Fox News hosts Harris Faulkner and Pete Hegseth offered sharp criticisms of Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke (D) after he crashed a formal press conference on Tuesday’s tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Hegseth joined Faulkner on her weekday show “The Faulkner Focus” to discuss the aftermath of the shooting and the moment that O’Rourke disrupted a press conference where local officials and family members were gathered to get updates on the situation.
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"So thirsty." @HARRISFAULKNER and @PeteHegseth call out #BetoORourke for stepping over victims to play politics for the cameras. "Why would anybody who wants to run for governor of that state show up and act a fool like that?" pic.twitter.com/2P6UKaQeHV
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) May 26, 2022
Faulkner began the segment with video of O’Rourke stepping right up to the stage — where Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) sat alongside a number of other officials including Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin — and confronted Abbott directly, accusing him of doing nothing to prevent shootings.
Cruz could be heard telling O’Rourke to “sit down,” and Mayor McLaughlin called him a “sick son of a b****” for taking his community’s pain and using it to score political points. O’Rourke was then escorted from the venue by law enforcement.
Faulkner noted, once the clip was over, that family members of the deceased and even some who had been injured themselves might have been in the room, looking for answers and comfort from their leadership, when O’Rourke stormed the stage.
“Those people en masse were hurting. Why would anybody who wants to run for governor of that state show up and act a fool like that?” she asked, turning the question over to Hegseth.
“If you are political to your core this is a moment for political grandstanding,” Hegseth answered. “Where did he go? Right in front of the stage where all the cameras were trained, where the audio would be heard.”
Hegseth went on to note that both Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) had been very gracious despite the interruption — and that it had been Mayor McLaughlin who had stood up and said he’d had enough.
“This is his turf and his territory, and he has been clear from the beginning to say this will not be politicized. We will have the conversation later,” Hegseth pointed out. “If Beto O’Rourke is sincere about a wanting a solution, which I don’t think he is, but if he was, you wouldn’t start by impugning the motive of folks on the other side. It doesn’t create the opportunity for that discussion. Political to its core and shameful.”
“He is not a leader. Can you imagine what that mayor has seen today? Or yesterday and today? He is not a leader, O’Rourke, to walk into a situation and not just impugn them, but hurt them. He hurt them,” Faulkner agreed.
She went on to reference reports indicating that O’Rourke had preplanned his disruption, having “seat-holders” make sure he’d have a spot near the stage when he swept in at the last minute.
“He was planning to go right in front of those cameras. This is a man who plays to the cameras.
“So thirsty,” Faulkner concluded, reminding Hegseth of O’Rourke’s doomed 2020 presidential bid and his insistence on filming everything he did, from haircuts to dental visits. “We couldn’t miss a moment of his life when he was running last time.”