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Biden Snaps At Fox News Reporter After Being Questioned On Migrant Payment

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Joe Biden is a man of his word, but that word can change from day to day.

When talking to reporters on Friday the president snapped at a Fox News reporter after being asked about compensation payments to illegal migrants who were separated from their kids during their illegal journey into the United States when Donald Trump was president.

It started when a Fox News reporter asked the president about the possible payments that could be as much as $450,000 to migrant families.

Biden responded to the reporter by saying that The Wall Street Journal was “garbage.”

“About the way forward, Mr. President, as you were leaving for your overseas trip there were reports that were surfacing that your administration is planning to pay illegal immigrants who were separated from their families at the border up to $450,000 each, possibly $1 million per family. Do you think that that might incentivize more people to come over illegally?” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy said.

“If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah. But it’s not true,” the president said.

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“So this is a garbage report?” Doocy said.

“Yeah. $450,000 per person, is that what you are saying?” Biden responded.

“That were separated from a family member under the last administration,” Doocy explained.

“That’s not going to happen,” the president said.

But then the American Civil Liberties Union took issue with what Biden said and demanded that he reconsider.

“President Biden may not have been fully briefed about the actions of his very own Justice Department as it carefully deliberated and considered the crimes committed against thousands of families separated from their children as an intentional governmental policy,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said hours after Biden spoke to Doocy.

“But if he follows through on what he said, the President is abandoning a core campaign promise to do justice for the thousands of separated families,” he said. We respectfully remind President Biden that he called these actions ‘criminal’ in a debate with then-President Trump and campaigned on remedying and rectifying the lawlessness of the Trump administration. We call on President Biden to right the wrongs of this national tragedy.”

And on Thursday Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also appeared to contradict the president on Thursday.

“Thank you.  And then, President Biden is calling these reports about the administration paying up to $450,000 to illegal immigrants who are separated from family members ‘garbage.’  He says it’s not going to happen.  But the ACLU says that it is.  So, who is right?” Doocy said to Jean-Pierre.

“So, if it saves taxpayer dollars and puts the disastrous history of the previous administration’s use of zero tolerance and family separation behind us, the President is perfectly comfortable with the Department of Justice settling with the individuals and families who are currently in litigation with the U.S. government,” she said.

“You know, DOJ can obviously speak more to that process.  The President was — what he was reacting to was the dollar figure that was mentioned — that you mentioned to him yesterday,” the press secretary said.

“As press accounts today indicate — there’s been press accounts on this — DOJ made clear to the plaintiffs that the reported figures are higher than anywhere that a settlement can land.

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“Again, this is a — this is something that the Department of Justice can speak to.  I do not have anything more to add to this,” she said.

The dance the Biden administration is doing on this issue could be why Biden snapped when confronted on it again by Doocy.

“Where do you stand?  You said last week that this report about migrant families at the border getting payments was ‘garbage,” the reporter said.

“No, I didn’t say that,” Biden snapped back.

“Let’s get it straight.  You said everybody coming across the border gets $500- — $450,000,” Biden asserted.

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“So, the number was what you had a problem with,” Doocy said.

“The number is what I was referring to,” Biden said.

“If in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you were coming across the border, whether it was legal or illegal, and you lost your child — you lost your child — it’s gone — you deserve some kind of compensation, no matter what the circumstance,” he said. “What that will be, I have no idea.  I have no idea.”

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