MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace laid into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on "The Beat" on Thursday evening — and on Fox News for giving her a platform to spread a "lie."
The Trump administration is scrambling to handle the controversy after Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) tried to ask a question at a DHS press briefing, only to be wrestled and handcuffed by federal agents.
Fox News helped Noem broadcast the narrative that Padilla failed to identify himself as a senator, despite video evidence showing the contrary.
"Something amazing happened in my hour," said Wallace. "The tape had emerged of the apprehension and then manhandling of Senator Padilla to the ground. And you can hear on the tape that he says, 'I'm Senator Padilla.' And I was getting my hair all gussied up — surprise, surprise, I don't actually look like this when I show up in the building. And I heard Kristi Noem on Fox News in real time in the 3:00 hour, saying he didn't identify himself. And I'd just seen the tape, because it had just sort of exploded on social media."
"And so, you know, I think where you can show what's actually happening, hold up a mirror, and then show the anatomy of the disinformation, which we all bemoan as a country," she continued. "When you see it happening in real time, the actual event and then the lie told on Fox News less than an hour later — it's an extraordinary opportunity, I think, to push in and understand that even the Trump administration sees the need to lie about some things they do, which isn't everything, but it it does apply to today's events."
Wallace has also suggested it would be a "fool's errand" to hope GOP leadership in Congress stands up for Padilla.
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