April Ryan, the White House correspondent for theGrio, has not been known to leave her personal political opinions at the door of the White House briefing room. Ryan again made this abundantly clear on Thursday when she decided to engage in the spreading of literal disinformation about a previous hoax amplified by the Biden administration.
With Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attempting to spin Biden's border crisis as a success — the border is "not open," he insisted again — Ryan asked a question about the massive surge of illegal immigrants amassing at and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The southern border is not just Mexicans, it's Haitians, its Africans," Ryan said. "Especially as we saw with that issue with the Haitians being whipped with the reins on the horses," she continued before being cut off by Mayorkas.
"Let me just correct you right there because, actually, the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur," Mayorkas explained in what may have been his only truthful comment of Thursday's White House press briefing.
"I'm sorry, I saw it differently," Ryan retorted, apparently doubting the Biden administration's own conclusion. "They were whipped with something from the horse, reins from the horse," she continued, maybe the video or the picture was fixed but what I saw was totally different."
"I'm going to leave you as corrected," Mayorkas replied. Watch:
Mayorkas acknowledges that “whip-gate” was a hoax, but refuses to apologize. pic.twitter.com/afcCOXopEt
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 11, 2023
Whatever Ryan thinks she saw, it wasn't mounted border agents whipping illegal immigrants trying to unlawfully enter the United States. The only thing "fixed" is her own bias, which apparently isn't going away anytime soon.
As Politico explained last July, a nine-month investigation "culminated in a 511-page report" from the Biden Department of Homeland Security led by Mayorkas, "found no evidence that agents used horse reins to strike people during an 'unprecedented surge in migration' of about 15,000 Haitians near the international bridge" in Del Rio, Texas.
Before being exonerated, President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki all smeared the border agents who were falsely accused, yet there was no apology offered from the White House since or from Mayorkas on Thursday afternoon.
But Ryan wasn't done with her conspiracy peddling. After getting debunked in real-time by Mayorkas, Ryan tweeted — while still in the briefing room — a photo from the conjured whipping situation.
Maybe its just me but! pic.twitter.com/mfgkxc5i3f
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
Yes, April, it's literally just you. Not even the Biden administration, nor Secretary Mayorkas, agree with your attempt to revive the "whipgate" hoax.
You are fake news.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 11, 2023
It’s just you.
— Chad Gilmartin (@ChadGilmartinCA) May 11, 2023
“[DHS’ Office of Professional Responsibility] found NO EVIDENCE Border Patrol agents involved in this incident struck anyone with their reins intentionally or otherwise.”
—CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus
This was right before I died of Net Neutrality and right after I died of climate change.
— U.S. Ministry of Truth (@USMiniTru) May 11, 2023
Apparently unconcerned that she was once again making a fool of herself and undermining her credibility in front of the American people, Ryan doubled down with another photo she shared to Twitter:
And one more the reign is how close or on the person? pic.twitter.com/6k3ZpmPeRQ
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) May 11, 2023
To be clear, Ryan was not at the border on the day the debunked whipping supposedly took place. Whatever she thinks she saw is just her own blinding prejudice that, for whatever reason, means she has to continue attacking the only people trying to do something to protect America's sovereignty, an impossible task thanks to the Biden administration's policies.
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