the lead on border and immigration issues in the Biden administration’s early days.
Harris announced that in 2021 she would lead diplomatic negotiations with countries that send migrants to the US, including El Salvador and Guatemala.
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Liberal media, Democratic lawmakers and White House officials defended Vice President Harris this week over her handling of the border crisis, her past support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund and her rating as the “most liberal” U.S. senator by a government accountability site. (Reuters/Evelyn Hochstein)
White House staff and Democrats reject calling Harris ‘border czar’
“Border Czar” is an unofficial title widely bestowed on Harris in 2021. President Biden He appointed her to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration.
But White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the president’s staff have repeatedly denied the claim that Harris has been asked to take over the border crisis. This week, the media has joined in in a big way, churning out a slew of reports that deliberately distanced Harris from the border crisis.
“We’re going to debunk this false portrayal of the vice president. She was not a border patrol officer. We’re not alone. Independent fact checkers are saying the same thing. It didn’t exist and it’s not true,” Jean-Pierre said.
Axios was grilled about one of its articles on Wednesday. Harris insists she’s not a “border czar.” The news appeared to contradict earlier reports, after the outlet later updated its article to acknowledge that it had “mistakenly” called her the “border emperor” in the past.
Many other media outlets, including fact-checker PolitiFact, have also reported that calling Harris a “border czar” is incorrect. Fox News Digital asked several news outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, CBS, The New York Times and Axios, about their vocal refusal to use the term “border czar” in recent days, asking why they suddenly did so and whether the Harris campaign had pressured them to reject the term. Most of the outlets did not respond.
Both PolitiFact and USA Today responded to requests from Fox News Digital, saying they received no pressure from the Harris campaign and that they are independent news organizations.
The viral NewsBusters video showed news outlets discussing the use of the term before and after Harris runs for president in 2024.
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Controversy over Harris’ past support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund
Journalists also rallied against Harris’ support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund in June 2020 during the Black Lives Matter riots following the death of George Floyd.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Harris Post to X, He later took to Twitter to voice his support for a fund that helps convicted criminals get out of prison: “If you’re able, please donate now to @MNFreedomFund to help pay bail for people protesting in Minnesota.”
CBS News attempted to refute the report. Thursday’s ArticleThe headline was, “Despite Trump’s claims and 2020 tweets of support, Harris has not donated to Minnesota Freedom Fund.”
“One of the dangerous criminals that Kamala posted bail for was Sean Michael Tillman,” Trump told CBS at a rally in North Carolina. “You know the name. He was a repeat offender who was released with the help of Ms. Harris. Then he went on to shoot a man six times in cold blood as he lay on the ground on a train platform in St. Paul, Minnesota, killing him.”
“While some of what Trump said is true, Shawn Michael Tillman “The former president killed a man in St. Paul after being released from prison, but other parts of his statement are misleading,” CBS reported.
A CBS affiliate in Minnesota also came under fire for a community note about X after it claimed Trump had “falsely” accused Harris of supporting a bail fund. The organization said Harris has not sent any donations herself, but posts calling for donations have been ongoing since 2020.
Site calling Harris “most liberal” US senator of 2019 disappears
GovTrack, an organization that tracks congressional voting records, confirmed to Fox News Digital that within the past two weeks it had removed a 2019 webpage that ranked Kamala Harris as the “most liberal” U.S. senator that year. (Bizayev Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
GovTrack, an organization that tracks congressional voting records, confirmed to Fox News Digital that within the past two weeks it had removed a 2019 webpage that ranked Kamala Harris as the “most liberal” U.S. senator that year.
The self-described “Government Transparency Website” called Harris “The most liberal of all senators” He outranked then-Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the 2019 presidential election, but the rankings webpage, which was widely reported in the news during the 2020 election, was recently deactivated.
In response to this report, a columnist for the New York Intelligencer wrote: Advice to Harris He spoke about the best way to “combat the label of being ‘too liberal.'”
Ahead of November, some media outlets are promoting Harris as a moderate candidate.
“The View” host Alyssa Farrah Griffin said Friday that Harris ran as a liberal in 2020 but now has a “moderate” message.
The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Chris Pandolfo, Hugh Hewitt, Kyle Morris and Yael Harron contributed to this report.
