Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov clashed with her fellow The Five co-host Jeanine Pirro on Thursday after Pirro asserted that no one had claimed the New Orleans terrorist was an undocumented immigrant.
Reacting to President Joe Biden’s announcement on the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, which left 15 people dead and more than 30 injured, Tarlov said during a Thursday segment, “When you say, ‘I’m embarrassed watching Joe Biden,’ I’m not embarrassed seeing someone stand up there and saying, ‘Let’s wait for some facts here,’ because Donald Trump went out there and he said…”
“No, he assured Americans all was well,” Pirro interrupted.
Tarlov responded, “No, listen to all of the comments that he made and the statements that said we need to make sure we have the right facts, and the right facts were that the guy in New Orleans was an American. He wasn’t an illegal.”
“No one’s saying he wasn’t,” Tarlov snapped. “That’s not true! There have been Republicans who have been on TV today talking about how this was an open border problem.”
“Seventy-five percent of the arrests in New York City are illegals! Let’s stop playing games!” Pirro accurately declared, to which Tarlov concluded, “Move the goalposts! Move them as far as you want. Sugar Bowl-wide! Whatever. Why are you accused?”
WATCH:
Jessica Tarlov on Fox News, calls out Trump and Republicans for making New Orleans a border/Immigration issue even as the facts say otherwise pic.twitter.com/3R6JcDezQi
— The Resilient Mind (@SupaDupaChop) January 3, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump and some Republicans indeed referred to Biden’s nearly four-year open borders policies following the attack.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” wrote Trump in a statement following the attack. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also mentioned “the wide open border” during a Fox Business segment on the attack, while Trump border czar nominee Tom Homan said, “This country’s in grave danger. We need to secure that border.”
Several intelligence professionals, including Sara Adams, have repeatedly warned that, based on information they have access to, foreign-trained fighters, including many sent by the terrorist group al Qaeda, were allowed to enter the U.S. thanks to Biden’s lax border security policies and those of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Also, Fox News initially reported that the pickup truck used in the New Orleans attack had crossed into the U.S. in November and was driven by someone else, well before the deadly incident. The FBI has identified the assailant as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran and American citizen from Texas. He was reportedly in possession of an ISIS flag as he mowed down New Year’s Eve revelers in the Crescent City in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.
Meanwhile, Fox News finished 2024 with the highest audience share in nearly a decade and marked nine years in a row as the most-watched network in cable news.
The hit show “The Five” smashed records as the number one cable news program in viewers and became the “first non-primetime program to ever deliver four million viewers in the fourth quarter,” according to a press release from Fox News.