Raju Presses Jordan, Watters Praises Himself | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

CNN correspondent Manu Raju confronted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) over a deleted tweet calling the story of a 10-year-old girl who sought abortion care after being raped a “lie.”

Two weeks ago, Dr. Caitlin Bernard told Shari Rudavsky and Rachel Fradette of The Indianapolis Star that a pregnant 10-year-old girl — had to travel from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion.

Jordan was among a host of conservatives who either outright called the story “fake” or otherwise cast doubt on it after President Joe Biden referenced the incident in a speech.

Jordan retweeted a headline that claimed Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost “said his office has not found any evidence of a 10-year-old rape victim in the state” who “was six weeks pregnant and traveled to Indiana to receive an abortion.”

“Another lie. Anyone surprised?” he added.

Jordan deleted the tweet after news broke that a man had confessed to the rape in question.

Raju confronted Jordan about just that while at the Capitol on Thursday, asking the congressman why he deleted the tweet.

“Well, because we learned that this illegal alien did this heinous crime. So we deleted the tweet,” Jordan replied, prompting Raju to ask if the representative would “to the girl in the family for suggesting it was a lie?”

He wouldn’t. Instead, Jordan took the opportunity to slam the media and Biden before pivoting to immigration.

Raju later told CNN anchor John King that Jordan refused to answer when asked if a 10-year-old should be required under Ohio law to carry a pregnancy to term if she were raped.

“So, not apologizing for the tweet, not apologizing to the family, not regretting the tweet, but just claiming it was misinterpreted about what he meant, saying he didn’t mean to question the girl, but criticizing the undocumented immigrant who is alleged to have perpetrated this heinous crime,” Raju said.

Jesse Watters gave himself an extremely undeserved, and frankly embarrassing, pat on the back for his reporting on the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl.

“Primetime covered this story heavily on Monday, put on the pressure, and now we’re glad that justice is being served,” Watters exclaimed on Wednesday, referring to the investigation into the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who had to travel to Indiana for an abortion.

While it’s ridiculous for Watters to give himself any form of credit for an investigation and arrest he had nothing to do with, it all becomes even wilder once you watch just how he covered the story on Monday.

Two weeks ago, Dr. Caitlin Bernard told The Indianapolis Star that a pregnant 10-year-old girl — referred to her by a child abuse doctor — was one of a crush of patients seeking abortions from states that have banned the procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

According to Watters and several other conservative media figures, the whole thing was a left-wing ruse aimed at manipulating the American public.

So much for that theory, as 27-year-old Ohio man, Gerson Fuentes, was arrested after confessing, which, according to Watters, is all thanks to him.

Despite Watters’ claim that he “put on the pressure” on the story thanks to his coverage, his actual reporting claimed the story didn’t make any sense.

Watters even suggested “the mainstream media and president of the United States [were] seizing on another hoax” by highlighting the story, calling it “absolutely shameful.”

He devoted nearly 17 minutes to “investigate this alleged child rape” at the top of Monday’s Primetime and declared that he hadn’t “found any evidence that this child rape was reported to law enforcement or any child welfare system.”

Watters clearly hoped we’d forget all about that by Wednesday when he praised his coverage of the investigation. We didn’t.