GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Swipes at Shepard Smith’s Caravan Fact-Check: He Doesn’t Get the Intel Briefings I Do

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R- FL) pushed back on Fox News’ Shepard Smith today for his fact-check of some of the fear-mongering going on regarding the migrant caravan.

CNN anchor Ana Cabrera asked Gaetz, who recently questioned whether George Soros is helping out the caravan, why Trump is going so negative and not focusing on more on the positive economic news.

Gaetz said Republicans have laid out a “positive vision” and talked up the economic numbers. Cabrera noted that Trump himself has said the economy isn’t very exciting to talk about.

Gaetz went on to say the caravan is an important issue and “does represent a threat to people in the United States.” And he actually argued it should “scare people” that Democrats would let everyone in, saying, “It’s okay to tell people that there are bad folks that want to get across our border illegally and that we need to do the things to stop them.”

Cabrera then brought up the recent comments from Shepard Smith, who has repeatedly smacked down the fear-mongering over the caravan recently and has been saying it’s a clear election ploy. On Monday, Smith said this:

“There is no invasion. No one’s coming to get you. There’s nothing at all to worry about. When they did this to us, got us all riled up in April, the result was 14 arrests. We’re America. We can handle it.”

Cabrera asked if Smith is wrong.

Gaetz said, “I think he is. Shep Smith doesn’t get the same intelligence briefings that I do that indicate that there are special interest aliens who at times take advantage of the porous border.”

At one point Cabrera noted there are a lot of families fleeing persecution and violence and poverty in the caravan. Gaetz responded, “I don’t have to win the argument that everybody in the caravan is dangerous. I just have to win the argument that somebody in the caravan is dangerous or could be dangerous because if they are coming here to do harm to Americans, I don’t care if it’s one of them, ten of them, or 1000 of them, I don’t want them coming here disrespecting our borders.”

They also clashed over the new ad Trump released this week that has been trashed as essentially a Willie Horton redux. You can watch the segment above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!