Watch Fox News' conversation with a supposed pro-ICE Democrat go completely off the rails
Fox & Friends First thought it had booked a rare guest: Ann Kirkpatrick, a pro-ICE Democrat running for Congress in Arizona. It could not have been more wrong.
On Monday's show, Fox & Friends First host Jillian Mele introduced "the only Democrat on stage to support ICE, Ann Kirkpatrick," and asked her to "tell us why you do support ICE." The so-called Kirkpatrick then declared she was on the show to "speak directly to Donald Trump" — who's known to watch the Fox morning show — because she's "a mother of four" and believe(s) that separating kids from their parents is illegal and inhumane."
A strong statement against Trump's family separation policy isn't what you'd expect from a Democrat who was booed Thursday for backing ICE. But then the guest dropped a bombshell: She was actually Barbara L'Italien, a Massachusetts state senator who's running for U.S. Congress. She "represent[s] a large immigrant community" and implored Trump to "stop abducting children and ripping them from their parents' arms."
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Host Rob Schmitt stepped in, but still didn't quite understand what was happening. "That practice has stopped at this point, Ms. Kirkpatrick, right?" Schmitt asked. L'Italien calmly confirmed her identity and continued her statement, but Schmitt still asked "Who is this?" again before L'Italien's video feed was cut off.
In the words of Schmitt: "That didn't go as planned." Kathryn Krawczyk
Update 12:41 p.m. ET: Desiree Dunne, the executive producer of Fox & Friends First, said in a statement that L'Italien "did not identify herself as anything other than [Ann] Kirkpatrick until she was live on air." Dunne explained that the show contacted Kirkpatrick "through her press contact on file, Joe Katz, who accepted the invitation on Kirkpatrick’s behalf. Katz followed with an email confirming the segment, which also included background information and a campaign logo for Ann Kirkpatrick." Watch the hosts' on-air correction here.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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