During his four years in office, former President Donald Trump often had an adversarial relationship with Fox News correspondent Chris Wallace. That hasn’t stopped Wallace from asking tough questions of Trump’s successor, however.
During an interview with White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Fox News Sunday, Wallace suggested that the Biden administration has something to hide.
According to Breitbart, Wallace noted that journalists have been barred from going into the detention centers where migrants are being held.
“The only way we know how bad conditions are for some 5,000 minors in his Border Patrol facilities is because of these pictures that members of Congress have released on their own,” Wallace said.
Biden administration blames COVID
“Jen, these kids are living in these conditions now. They’re not living in these conditions some indeterminate time from now when the president says everything will be fixed, so why not allow reporters and camera crews in on a pool basis based domain safely to show the American people what’s happening in those border patrol facilities right now?” Wallace asked.
“Chris, we are absolutely committed to that,” Psaki replied. “The president is committed to that, I’m committed to that, [Homeland Security] Secretary Mayorkas is committed to that.”
When asked when the camera crews would be allowed in, however, Psaki was unable to provide an exact time, blaming the coronavirus.
“We want to provide access into the border patrol facility. We are mindful of the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic,” she replied.
“We want to keep these kids safe, keep the staff safe, but we are absolutely committed to transparency and providing access to media to the border patrol facilities, and we are working to get that done as soon as we can,” she added.
“Less transparent”
Wallace noted that although some media have been allowed into centers run by Health and Human Services, none have been admitted to those operated by the Border Patrol. He went on to remark that “you are being less transparent than the Trump administration.”
Psaki’s implication that visiting reporters might pose a potential COVID risk to children and facility staff is odd given the images that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) tweeted out after visiting a center in Donna, Texas late last week.
The photos show migrants being kept in overcrowded conditions that do not allow for anything close to social distancing. “These are the pictures the Biden administration doesn’t want the American people to see,” Cruz said.
The post Fox News’ Chris Wallace accuses Psaki of hiding migrant facility conditions from press, public first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: