MSNBC doesn't ask Karine Jean-Pierre about claim that migrants are not just 'walking over' the border
MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart did not ask White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday about her recent claim that people were not just "walking over" the border.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has remained largely unscathed from the fact-checking crowd since taking over the podium for Jen Psaki, with nearly every major fact-checker largely ignoring the new face of the Biden administration.
Since starting her position on May 13, Jean Pierre has received no fact-checks from Factcheck.org, Reuters, The Associated Press, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, and CNN’s Daniel Dale, according to a review by Fox News Digital.
Kessler pointed Fox News Digital on Tuesday to a 2021 tweet explaining that the paper rarely fact-checks politicians' spokespersons, preferring to focus on policymakers themselves. None of the other sites or individuals responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Snopes and PolitiFact stood alone in their sparse fact-checking regarding the new White House press secretary. PolitiFact has fact-checked Jean-Pierre twice, awarding her two "false" ratings, while Snopes fact-checked a claim about a past comment by her.
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answers questions during the daily briefing at the White House on September 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Yet, Jean-Pierre has made a number of dubious claims during her first four months at the podium.
In late August, Jean-Pierre claimed that illegal immigrants aren’t just "walking across" the southern border, although many have.
During a press briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy noted that thousands of migrants are pouring into the country without being vaccinated or proving their vaccination status.
"But that's not how it works," Jean-Pierre responded.
"That's what's happening," Doocy fired back. "I know that's not what you guys want to happen. But that is what is happening."
"But that's not, it's not like somebody walks over and-" Jean-Pierre replied.
"That’s exactly what’s happening," Doocy repeated.
An image of The Washington Post's chief fact-checker Glen Kessler next to the company's logo. ((ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images))
Not a single fact-checking website has made mention of Jean-Pierre’s comments about migrants entering the U.S. illegally.
The White House press secretary also came under fire in July after she claimed the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade was in fact an "unconstitutional action."
"From day one, when the Supreme Court made this extreme decision to take away a constitutional right, it was an unconstitutional action by them," she said.
Only PolitiFact made note of the false statement.
Just a month later, Jean-Pierre faced backlash for denying claims that the U.S. is in a recession, or a "pre-recession," despite two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale has not written about Karine Jean-Pierre since she took over as White House press secretary in May. (CNN screengrab)
Typically, two quarters of negative GDP growth indicate the United States is in a recession. This is the metric traditionally used as a red line to determine whether a recession exists.
At the time Jean-Pierre said this: "So, if you look at the economic indicators as the president was laying out, if you look at the labor market, right now, we are seeing historic unemployment. If you look at low unemployment at 3.6, if you look at the average amount of jobs that have been created, it's about 400 [thousand] per month. Those indicators do not show that we are in a recession or even a pre-recession."
No prominent fact-checking sites or individuals called out this particular claim.
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Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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