Immigration attorney David Leopold would not let Jeanine Pirro get away with lying about immigration under Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Leopold, a Joe Biden transition adviser, started by noting that even with Trump’s cruelty toward immigrants, they still came to the border. “They’re coming because this is not a Biden issue,” Leopold said. “This is something that’s been going on in ebbs and in flows for decades.”
“And in fact, if you want to talk about a surge at the border—or a crisis..." Leopold continued.
He was cut off by Pirro, who asked “What’s been going on in ebbs and flows?” This once again proves that Fox is more interested in propaganda than facts. Otherwise, Pirro would have done her homework and known about the ebbs and flows in immigration.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to acknowledge that Leopold was right. Here’s how Newsweek described what happened next and how Pirro tried to dodge the truth:
"Take a look at 2019. You know everybody's screaming [on your show] tonight about a surge at the border, but in 2019 there was 150,000 people that came in, much more than what we have today under Joe Biden," Leopold explained.
Pirro then interjected, claiming he was "wrong on the facts." She said "the 100,000 in February this year is the highest number in 15 years. Alright, that is a fact."
She then pivoted and put a picture from 2014 of detained migrant children sleeping behind fencing. She said that kids were being caged under former President Barack Obama, despite the fact that they were discussing Trump's and Biden's immigration policies.
FACT CHECK: U.S. Custom and Border Patrol statistics show that Leopold was correct.
This is further proof that Pirro cares more about propaganda than truth. In fact, as Heather wrote on Crooks and Liars about this segment, Pirro seemed unable to handle the truth.
Once Pirro finished deflecting to Obama, Leopold called out her falsehoods. And he did what I think all liberals on Fox should do: he called out the entire premise and agenda:
LEOPOLD: Jeanine, just because you say my numbers were wrong, doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
PIRRO: No, they’re facts! These are the facts!
LEOPOLD: They're not facts, Jeanine. Very few things that I hear on this show tonight have been facts. You said this evening that the border is open. That's not true.
Rather than allow Leopold to make his argument, Pirro interrupted and deflected again.
PIRRO: If you don’t think anything’s been a fact, let me ask you a question. Now, you say that, that, that, that, that people are coming to this country now for a better life. Is that what you believe and that they all have legitimate asylum claims. Is that correct?
Leopold brought it back to his own topic, only to be interrupted again when he spoke ill of Trump.
LEOPOLD: Wait a minute. I don’t know that you can find a quote of me saying that. … What are facts are that people are fleeing horrific violence and cruelty in Central America. OK? Point one. This is not new. The problem is that Donald Trump, with all of his chaotic administration, lifted any kind of aid to Central America, he stopped the Central America Minors program, which was designed to assess the asylum claims of kids in Central America. This is Trump’s failure.
PIRRO: You are so wrong. I’m sorry, you’re not entitled to your own facts. Donald Trump gave money to the northern triangle countries to incentivize them to work so that these people would not come to America until their asylum claim was approved. …
FACT CHECK: Trump suspended, then only partially restored aid to the three countries
Rather than argue about Trump, Leopold took charge of the agenda again, this time by accusing Republicans of trying to deflect from the popularity of Biden’s American Rescue Plan (the just-passed COVID-relief legislaton). “He’s putting COVID relief out there, he’s making America better, he’s making America great again – “
Oh, that was just too much for Pirro.
PIRRO: David, I’m stopping you right there. I don’t tolerate lies on my show. He is bringing COVID into this country after Americans weren’t allowed to go to work, go to church or visit families or go to funerals. And now, he’s bringing in a whole pandemic during a pandemic. David, thank you for being here and thanks for nothing.
We can add Pirro to the list of Fox personalities who not only lie but lie about lies.
Off the top of my head, here are a few lies Pirro not only tolerated, but told or allowed to be told on her show, besides the ones noted above:
- At this very moment, Pirro is the defendant in a $2.7+ billion defamation lawsuit over voter fraud lies told on her show about Smartmatic voting technology.
- She pushed a lie that an Obama-era mandate that emergency contraception be covered under Obamacare was coverage of an abortion drug.
- Pirro regurgitated a lie that her own network debunked, that Hillary Clinton “approved the sale of 20% of our uranium to Russia and then pocket[ed] $145 million for their so-called charity.”
- Pirro recast Kenosha vigilante shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with two murders, as an “All-American” “trying to just make sure his town is safe.” (Rittenhouse lived in Illinois, not Kenosha, Wisconsin)
Before closing, I’d like to remind everyone that “truth-loving” Pirro was married for decades to allegedly mob-tied Al Pirro, who went to jail over fraudulent tax returns she cosigned. Al Pirro was reportedly kept on retainer to none other than Donald Trump before the jail term. Pirro, herself, was nearly charged with a crime for plotting with Bernard Kerik to illegally wiretap her then-husband. Both Al Pirro and Kerik were pardoned by Trump (Kerik was never charged in the wiretapping scheme and he was pardoned for an unrelated crime). Pirro reportedly lobbied Trump for her ex’s pardon.
I am one who believes that Democrats, liberals and anyone else who opposes the radical propaganda put out by Fox should go on the network and confront it. Fox watchers live in a right-wing bubble that must be pierced. If we need to meet them where they are, so be it.
I don’t know if Leopold accomplished that in this appearance but his messaging was clearly strong enough to get under Pirro's skin.
You can watch it below, from the March 20, 2021 Justice with Judge Jeanine, via Crooks and Liars.
In reality, the Biden/Harris White House has already surpassed its goal of actually getting vaccinations to 100 million people in 100 days – and they did it in less than 60 days. At this rate, they’ll have herd immunity in less time than we’d feared, and that’s a very good thing. They’ve also gotten a serious relief bill passed, one that included help for multiple states that the Right Wing wanted to bankrupt and a reimbursement to FEMA for the 50 billion dollars that the Pence White House shamefully stole last fall to prop up unemployment insurance for a few weeks. And they’ve done a lot to ease the pain that the Pence White House and its sycophants deliberately caused to millions of people.
But Fox News and the Right Wing don’t want you to think about that. They want you to think that there’s suddenly a border “crisis” and that somehow Joe Biden is instantly “senile” and that somehow the country has fallen apart. So they keep yelling their own version of the headlines and they hope you won’t notice reality happening around you. They’re thinking this will carry them to a good result in 2022 and 2024. I truly hope that most Americans will notice when we’ve actually gotten past this pandemic and when the economy is actually recovering in a real way. But if recent history teaches us anything, it’s that we will have to work extremely hard to get everyone to the voting booth every time, or we’ll get another 4 years of something even worse than the Pence White House. And the last 4 years left us with a judiciary and a Supreme Court that may do far more damage over the next 20 years than anyone thought possible.
In reality, the Biden/Harris White House has already surpassed its goal of actually getting vaccinations to 100 million people in 100 days – and they did it in less than 60 days. At this rate, they’ll have herd immunity in less time than we’d feared, and that’s a very good thing. They’ve also gotten a serious relief bill passed, one that included help for multiple states that the Right Wing wanted to bankrupt and a reimbursement to FEMA for the 50 billion dollars that the Pence White House shamefully stole last fall to prop up unemployment insurance for a few weeks. And they’ve done a lot to ease the pain that the Pence White House and its sycophants deliberately caused to millions of people.
But Fox News and the Right Wing don’t want you to think about that. They want you to think that there’s suddenly a border “crisis” and that somehow Joe Biden is instantly “senile” and that somehow the country has fallen apart. So they keep yelling their own version of the headlines and they hope you won’t notice reality happening around you. They’re thinking this will carry them to a good result in 2022 and 2024. I truly hope that most Americans will notice when we’ve actually gotten past this pandemic and when the economy is actually recovering in a real way. But if recent history teaches us anything, it’s that we will have to work extremely hard to get everyone to the voting booth every time, or we’ll get another 4 years of something even worse than the Pence White House. And the last 4 years left us with a judiciary and a Supreme Court that may do far more damage over the next 20 years than anyone thought possible.
