NBC News Meet the Press The network acknowledged Sunday that anchor Kristen Welker had mistakenly said Vice President Kamala Harris had met with the families of Americans killed in Afghanistan, but also failed to issue a correction.
In an interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Welker challenged Cotton, a Republican, about former President Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery last week to pay tribute to 13 U.S. soldiers killed in action on the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate terrorist attack at Kabul International Airport. The Harris and Walz campaigns have accused Trump of politicizing the memorial amid a dispute over whether the Trump campaign should be allowed to take photos and videos there.
In response, Gold Star families blamed Harris for failing to withdraw from Afghanistan and for not calling or meeting with them. NBC's Welker covered the story of the discussion with Cotton, making the false claim.
NBC Follow Kamala tried to excuse the fact that she had never been in contact with the Gold Star recipients, the families of the 13 service members who died at Abbey Gate, by saying that she and Biden had “met with the families during the dignified transfer.”
There's just one problem: Kamala wasn't actually there… pic.twitter.com/BJK6RmlodB
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 1, 2024
“Well, they met with the soldiers during the dignified transfer. They were with the soldiers during the dignified transfer,” Welcker said, referring to the soldiers' remains being returned to U.S. territory.
later, Meet the Press We posted the following correction on social media:
This morning's broadcast erroneously reported that both President Biden and Vice President Harris attended the dignified transfer of 13 American service members who died during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden was in attendance, but Harris was not.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 1, 2024
Welker did not “intimate” that Harris was there, he stated so explicitly.
Welker moderated the final presidential debate of the 2020 election.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of “Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” which is available for preorder on Amazon. He also wrote,Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump's presidency” is available on Audible. He is the 2018 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
