'I don't want to get sued': CNN host repeatedly fact checks GOP ex-candidate to her face
A former Republican congressional candidate was admonished on CNN for hurling accusations at a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) finally made face-to-face contact with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a married father who was sent by the Trump administration to the infamous CECOT mega prison, but the White House pushed back on the senator's efforts in El Salvador by inviting the mother of a Maryland woman who was slain by an undocumented migrant from that country.
"To have a senator from Maryland who didn't even acknowledge or barely acknowledged my daughter and the brutal death that she endured to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that's not even an American citizen," said Patty Morin, whose 24-year-old daughter was raped and murdered in 2023. "Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter?"
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The young woman's killer was convicted this week of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sex offense and kidnapping, and CNN host Audie Cornish clarified that Abrego Garcia had nothing to do with that case.
"Just to be clear, she was not raped or murdered by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, so two completely different crimes, different times, and Garcia does not actually have a criminal record," Cornish said.
Tiffany Smiley, a Republican nurse who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 and finished a distant third in a 2024 primary for U.S. House, defended the White House for inviting Morin to speak as the administration faces heavy criticism for sending Abergo Garcia to El Salvador and disobeying court orders to bring him back.
"I think it's important to hear Patty and Rachel's story," Smiley said, and Cornish asked her to explain. "I mean, so I think this all goes back to the majority of Americans voted for president Trump because there was an open southern border where illegals were coming in and making our communities unsafe, killing American citizens, with no plan in sight and no, no, you know, people were feeling less and less safe with every waking day, and president Trump came in on a commitment, promises made and promises kept, that he was going to secure the border, deport illegals, deport criminals who do not belong in this country."
"So I think it's just making this stark contrast that, you know, this Maryland man, he is a part of MS-13," Smiley added. "There is intelligence reports that show that he was involved in human trafficking. He is a wife beater."
Smiley's fellow panelists pushed back on those allegations that have been presented by Trump administration officials.
"None of that has actually been proven or shown in court," said Nayyera Haq, a former White House senior director for Barack Obama. "That's part of the problem, because there's been no due process."
Cornish agreed, and she also added a legal note to the administration's allegations that Smiley presented as factual.
"I'm glad you're introducing this," Cornish said. "I also don't want to get sued, so I'll say the government has not released any documented information around intelligence reports, specifically, and right now, the documents they did release this week did not show he had a criminal record."
Smiley pressed on with additional false claims against Abrego Garcia.
"I think it's interesting from a messaging standpoint, it's fascinating that Democrats are really going to bat for this illegal immigrant, which we do know he is," Smiley said.
Haq stepped in again with another fact check, pointing out that Abrego Garcia did have legal status to be in the U.S.
"If we're going to have the messaging conversation," Haq said, "let's at least make sure it's grounded in the facts of individuals, because this is about people and human lives."
Cornish came back to Smiley and allowed her to finish her point after showing video of president Donald Trump claiming the matter was out of his hands.
"Let's let the court decide," Smiley said. "I mean, whether he's in El Salvador or he's here in the United States, I mean, clearly he should be, you know, held here, not not out in the public. Clearly, [Trump] said it's out of it's out of his hands at this point. It's in the courts, but I want to make a point that a sitting senator never met with Patty, who has no justice. She lost her daughter, who was brutally raped and killed by an illegal immigrant, but yet gives deference and will fly to El Salvador to meet with an illegal immigrant. The optics of that are not great. I mean, you look at this from a whole messaging standpoint, and it makes sense why president Trump was elected."
Cornish again clarified that another Salvadoran national, and not Abrego Garcia, was convicted Monday in Rachel Morin's murder, and she chided Smiley for conflating the two cases before giving Haq another chance to respond.
"It is a horrible case, but it's also with her senator and her constituents," Haq said. "Like we're blurring the lines of how power and authority works, like, when you are the Maryland senator, you are going to be concerned about what happens to residents and legal people living in Maryland."'
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