Pence Calls CNN ‘So Dishonest’ for Coverage of Visit to Border Facilities: Didn’t Show ‘Full Story’

Vice President Mike Pence toured two border facilities Friday and one of them is getting a lot of attention for the details described by reporters allowed access:

VP saw 384 men sleeping inside fences, on concrete w/no pillows or mats. They said they hadn’t showered in weeks, wanted toothbrushes, food. Stench was overwhelming. CBP said they were fed regularly, could brush daily & recently got access to shower (many hadn’t for 10-20 days.) pic.twitter.com/tHFZYxJF7C

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

Agent in charge said there wasn’t room for cots andthe facility didn’t have a shower but got a shower yesterday in an outdoor trailer. Some hadn’t showered for 10 or 20 days. Agent said no one had been there longer than 32 days, but some men told CNN’s Pam Brown and me they had.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

Asked Pence afterwards if he was OK with what he said. On first two times, he didn’t directly say yes or no and said he expected to see it and wasn’t surprised. He later said he obviously wasn’t ok with it because he’d been trying to fix the system.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

The men said they were hungry and wanted to brush teeth. Most didn’t speak English but gestured at us. CBP said three meals are brought in a day & they can brush daily. Stench was horrendous. CPB said it is cleaned 3x a day. Heat was sweltering. CBP said it was air conditioned.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

Facility we saw earlier in the day with children was new & relatively clean and empty. There were cots & medical supplies & snacks. Children watched TV and told Pence through translator they were being taken care of. But at least two said they’d walked for months to get here.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 12, 2019

In tweets posted to Pence’s official Twitter account Friday night, the vice president touted the conditions at the facility holding families and children, saying, “All told us they were being treated well,” and blaming Democrats for the overcrowding at the second facility.

But the VP also went after CNN for being “so dishonest” and said they didn’t capture the “whole story”:

CNN is so dishonest. Today we took reporters to a detention facility on the border for families and children and all told us they were being treated well.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

The crisis at our southern border is not a “manufactured crisis”, it is real and is overwhelming our system. To show this, we also visited an overcrowded facility for adult men, many of whom have been arrested multiple times.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

These men were in a temporary holding area because Democrats in Congress have refused to fund additional bed space.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

Rather than broadcast the full story, showing the compassionate care the American people are providing to vulnerable families, tonight CNN only played video of men in the temporary facility and didn’t play any footage of the family facility at all…

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

ignoring the excellent care being provided to families and children. Our great @CBP agents deserve better and the American people deserve the whole story from CNN! pic.twitter.com/hsKsU6umhW

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) July 13, 2019

Pence sat down for an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown Friday night (video above). The interview broadcast on CNN included video footage from the overcrowded facility.

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