Fox & Friends' Doocy falsely claimed Clinton would make driver's licenses for illegal immigrants “necessary”

Written by Jeremy Holden

Published


On the November 1 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, discussing criticism of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) comments on a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, co-host Steve Doocy asserted that Clinton said in an October 31 campaign statement, “As president, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this necessary.” Fox displayed an on-air graphic of the text as read by Doocy, who then asked, “So what's that mean?” Co-host Gretchen Carlson replied, “I don't know. It's hard to understand, and I guess that might be the point, guys.” But as The Washington Post and The Boston Globe both reported November 1, the statement issued by the Clinton campaign actually said: “As President, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make [the New York proposal] unnecessary” [emphasis added].

Clinton's October 31 statement, quoted by the Post and the Globe, read as follows:

Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. As President, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this unnecessary.

From the November 1 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

DOOCY: Well, she did issue a statement yesterday to clarify her official statement.

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): OK, good. Let's hear this.

DOOCY: OK. Does this make any sense to you out there in TV land?

“Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. As president, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this necessary.”

So what's that mean?

CARLSON: I don't know. It's hard to understand, and I guess that might be the point, guys. Because, you know, politicians don't like to take stands on sometimes on really serious issues, because then they offend the other side.