White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was given the tough task of trying to clean up President Joe Biden's claim of visiting the U.S.-Mexico border during his town hall with CNN Thursday night.
Biden told CNN's Anderson Cooper, "I've been there before," when asked if he will visit the region as the crisis at the southern border continues, adding, "I guess I should go down. But the whole point of it is I haven’t had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down."
Fox News White House reporter Peter Doocy pressed Psaki on Friday why Biden would claim to have done a border visit when it appears the only time he visited a border area was for a campaign stop in 2008 in El Paso, Texas that only saw him drive by on his way north to Mesilla, New Mexico.
"He does not need a visit to the border to know what a mess was left by the last administration," Psaki said, further noting Biden's past trips to Central American countries to address the issue of immigration.
Jen Psaki was NOT happy when Peter Doocy asked "Why did President Biden say he has been to the border?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 22, 2021
PSAKI: "He does not need a visit to the border to know what a mess was left by the last administration." pic.twitter.com/eKT0LqcMgl
The schedule called for wheels down around noon, an hour drive to Mesilla, NM, and later back to El Paso five hours later.
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) October 22, 2021
Other than a motorcade ride at times near the border, there was no specific border-related stop
"Joe Biden is failing the American public in every important metric. His lies don’t surprise anyone and Jen Psaki’s spin is commonplace. President Trump left us the most secure border in my continuing 24-year career and Biden threw it all away to appease his far-left base," National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told Townhall.
There have been calls from Republicans and border Democrats for both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the southern border amid the historic crisis.
"They've been invited. I've invited them through several media outlets several times to come down here and see firsthand, but I don't think that that's at the top of their agenda, it's really not," Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, a Democrat, previously told Townhall.