As Twitchy told you Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited a detention facility and described being “horrified” by what she saw. One of the things AOC said she was shocked by was that the facility she visited held women in terrible conditions and forced them to “drink out of the toilets.” The CBP denied that:
?News — A CBP official denies @AOC's claim that detainees are told to drink from toilets: "They're drinking potable water from the sink attached to the toilet. It's what you would find in every municipal jail in the United States." https://t.co/w5ILsq3PoO via @MailOnline
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019
Prior to that, the Daily Mail’s David Marosko had an interesting observation to ask AOC about:
I haven't seen photo of the Clint, TX facilities that @AOC described today, but it would be interesting if "drinking from the toilet" meant drinking from an attached sink marked "potable water" — like this image from a CBP holding facility in Tuscon (filed in federal court). pic.twitter.com/uDbhy1GPOa
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez later confirmed that, yes, that’s exactly what she saw, but she put forth this explanation for why a woman (or women) were told to “drink from the toilet”:
This was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell.
Except there was just one, and the sink portion was not functioning – @AyannaPressley smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out.
So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl. https://t.co/rcu9Rt6B2x
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Martosko responded this way:
Your tweets suggested you personally heard the guard tell them this today, but Rep. Chu said one of the women told you that story. Some reports suggest they were moved inside just today from outdoor tents, so it's unclear how long they'd been in that cell. What did you witness? https://t.co/nilWGMXGNw
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 2, 2019
As a reminder, here are AOC’s original tweets where she didn’t mention a faucet that didn’t work and made it sound like a widespread issue:
Just left the 1st CBP facility.
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities.
It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.
I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
“It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets.” She sure seems to want everybody to believe it’s a widespread issue.
And of course that leads to even more questions:
UPDATED: @AOC claims a sink attached to a toilet in a CBP cell didn't work today, which could explain her "drinking toilet water" account. It's unclear what she witnessed, versus what detainees told her. Curious that CBP would choose to show lawmakers a cell w/ a busted faucet. https://t.co/5r2Z5EGluh
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 2, 2019
And just NOW she gives that extra info?
Why didn't you tweet that she had tried to turn the faucet to begin with? It wasn't until this picture came out that you added this detail. https://t.co/5nSkhqP3eS
— Jonathan Thiebaud (@Jtbaud249) July 2, 2019
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait.
At first, the outrage was the guard saying "drink from the toilet". You did not clarify this at all.
And now you change the story that the one you happened to stumble upon was non-functional.
Can we get back to your original charge?
— AgainstTrumpDude (@TheAmishDude) July 2, 2019
The story will probably keep evolving for some time.
OMG you can't "open the faucet" on these …. you press the button!!! SMH
— Karyn Melligan, Ph.D. (@karynmelligan) July 1, 2019
PUSH to open the water flow. pic.twitter.com/FfS16vou7A
— Sandy (@RightGlockMom) July 2, 2019
At this point we’re not quite sure what to think, other than AOC doesn’t exactly care to give all the context for her claims up front.
Aaaaaand the walk back … https://t.co/E3F3MMGPxM
— Antifa=Nazi (@PhantomTruth168) July 2, 2019
If you backpedalled any further, you’d be in the womb
— Adam Trahan (@AdamTrahan) July 2, 2019
Not believing what AOC says and working backwards from there is always a good place to start.
Yeah.
I am going to call 'LIAR' on that one. I simply have no reason to believe her. https://t.co/856Gs1f4QQ
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) July 2, 2019
By the way, the Border Patrol said that a woman couldn’t figure out how to work the fresh water in the sink, so she drank from the toilet. But according to CBP, Ocasio-Cortez embellished the rest of her story:
CBP on woman who drank from a toilet: "she wanted water, didn’t know how to use the faucet in the cell, and drank from the toilet. She never told AOC that we made her drink from the toilet. AOC, of course, changed it"
It didn't happen when AOC was therehttps://t.co/32EhkhtJrV
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 1, 2019
Wow.
If @aoc ever told the truth I stead if being forced to back pedal EVERY time, we might actually believe her rants. But, it's always a rant and then a backpedal. Smh
— Tweety (@puttytat58) July 2, 2019
Much of the MSM will skip the backpedal or clarification part. Kudos to those in the media who have pursued the facts.
***
Related:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member