Writing in its West Wing Playbook newsletter on Tuesday, Politico’s Max Tani and Alex Thompson revealed the Biden administration has grown disgusted with another Fox News reporter who’s not named Peter Doocy. Rather, it’s Bill Melugin for his compelling, fact-based, and substantive coverage of the crisis at the U.S./Mexico border.
“There’s a tall Fox News reporter in his mid-30s with slicked back hair and an air of combative indignation who is getting under the skin of some people in JOE BIDEN’s administration. And he’s not PETER DOOCY,” Tani and Thompson began, adding that Melugin “has become a growing presence online and in broader political circles as Fox’s go-to reporter at the U.S. southern border.”
The pair noted that Melugin’s live shots have “focuse[d] on the historic flow of migrants that are overwhelming communities there.” Sounds rather straightforward and necessary journalism, right? Well, according to the Biden regime, such reporting is maddening.
They then got into the White House petulance, saying “several current and former…officials expressed…their increasing frustration” and “irritation” “with his on-air coverage, arguing that there is an alarmist quality to it, designed to feed political narratives rather than illuminate the actual issues feeding the migrant flow.”
Citing one of their sources, Tani and Thompson wrote that “the Biden team has complained about the lack of nuance in the network’s coverage of the topic, which focuses more on the number of migrants rather than explaining the root causes of the situation” and that such a focus on the border masks “bad headlines for conservatives.”
Notice how, like Libs of TikTok, there’s no pushback to what they’re saying or claim that they’re lying. Rather, it’s that they exist.
Ignoring the fact that network reporters routinely make appearances on partisan shows airing on CNN and MSNBC, Tani and Thompson bemoaned Melugin breaking the news about Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) flying illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard and discussing it “on Fox News opinion primetime.”
They went into more kvetching about Melugin’s “style of coverage” being “heavily” based in “on-the-ground reporting” and “technologically savvy” that “gives the story a dramatic visual scale that Fox pundits use to bolster their arguments about the enormity of the problem” on the border.
The horror! Again, nothing about the facts of what Melugin has reported and instead whining that he’s putting the rest of the press to shame.
The meltdown continued:
Immigration has been a key issue that has filled many hours of programming for Fox News since its inception. The network regularly dispatches people to the border to cover illegal border crossings, stoking fears about caravans of immigrants.
As we’ve noted for over a year, Melugin has been an indispensable presence who engages in the kind of fact-checking the so-called fact-checkers should be doing more of.
For example, we almost one year ago to the day that, following an episode of The Psaki Show, Melugin fact-checked Psaki on a litany of claims, including her insistence that the tens of thousands under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas don’t intend to say in the U.S. long.
And last week on September 15, Melugin took apart Karine Jean-Pierre’s claims about illegal immigrants being transported out of Texas (click “expand”):
SANDRA SMITH: I’ll get your direct reaction to the White House just now, not only calling these political stunts and the migrants used as political pawns, calling it shameful, saying that we’re working to manage the consequences of this, and then said, “the migrants were misled on where they were going,” calling it “alarming.” You say that’s not the case.
MELUGIN: It’s not the case for the busses here in Texas. Every single one of the migrants before they get on a bus, they have to sign a voluntary consent waiver. I have seen those waivers. They get two options. They can decide to go to New York City or they can go to Washington, D.C. They get to pick which bus they good on. They’re loaded with food, they’re loaded with water, MREs, they get to stop and get off wherever they want to. They are not forced on to the busses. The migrants themselves have said they are not forced on, they go willingly, some are very excited to do it, trying to reunite with family on the east coast. There’s a local NGO out here, Mission Border Hope. Their executive director said the exact same thing. Nobody is forced on to the busses. They all go willingly, and nobody is deceived. They all sign paperwork, guys, before they get on these busses.
SMITH: Bill, I want to follow up with you on that. In addition, she was just asked by a reporter in the room at the White House. How do you explain the influx then? You know, obviously just, you know, pointing to the picture of all these migrants, so many that these Republican leaders are shipping them off to places like Martha’s Vineyard and to Kamala Harris’s doorstep. Her response is that “we do have work to do.” An acknowledgment, obviously, that the crisis is happening, but no specific offering as to what this white house is doing about it.
MELUGIN: Well, no and she said they have put in place a number of strategies that are having an impact on the border. They are talking about arrests they are making. But just look at their own numbers. John is exactly right. She’s talking about, “well, we have expelled the most migrants ever with title 42.” Yeah, that’s because more than 2 million people have crossed this year alone. They’re breaking their own records. Last year set the all-time record with 1.7 million. We are not even done with this fiscal year yet. We’re already over 2 million. So, yes, they are going to be expelling more people when you have a massive amount of people coming across the border. The other thing is, she makes it sound like they are using Title 42 across the board in all cases. That is absolutely not true whatsoever. Here in Del Rio sector where we are — Eagle Pass, almost everybody crossing here is Venezuela, Cuba, or Nicaragua. Those countries are not subject to Title 42 because Mexico won’t take them back and neither will their home countries. Instead, they are released and processed via Title VIII. They get released with a future court date. I’m going to give you a number right now. A few days ago more than 1,800 people crossed illegally here in the Del Rio sector. Of that 1,800, only 400 were expelled Title 42. Look at the Yuma, Arizona sector. A few days ago, in Yuma, Arizona 754 people crossed in one day, 32 of them were expelled via title 42. It is not being used consistently — we apologize, we got a Border Patrol boat going by us right now — but they are not using Title 42 consistently across the board as she’s trying to make it sound like to the American public.