On Wednesday, the media went into overdrive, pumping out lie after lie about what President Donald Trump said during a roundtable discussion on California sanctuary state policies.
The media falsely claimed that Trump called all immigrants “animals” and not “people,” which is an overt misrepresentation of what he said. Trump was clearly referring to MS-13 gang members and criminal illegal aliens, which is obvious from transcripts of the meeting and video that is available, a fact even CNN acknowledged.
The comment was made during a back and forth discussion with Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims. Partial transcript:
SHERIFF MIMS: But now ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys. They cannot come in and talk to people in our jail, unless they reach a certain threshold. They can’t do all kinds of things that other law enforcement agencies can do. And it’s really put us in a very bad position.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a disgrace. Okay? It’s a disgrace.
SHERIFF MIMS: It’s a disgrace.
THE PRESIDENT: And we’re suing on that, and we’re working hard, and I think it will all come together, because people want it to come together. It’s so ridiculous. The concept that we’re even talking about is ridiculous. We’ll take care of it, Margaret. We’ll win.
SHERIFF MIMS: Thank you. There could be an MS-13 member I know about — if they don’t reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.
THE PRESIDENT: We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals. And we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It’s crazy.
As the context shows, Trump was referring to criminal illegal immigrants, in particular MS-13 members. Even CNN acknowledged this fact in their report:
Also during Tuesday’s roundtable meeting, Trump called members of MS-13 and other undocumented immigrants who are deported for committing crimes “animals.”
CNN even correctly represented the president’s remarks in a video of his comments:
Despite the clarity of the president’s comments, many people in the media, media organizations, and people affiliated with the Democratic Party decided to take the president’s comments out of context and spread lies that he was referring to immigrants, which he wasn’t.
It is worth noting that CNN’s top media reporter, Brian Stelter, did not include the media’s blatant lies in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter.