CNN Anchor Literally Face Palms As Trump Supporter Makes 'Voter Fraud' Claim
Alisyn Camerota could not help herself.
The CNN anchor literally put the palm of her hand to her forehead as she tried to understand what her interviewee was saying.
She was speaking to Trump supporters about their opinions on the president-elect when the conversation turned to voter fraud.
In trying to understand the point being made, she couldn't help but stumble over her words,
They do not allow illegal -- you mean ille -- you mean voter fraud, California allows!?
To see a professional journalist so floored was fascinating, to say the least, but no more fascinating than the actual conversation that led to the moment.
The full face-palm clip, which was uploaded onto YouTube by CNN, is about a minute and a half long and begins with a highly debatable claim from a Trump supporter named Paula.
Paula said,
Voting is a privilege in this country. And you need to be legal, not like California, where 3 million illegals voted.
The claim set Camerota off. The anchor immediately began challenging Paula's assertion with questions like:
So where are you getting your information? Which media? CNN said that 3 million illegal people voted in California? Do you think 3 dozen or 3 million? Did you hear President Obama say that illegal people could vote? Tell me, where?
It's pretty obvious why Camerota pressed the woman on these claims, too.
- Illegal immigrants cannot vote.
- There is no credible evidence or report of "millions" of people committing voter fraud -- not from any news organizations or law enforcement agencies.
So where exactly did Paula get the idea that illegal immigrants were voting? Well, after a long back-and-forth, she and another woman being interviewed doubled down on the claim.
It was President Obama, in fact, who told illegal immigrants they could vote, the two Trump supporters claimed. The two Trump supporters even challenged Camerota to Google it.
And here's where things get interesting. Camerota puts on her glasses and actually searches for an instance in which Obama told illegal immigrants they could vote.
Camerota's search brought her to a Mediate article titled, "Fox Deceptively Edits Obama Interview To Falsely Claim He Told Illegal Immigrants To Vote."
Sure enough, Fox Business Network did air a segment focusing on the president's interview with Millennial Latino outlet, Mitú.
During the segment, host Stuart Verney says Obama "appears to encourage illegals to vote and he promises no repercussions if they do."
Of course, the actual entirety of the president's interview with Mitú paints a completely different picture, as Obama makes it clear only citizens can vote.
But it's 2016, and we have to be real. Whether it's what the President of the United States actually said about illegal immigrants or whether millions of illegal immigrants actually voted, facts really don't matter as much they should.
*Face palm.*
Citations: Mediaite
