Former Chief CBS Correspondent Can't Believe How Far Network Has Fallen After Debate Fact-Checking Debacle
Former CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan could not believe how far the network has fallen in reporting truth, given how it handled the immigration issue during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.
Following the face-off between Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, CBS News fact-checked Vance regarding his claim that Vice President Kamala Harris was the Biden administration’s “border czar.”
CBS News rated Vance’s statement “false,” saying, “President Biden tasked Harris with leading the administration’s diplomatic campaign to address the ‘root causes’ of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, including poverty, corruption and violence.”
In fact, on March 24, 2021, Biden officially assigned Harris to “lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle … in stemming the movement of … migration to our southern border.”
Logan shared a clip of a CBS News correspondent reporting that Harris had in effect been named “border czar.”
Hard to believe CBS could have fallen so low. I spent 16 years there, I was the Chief Foreign Correspondent, the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent & a full-time correspondent for 60 Minutes, the flagship news program for the network. I cannot believe they can try to get away… https://t.co/QyoIBWoeEj
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) October 2, 2024
Axios also said at the time that Biden had appointed Harris “as border czar,” while The Washington Post reported that Biden was “giving Harris the lead role on the overall border and regional issue” replacing the administration’s outgoing “border czar.”
NBC News anchor Lester Holt questioned Harris in June 2021 a few months into her new assignment, “Do you have any plans to visit the border?”
The vice president responded that others had been there, prompting Holt to interject, “But you haven’t been to the border.”
“And I haven’t been to Europe. I don’t understand the point you’re making,” Harris replied.
Remember this?
Lester Holt: “Do you have any plans to visit the border?”
Kamala Harris: “We’ve been to the border. We’ve been the border.”
Holt: “But YOU haven’t been to the border.”
Harris: “…and I haven’t been to Europe. I don’t understand the point you’re making.” pic.twitter.com/V5ke0QbT77
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) July 26, 2024
Logan wrote in response to her former network’s fact check of Vance, “Hard to believe CBS could have fallen so low. I spent 16 years there, I was the Chief Foreign Correspondent, the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent & a full-time correspondent for 60 Minutes, the flagship news program for the network. I cannot believe they can try to get away with this BS when we all remember Harris being appointed & a simple online search can verify that.”
“So you have to ask why? Why would they lie & cover up for Harris? The answer is obvious – she is exposed on the border because it is a complete disaster & most Americans, including Democrats are mad as hell,” she added.
“The globalist open borders policy currently being shoved down our throats on her watch is inhumane, unjust & rejected by all except the globalist elite & morons like those at CBS responsible for this ridiculous propaganda,” Logan concluded.
Among its many post-debate fact checks of Vance, CBS News did at least address a Walz claim that “border crossings are down, compared to when Donald Trump left office.”
Tim Walz: It’s not true that Kamala Harris is letting in millions of illegal immigrants!
“Crossings are down compared to when Donald Trump left office!” pic.twitter.com/ipUZXECBb6
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 2, 2024
CBS said that statement “needs context,” acknowledging while in August there were about 58,000 crossings compared to approximately 74,000 during Trump’s last full month in office, the entire scope of the border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration must be considered.
Walz – “Crossings are down compared to when Donald Trump left office.”
Hmmm. CBP data shows the complete opposite ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Jf2A3mFsNx
— Chad Wolf (@ChadFWolf) October 2, 2024
In June, with the election approaching and immigration a top issue in the polls, Biden announced changes in the administration’s border enforcement policy.
But according to Customs and Border Patrol statistics, there have been over 2 million encounters at the southern border this fiscal year, down slightly from 2023 when there were approximately 2.5 million and 2022 when there were 2.4 million.
In total, approximately 8.5 million have entered the country illegally during the Biden-Harris administration, with an additional over 1.7 million known got-a-ways, as of May, according to the New York Post.
The highest number of illegal border crossings during Trump’s time in office was 859,500 in FY 2019. For the entire four years under Trump, there were approximately 1.9 million.
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