Colby Hall Blasts Fox Hosts Pivot on Story of 10 Year-Old’s Rape They Called Fake: Following Trump ‘Sending Rapists’ Playbook

Mediaite Founding Editor Colby Hall called out Fox News hosts who suggested — or explicitly stated in some cases — the story of a 10-year-old rape victim who had to travel out of state to get an abortion was fake.

Hall was Mediaite founder Dan Abrams‘s guest on Wednesday night’s edition of NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live for a discussion of the shocking developments in the story of a 10-year-old girl, pregnant as a result of rape, who had to travel to Indiana from Ohio — one of the states that have banned the procedure following the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade — to seek abortion care. Dr. Caitlin Bernard protected her patient’s identity by sharing the story with Shari Rudavsky and Rachel Fradette of The Indianapolis Star.

Mediaite’s Sarah Rumpf wrote extensively about all the details of this story on Wednesday, including the viral chronology that began when President Joe Biden referenced Dr. Bernard’s story in a speech on reproductive rights, which led Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler to suggest it was not verifiable dubiously.

Kessler’s article spurred a 17-minute Jesse Watters segment suggesting the story was false. Fox News host Emily Compagno even went so far as to call the story “fake.”

When news broke Wednesday that a man has confessed to the rape in question, Hall pointed out, the conservative media shifted their narrative by seizing on the suspect’s undocumented immigration status.

When Abrams noted that “The media doesn’t apologize when they get things wrong,” Hall explained the dynamic at play:

When you don’t need to fact check yourself. You can get away with anything. And I think that’s what we’re seeing here. I think what we’re seeing on conservative media is a pounce on the fact that this is an undocumented worker. I mean, it really goes back to Donald Trump’s initial comments that they’re sending rapists, and here’s an example of that. So I think there’s a little bait and switch. And by the way, that’s a real story, but that does– it’s a different story. And we should note that this ten-year-old girl did have to travel, and that story was not made up.

Abrams observed that elected Republicans like Congressman Jim Jordan and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem trashing the story “you would think provides cover for the conservative media, but it’s kind of, works both ways.”

“Well, I mean, I think it’s a perfect illustration, again, that the media has more say and more power than our politicians. They’re just following the conservative lead, these two as an example,” Hall said, adding that “they want to get reelected. So they say this. And if it’s, if it’s right or wrong, they won’t be held accountable. No one will come to them and say, you should be censored for lying. They’re just politicking.”

Watch above via News Nation.