Former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke told CNN hosts on Thursday to “go back” and check their coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris, pointing out they previously referred to her as the “border czar.”
Since Harris was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 to address the migrant crisis and often called the “border czar,” the legacy media has reversed it’s characterization of the vice president after she became her party’s presidential nominee. During his appearance on “CNN News Central,” Dubke called out the “language” used “at the time” regarding Harris’ border duties before CNN host Brianna Keilar jumped in to challenge his statement.
“Find out — I know we — there‘s this whole nomenclature about border czar, but that was the language that was used at the time. We have an immigration problem, we need to discuss that. So hopefully, I‘m hoping that it turns into a conversation where Dana is asking the vice president why she made some of these flips and flops,” Dubke said.
“Her purview, just to be clear, was looking at the drivers of immigration —” Keilar pushed back.
Dubke then stated he didn’t “even really want to argue about this,” before the CNN host insisted she wanted to “be clear” about Harris.
“I hear what you‘re saying, Mike, but we should be clear — ” Keilar responded.
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“At the time it was reported — and I’m going to be clear — at the time it was recorded, even CNN called her a border czar. So we‘re really, we can argue about that, I find that — ” Dubke said.
However, Keilar insisted the outlet did not refer to the vice president as the “border czar,” prompting Dubke to challenge the hosts to “go back and double check.”
“Yea, I think we can go back and double check that,” Dubke said. “And if I’m wrong, I will eat my words on that. But let’s go back and double check.”
Although the Biden administration rejected the title of “border czar,” the term was widely used by outlets like Axios, CNN and MSNBC, according to Fox News. Between 2021 and 2023, CNN’s Ed Lavandera and Alyssa Farah Griffin both referred to Harris as the “border czar,” the outlet reported.
Recent data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows more than 7 million illegal immigrants have been encountered by Border Patrol agents attempting to cross at the U.S.-Mexico border since Biden and Harris entered office in 2021.
Featured Image Credit: Gage Skidmore
