The White House doubled down Wednesday on a statement blaming Texas for the drowning deaths of three migrants — one woman and two children — despite a DOJ filing that undermined the claim.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre balked at the questions from Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, pivoting when presented with the DOJ’s versions of events to suggest that it was rude to ask questions when three people were dead.
WATCH:
TENSE: Karine Jean-Pierre starts to sweat when @JacquiHeinrich holds her feet to the fire over the administration's lies about Texas officials who — contrary to the White House's claims — were not responsible for the deaths of three illegal immigrants. pic.twitter.com/Yp4TZRCHMQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 17, 2024
“Will the administration then amend its separate statement that implied that Texas officials were responsible for the deaths of those three migrants when, in fact, they had nothing to do with it, they had already been dead for an hour by the time Mexico told anyone in the U.S. about it, and the administration admitted as much in their court filing,” Heinrich began.
“They acknowledged that, in their court filing, that the statement from the White House implies that Texas was responsible,” Heinrich continued, adding, “And a number of outlets were forced to issue corrections and editors’ notes because of that White House statement. Will the White House amend that statement?”
Jean-Pierre made no attempt to answer the direct question, instead appearing to scold Heinrich for asking the question. “So let’s be sensitive here: three people died, three migrants died. Two children, and a woman. That was devastating. Devastating situation, heartbreaking situation, so let’s be really mindful of what we’re talking about here.”
She went on to talk about the overall situation, continuing to imply that Texas was in the wrong for making attempts to secure the border where the federal government had refused to do so, and claiming that there was nothing wrong with the statement.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
“I want to take a step back and as you’re talking about our statement — look, as I mentioned, a woman and two children died, they drowned near Eagle Pass, which is, as I said, devastating,” Jean-Pierre continued. “And the Texas officials blocked Border Patrol from accessing the area. That’s what was happening at that time.”
“Our statement is consistent with DOJ’s filing,” she insisted, saying that at the time, there had been an “ongoing emergency situation” in which migrants were still in the water.
Heinrich pushed back, saying that the White House’s statement directly addressed the three migrants who had been dead for some time prior to Mexico even informing U.S. officials they had drowned — and made no mention of any ongoing situation in which migrants remained in the water while Texas officials blocked Border Patrol from accessing the area.
Jean-Pierre responded by once again insisting that the White House’s statement was “consistent” with the DOJ filing.