(USA Features) Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ripped President Joe Biden on Saturday, saying he should apologize for threatening Border Patrol agents last week after they were wrongly accused of “whipping” Haitian migrants.
In an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat, said Biden’s threat sounds more like an “autocratic” leader instead of one leading a democratic republic.
“I consider Joe Biden a friend, but he’s absolutely wrong,” she said.
“And he needs to apologize to the American people for saying what he said. And here’s why, you know: He’s somebody who’s been very outspoken as being against autocrats, autocracies, dictators, but what he essentially did was act as judge, jury, and executioner for these Customs and Border Patrol agents on horseback,” she said.
Last week, Biden told reporters that he would make those agents “pay.”
“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped – it’s outrageous,” he said. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”
But subsequent reporting including a statement from the photographer whose pictures went viral showing horseback agents interdicting Haitian migrants proved that claims they were being “whipped” or “strapped” by the horse’s reins proved to be wrong.
NEW: The photographer who took the now infamous photos of mounted Border Patrol agents in Del Rio says he and his colleagues never saw agents whipping anyone and the photos are being misconstrued.
However, the false narrative is off and running.— Bill Melugin
Both Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas promised an investigation into the allegations, but Gabbard wonders how fair it’s going to be for the agents after the president and head of their agency have voice opinions about them.
“How can they expect to have any kind of fair outcome to an investigation when the President of the United States has already declared their guilt and that they will be punished?” she continued.
“And the bigger issue here that this points to, which is one that we all need to be concerned about is that if we are no longer a country of laws, if we are no longer a country where we know we will be presumed innocent, unless proven guilty, then we don’t have a democracy. And that’s the increasing feeling that a lot of us have is that we are losing our democracy, and moving closer and closer to what essentially is an autocracy,” Gabbard continued.
“This is the same type of hoax that they use on police officers sometimes where they take something out of context, or they just hear something from one perspective, and they convict the person. And it creates a lot of animosity in this country,” Watters countered.
“We saw this kind of hoax, again, with Russia, when the Clinton campaign plants fake news about Trump and Russia, that lasted years, that was a hoax. This type of disinformation is so dangerous to the country, I feel like they got away with it so many times. That’s part of their playbook. And they’re going to keep doing it over and over again until when? When are they ever going to stop?” he asked.
“The saddest part about this Jesse is you’re right; they are getting away with it and it’s the powerful elite, working with the media, working with the deep state, not acting in the best interest of the country,” Gabbard responded.
“They’re acting in their own selfish interest to preserve their power, their position, or money, or whatever their selfish drive is. They are unwilling to sacrifice their interests for the interests of the country. And they have no business being in positions of leadership at any level in our society, because who suffers as a result of this? It’s the American people. It’s our democracy,” she said.
“And they don’t care about the cost. And the toll that that takes and this is why leadership that puts service above self, that puts the interests of the American people in our country first, is so critical and essential, especially now.”