Fox News Fueled Migrant and Haitian Hysteria While Misleading its Viewers on The Hur Report
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 3/17/24
Fox News has terrified its audience with impending invasions of criminal mastermind migrants for years now. Last week the network took things to an even darker place when it implied the U.S. could be overrun with cannibalistic Haitian gangs.
When the network wasn’t pushing its xenophobic nightmare, it pounced on the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Report of Special Counsel Robert K. Hur. Fox acted as if the five-hour event was more proof of President Biden’s criminal behavior regarding his handling of classified documents.
The actual hearing was a combination of Republicans lawmakers scolding Hur for not recommending criminal charges for Joe Biden while Democrats read damning details about Trump’s mishandling of classified material directly from the Hur report.
There was also much drama involving the scandal surrounding Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and a bill that passed in the House that could force a sale of the Chinese social media app TikTok.
While Fox continued to ignore developments in the war, the network invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on “Fox & Friends,” for a ridiculously softball interview. Netanyahu basically promoted himself and his policies while dodging basic questions from the lightweight morning crew.
It wasn’t so much of an interview as it was a monologue written to promote Benjamin Netanyahu.
I don’t include anything from the Netanyahu interview in this newsletter as there was nothing compelling or newsworthy in what he said. It felt like a mini informercial meant to increase his popularity with Fox News viewers.
Anyone watching Fox News exclusively last week might have missed out on multiple developments in the Israel-Hamas war including airstrikes in Lebanon, increased violence in the West Bank and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Shows I Covered Last Week:
Fox & Friends - 1st hour + an interview with Netanyahu
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
Laken Riley Every Day
On Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Ingraham discussed the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan immigrant, with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Chad Wolf, former Acting DHS Secretary (Trump Admin).
Ingraham started the segment.
“We don't even know how many crimes that have been committed by illegals because they never like to actually give you the information. The immigration detainers are never logged. We never know. And they just get circulated in and out of the system,” said Ingraham.
Wolf interrupted her.
“And a lot of the stats and statistics out there don't actually categorize the folks as illegal. Right. So, you see the crime, but you don't know if they're illegal. They're here in the U.S. legally, maybe a permanent resident or the like. And so it's very difficult to actually get the real stats on how many crimes are committed by illegals,” said Wolf.
Ingraham spoke over him.
“This is a family of killers. The Ibarra were a family of killers. You’ve got the DUI’s, the robberies, you know the assaults. So, this this is passed down from brother to brother here.”
Diego Ibarra, the brother of Jose Ibarra, was arrested for possessing an illegal visa. According to reporting by ABC, Diego Ibarra was arrested for driving under the influence in September 2023, authorities said. Ibarra was also arrested twice for shoplifting -- once in October 2023 and once in December 2023, according to the DOJ.
Diego Ibarra also got into a scuffle with border patrol agents but there’s no evidence that he committed murder.
Rep. Roy then weighed in.
“No question. When we're talking about this, we said we have this case with Laken Riley’s killer, but also a Venezuelan that was engaged with a two-year-old killed right here, Montgomery County.”
Ingraham interrupted him.
“Northern Virginia, is teaming and Montgomery County. They were all worried about COVID. It was going to kill everybody. But now we got MS13 crawling around Miami County and in the liberals in Montgomery County going welcome in, Bienvenidos. Like, I love Spanish speaking people, I love Spanish, but they have no concern for the hardworking people of Montgomery County who actually, you know, do the hard work every day.”
She was cut off by Wolf.
“Yeah. Look, unfortunately, Laken Riley cases every day. The United States in one way or another, every single day. This is happening. Of course, I'm glad that her case has gotten the attention that it has. And there's been congressional action and others. But American people have to realize it's not just happening in Georgia and Virginia. It's happening in every state, in almost every community.”
Then Roy wrapped up the segment.
“And where we feel in Texas. Right. We spent 12 and a half billion dollars to do what the federal government is supposed to do. And we've dealt with, I think, about almost half a million criminals, murders, assaults, rapes, etc., people who are here illegally over the last decade,” said Roy.
Ingraham finished the discussion with a hint at the great replacement theory.
“They want to flip Texas and that ain’t happening.”
What happened to Laken Riley is a tragedy but the circumstances surrounding her death are quite rare.
Even Riley’s father has spoken out that his daughter’s death is being used for political purposes. During an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Jason Riley said that he wished the death of his daughter would not be used to score political points.
Fox News also seems to have selective outrage when it comes to violent crime in general.
According to the Violence Policy Center about three women are murdered every day in the United States usually by an intimate partner or former intimate partner.
On average immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born Americans. Most victims of crime regardless of gender know their attacker.
According to Pew Research, in 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC. Last year the United States experienced 656 mass shootings or nearly two a day.
According to the gun violence archive 118 Americans were killed each day due to gun violence last year.
Laura Ingraham Pretends Non-citizens Can Vote
On Monday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham repeated a tired old trope pushed often on Fox News - the immigrants will vote!
“For Democrats, unlimited immigration means unlimited political power. First, they believe illegals are future Democrat voters. Inevitably, some will even try to vote this November or be encouraged even to vote. And second, illegals are counted in the census. Meaning that for all those states like California, Illinois and New York that have been losing population, illegals could stabilize or even add to the representation in those states in Congress.”
Ingraham failed to mention that states like Texas, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, and others also benefit when immigrants are counted in the census.
Only citizens are allowed to vote in state and federal elections. In a few cities non-citizens are allowed to vote in local elections.
In New York a state appeals court ruled that a law passed in New York City that would allow non-citizens to vote in local elections was unconstitutional.
The path to citizenship in the United States is so fraught for undocumented immigrants that many of them never get the right to vote.
Harold Ford Jr. Knows Nothing About Haiti
On Thursday, on “The Five,” Harold Ford Jr. made an embarrassing mistake while discussing the crisis in Haiti.
“This is bad. If Barbecue and his team are doing what they're doing, the things they say they're doing and what the thing reported and the president of the country can't get back in to get his belongings to leave the country because the gang activity is something serious going on there.”
Ford confused the prime minister for the president. It’s tricky for many Americans to remember that many countries have both a prime minister and a president but in the case of Haiti Ford really needed to get this one right. Brian Kilmeade also made the exact same mistake on “Fox & Friends.”
Fox News has also pushed the myth that criminal gangs are engaging in cannibalism. According to Politifact there is no credible evidence to back that claim. The rumor got started in right-wing media personalities on social media and spread like wildfire.
A short timeline of the events in Haiti.
November 2016 - Jovenel Moïse was elected as president to a five-year term in Haiti.
February 2017 - Moïse assumed the presidency after a dispute over the election.
February 2021 - at the end of his term Moïse argued that he should stay in power because of the delay he experienced assuming the office after he was elected.
His opponents said the Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis was interim president.
Jovenel Moïse remained in power.
July 5, 2021 - Moïse appoints Ariel Henry as the next prime minister
July 7, 2021 - Moïse is assassinated at his home. His wife ended up being implicated in his murder along with Colombian nationals, and U.S. citizens.
Ariel Henry had not yet been sworn in as prime minister at the time of Moïse’s death. Claude Joseph was the acting prime minister
A power struggle begins between Joseph and Henry. The U.S. and the international community supported Henry.
Henry assumed power then stalled holding new elections while the country descended into lawless chaos as gangs exploited the power vacuum.
Henry appealed to the international community for help and was in the process of striking a deal with the U.N. that would involve sending a multinational police force from Kenya.
When Henry tried to return to Haiti criminal gangs led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, took over the airport.
March 12, 2024 Henry resigns as prime minister.
March 13, 2024 the U.S. State Department urges American citizens to leave Haiti.
There’s a lot more to this story as Haiti has had a long and sad history of unstable and corrupt governments. The PBS NewsHour has consistently reported on the crisis in Haiti while Fox News has completely ignored it until last week.
Tulsi Gabbard and Her Tin Foil Hat
On Thursday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Tulsi Gabbard blamed the Biden administration for the crisis in Haiti. This was especially surprising since Gabbard normally advocates for the United States to stay out of most global conflicts.
“You get that sense because of the Biden-Harris administration's inaction. Their inaction in this is, in fact, their action. It's part of this conscious effort to continue their open border policy, letting anyone and everyone illegally come across our borders, which when you really look hard at what they're doing, they're engaging in a criminal enterprise, aiding and abetting many of these human trafficking cartels and other groups as we're seeing now, come recently with the FBI recognizing that there are ISIS connected individuals running human trafficking operations at our borders.
The Biden-Harris administration is responsible for all of this. And their role in this entire operation essentially is to run interference for these multibillion-dollar criminal enterprises with the cartels by doing things like cutting through the concertina wire that Governor Abbott put up by creating entryways and openings for people to continue to illegally cross our border. So the the humanitarian crisis, the hardship that people are facing, the national security threat that we are experiencing as a result of their policy is on their backs. This suffering is on their hands,” said Gabbard.
What’s extremely telling about Gabbard’s statement is she didn’t mention any specifics about the crisis in Haiti. Her short monologue of sorts could easily be applied to any country in Central or South America.
She also offered absolutely no proof that ISIS was involved in any of the gang activity or human smuggling in Haiti.
Both the U.S. and U.N. have a terrible track record with intervention in the impoverished country. Foreign meddling usually made things worse.
The U.S. has backed leadership that ended up being corrupt while promoting policies that harmed Haitians.
Over a decade ago U.N. peacemakers brought cholera to the island killing 10,000. An earlier U.N. peace keeping force was accused of sexual abuse in 2005.
Ainsley Earhardt Offers Her Spin on the House Hur Report Hearing
On Wednesday, on “Fox & Friends,” the day after the House Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Report of Special Counsel Robert K. Hur, Ainsley Earhardt shared her opinion about it.
“I never used the word exonerate in the report. It's my time, but it's my time. I'm going to speak here some some of the highlights that I took away with the law has to be applied fairly. Right? They're doing this to Biden. They're saying that he willfully took the information, but we're not going to charge him. Donald Trump, they're saying, willfully took the information, but we are going to charge him.”
I’m not sure if Earhardt actually watched the hearing but if she did, she missed quite a bit. Several Democratic Representatives called Hur out on his statements about Biden by reading directly from his report or the transcript of his interview with the president.
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) asked Hur to read his own words directly from the report.
“Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating facts,” Hur said reading from the report.
“Keep going,” said Dean.
“Congresswoman, I'm happy to have you read the words in my report,” said Hur.
“Well, it's your report. So I think it actually is more fitting that you read those,” said Dean.
“Most notably after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” said Hur.
“Keep going,” said Dean.
“According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it,” said Hur.
Dean cut him off.
“You may stop there. Thank you. You mentioned the indictment against Mr. Trump for mishandling sensitive, classified national security information. That indictment says at the end of his presidency, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump himself ordered that boxes containing classified materials go to Mar-a-Lago, where he hosted tens of thousands of guests, and he kept these sensitive materials carelessly about the property. As you can see here,” said Dean as she gestured to large images of box in various locations in Mar-a-Lago.
Classified documents ended up in a bathroom, a ballroom on a floor spewing about. And when a grand jury subpoenaed the documents, what did Donald Trump do? The indictment again shows against him what he responded by suggesting that his attorney falsely represent that the FBI and grand jury, that he did not have documents called for by the subpoena. He directed his employee, Walt Nauta, to move boxes of the documents to conceal them from Mr. Trump's attorney and then lied to his attorney and the FBI and the grand jury, suggesting his attorney might hide or destroy documents called for by the grand jury investigation. Mr. Hur are those are the type of aggravating facts to which you referred to in your report?”
Hur responded.
“Congresswoman, the the aggravating facts that I referred to in the report are set forth and described in my report at page 11.”
Bill Clinton and His Classified Socks!
On Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Matt Whitaker, former Acting U.S. Attorney General completely misrepresented a lawsuit involving recordings Bill Clinton kept in his sock drawer while talking about Biden's handling of classified documents.
“The tapes that were found in Bill Clinton's sock drawer were were even classified or not. They just determined that those were personal. And therefore, Bill Clinton didn't need to turn them over. This is, you know, I think a very clear argument. Is this the first time that that a president's decision on whether it's presidential or personal records has ever been questioned by the archives and then referred to the FBI and then raided his home. So this is you know, this is the first time, Brian, it's very concerning. What do you expect?”
According to Politifact when Bill Clinton was president he was interviewed by historian Taylor Branch to create an oral history of his presidency from 1993 to 2001.
Clinton kept copies of the tapes in his sock drawer. In 2009 "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President,” was published.
In 2010 Judicial Watch a conservative group sued the National Archives Records Administration asking the court to declare the audiotapes presidential records under the Presidential Records Act.
The Archives told Judicial Watch that the tapes were considered personal records and did not fall under their jurisdiction.
A U.S. District Court dismissed the case in 2012.
The Presidential Records Act requires that all "official" documents be returned to the National Archives upon a president’s departure. It was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Trump Loves TikTok
Another huge story on Fox last week was a bill that passed the House that would force the sale of the Chinese owned TikTok to an American company. Fox News has maligned and trashed the social media app for several months calling a national security risk.
While talking to Senator Marco Rubio, (R-FL) Laura Ingraham expressed her disappointment that Donald J. Trump recently changed his position about the company.
“Well, it's our adversary, our most powerful adversary. And we're just giving them all this information because they've got some well-heeled lobbyists on Capitol Hill. And I know a lot of money from it. Yeah. And I know there are reports that President Trump recently met with this hedge fund manager named Jeff Yass. He's a major league investor in TikTok. And Trump has reportedly, which shocked me since reversed his position on banning the app. And his former advisor and a friend of this program, Kellyanne Conway, is also apparently working to lobby people on Capitol Hill for TikTok. It pains me to talk about this because, I mean, I like them both very much.”
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox did not.
Updates in the war in Ukraine
The U.S. military will rush $300 million worth of weapons for Ukraine after finding some cost savings in its contracts. A $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine is still stalled in Congress.
Ukrainian drones hit oil refineries deep inside Russian territory. The strikes were meant to hurt Russia economically.
A Russian missile attack struck Odessa killing at least 20 while injuring 75. The attack on civilian infrastructure was Russia’s deadliest in weeks.
European leaders from France, Germany and Poland met in Berlin to express their support for Ukraine.
U.N. backed human rights experts said they have gathered new evidence of “horrific” torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war by their Russian jailers. The treatment of prisoners could amount to war crimes.
Update in the Israel-Hamas War
Palestinians began fasting for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan while cease-fires remain stalled. Hunger is worsening across the Gaza Strip.
The first ship to use a new sea corridor delivered 200 tons of aid to Gaza.
A U.N. warehouse containing humanitarian aid was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. One aid worker was killed while 22 were injured in the blast.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza 27 children and three adults have died from malnutrition.
Israel stepped up airstrikes in Lebanon killing t least two people and wounding 20. The airstrikes were in response to rocket attacks in Northern Israel by Hezbollah.
PBS produced a segment that focused on the plight of pregnant women in Gaza and Israel since the conflict started. An estimated 50,000 women in Gaza are currently pregnant, with about 180 babies being born each day.
Six Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces - one was a teenager who stabbed a guard, three others were attempting to throw explosives and two others were killed during military raids according to Israeli officials.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Mohammad Mustafa his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister. Mustafa was appointed as part of Washington’s postwar vision for Gaza.
Marcia Fudge the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development announced her resignation. Fudge did not indicate a reason she was resigning now, saying only that she planned to “transition to life as a private citizen.”
Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado announced he would leave Congress next week. Buck criticized dysfunction on Capitol Hill as being one reason why he decided to leave. His departure will trim Republicans’ slim majority to 218 seats over 213 for Democrats, with three vacancies.
PBS produced a segment about the public’s warped perception of crime. As most types of crime have dropped across the country most Americans think it’s getting worse according to polling.
President Biden opposed the sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese company. In a statement Biden added, “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”
A high court in Japan ruled that denying same sex marriage is unconstitutional. It called for the government to enact a law to allow such unions.
PBS included an extended interview with United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas as part of a series of segments addressing the crisis at the southern border. Mayorkas mainly stressed the need for comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.
The White House counsel, Ed Siskel, wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson urging him to end the impeachment inquiry. So far the investigation has stretched out for more than a year and has yet to uncover clear evidence of wrongdoing.
National Association of Realtors agreed to cut in their commissions by as much as 30% following a series of lawsuits. The agreement must still be approved by a court.
An independent commission reviewing the events that led to a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine found that law enforcement had cause to seize the shooter’s guns and put him in protective custody weeks before he committed Maine’s deadliest mass shooting.
Dorie Ann Ladner, a civil rights activist and social worker, died at the age of 81. Ladner founded the Council of Federated Organizations, a network of civil rights groups. She was also arrested as part of a Woolworth lunch counter protest. She narrowly escaped a bombing while directing an SNCC project and organized countless voter registration drives. She was also an organizer of the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the then all-white state Democratic delegates to the party’s national convention in 1964.
So comprehensive it hurts to read. Or, actually, skim. But, I’m thankful for your efforts. The stories they DON’T cover are more revealing than the obvious ones they do. If only the Red Hats subscribed to this…