Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas made a claim so egregious about the ongoing East Wing renovations at the White House that even CNN had to fact-check the lawmaker.
Crockett was accusing President Donald Trump of neglecting Americans during the government shutdown, falsely claiming that the construction of the new East Wing ballroom was his “main priority.” Crockett was quickly corrected by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, who clarified the original context of press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s response.
Crockett is not the only high-profile Democrat who has misled about the White House ballroom.
“I have no idea,” Crockett said in response to Collins. “I mean, you started off talking about how the president is in Japan. The president has time to do everything but what he needs to focus on.”
“In fact, we heard the press secretary say that his main priority is the ballroom,” Crockett added. “The ballroom that no one asked for. The ballroom that requires him to destroy historic pieces of the White House.”
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Collins responded to Crockett’s wildly out-of-context claim, noting that Leavitt was responding to a question about additional White House renovations and not about the president’s general list of priorities.
“That context of the comment from Karoline Leavitt, she was asked if the president was working on any other renovations when it came to the White House, and she was saying his focus was the ballroom,” Collins replied.
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Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images
Crockett is not the only high-profile Democrat who has misled about the White House ballroom. Former vice presidential candidate and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) also echoed the claim that the ballroom is Trump’s top priority, insinuating that the project is taxpayer-funded.
As Leavitt pointed out the week prior, Trump’s ballroom is entirely funded by private donors, with the president himself even pitching in to finance the project.
“He’s a builder at heart, clearly,” Leavitt replied when asked if Trump was weighing any additional construction projects. “His heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom really is the president’s main priority.”
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