Ignoring police report, Carlson advanced false claim that ACORN employee killed husband
Written by Jocelyn Fong
Published
Referring to a San Bernardino, California, ACORN employee whose claim that she killed her husband was recorded by actors posing as a prostitute and pimp, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson asked, “She killed somebody?” adding, “Despite this, some lawmakers want to keep funding the group.” However, the San Bernardino Police Department investigated the matter and concluded that the claims made by Tresa Kaelke -- the ACORN staffer in question who said she fabricated the story because the actors filming her “were clearly playing with me” -- “do not appear to be factual,” and that her “known former husbands” are “alive and well.”
Carlson asked of Kaelke: “She killed somebody?”
From the September 16 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CARLSON: You want to see some more shocking video? Guess what? We have it. ACORN, corrupt policies - watch.
[begin video clip]
KAELKE: But, it - you know, I don't think that that's a nice thing. I don't think -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You killed him emotionally?
KAELKE: No, I shot him.
[end video clip]
DOOCY: Hmm.
CARLSON: She killed somebody? Despite this, some lawmakers want to keep funding the group. Griff Jenkins tracked one of them down for us.
Carlson earlier reported, “According to ACORN, he's still alive”
From the September 16 edition of Fox & Friends:
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Yeah, the same routine. They go in, they say, listen, I need a house. They're pushing -- she's a prostitute. And then she used that line where she says I have about a dozen girls ready to come, between 12 and 16, from El Salvador, and that's when she, this woman you just saw, springs into action. Well, they need a place to stay.
CARLSON: Well, before she killed her husband, allegedly -- and, by the way, I think he's still alive somewhere in California.
KILMEADE: Yeah, they found him alive.
CARLSON: They --
DOOCY: Barstow.
CARLSON: According to ACORN, he's still alive. So, there's still a lot of questions about that whole thing.
KILMEADE: We've just got a great bowl of --
CARLSON: And a sad -- well, and a sad back story if in fact she was a victim of domestic violence -- so, a lot of questions here. But, first and foremost, before she admits to killing her husband, she gives prostitution advice to these young kids because she says she was actually in the business before.
Police report confirms Kaelke did not kill husband
San Bernardino PD: Investigators found former husbands “alive and well.” In a September 15 news release, the San Bernardino Police Department stated that Kaelke's claim that she shot and killed her husband does “do[es] not appear to be factual”:
DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT:
An undercover video reportedly filmed in the San Bernardino office for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was recently released on the Internet. The film depicts a worker talking about her past involvement in prostitution and the alleged self-defense killing of her former husband.
The San Bernardino Police Department is investigating the claims made regarding the homicide. From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well.
ACORN: Kaelke “matched” actors' “false scenario with her own false scenarios”
Kaelke said she decided to tell actors “outrageous things with a straightface.” According to an ACORN press release, Kaelke stated of the actors who filmed her, “They were not believable. ... Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't evengood actors. I didn't know what to make of them. They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them asmuch as they were shocking me. Like Stephan Colbert does -- saying the most outrageous things with a straightface.” The press release also stated: “When the actors approached Ms. Kaelke with their provocative costuming and outlandish scenario, she could not take them seriously. So she met their outrageousness with her own personal style of outrageousness. She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios.”
Transcript:
From the September 16 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
KILMEADE: Well, we had Washington, D.C.; we had Baltimore.
DOOCY: Right.
KILMEADE: We saw a little Brooklyn. Are you ready for San Bernardino --
DOOCY: Yeah. Why not?
KILMEADE: -- inland empire of Los Angeles?
CARLSON: Yeah, but, now, here's the key. They say that the woman that you're about to see in this ACORN probe in California, that she knew that the fake pimp and prostitute -- you know, this whole scheme that these young kids have done in these ACORN offices, undercover -- this woman now claiming, well, she knew they were fake so she created her own fake story as well.
DOOCY: Yeah. The woman's name is Tresa Kaelke and she was one of the people who worked in the front office there at -- in San Bernardino at the ACORN office. It's interesting, right now, ACORN is starting to spin this as, “Oh, yeah, those people who you see on tape, those are low-level employees.”
Well, anyway, attention ACORN: Here's one of your low-level employees talking about how she killed her husband.
[begin video clip]
KAELKE: This is an ex-husband, you know, that just beat the hell out of me, you know, a few times and then, you know, I killed him. But, it -- you know, I don't think that that's a nice thing. I don't think --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You killed him emotionally?
KAELKE: No, I shot him. ... He came at me and I let him throw me around a little bit, you know. And then I just picked up the gun and said [bleep]. And I shot him. And he died right there. And -- but before that, I had done some -- laid some groundwork.
[end video clip]
KILMEADE: And they did their same act.
DOOCY: Routine.
KILMEADE: Yeah, the same routine. They go in, they say, listen, I need a house. They're pushing -- she's a prostitute. And then she used that line where she says I have about a dozen girls ready to come, between 12 and 16, from El Salvador, and that's when she, this woman you just saw, springs into action. Well, they need a place to stay.
CARLSON: Well, before she killed her husband, allegedly -- and, by the way, I think he's still alive somewhere in California.
KILMEADE: Yeah, they found him alive.
CARLSON: They --
DOOCY: Barstow.
CARLSON: According to ACORN, he's still alive. So, there's still a lot of questions about that whole thing.
KILMEADE: We've just got a great bowl of --
CARLSON: And a sad -- well, and a sad back story if in fact she was a victim of domestic violence -- so, a lot of questions here. But, first and foremost, before she admits to killing her husband, she gives prostitution advice to these young kids because she says she was actually in the business before.
[...]
CARLSON: You want to see some more shocking video? Guess what? We have it. ACORN, corrupt policies -- watch.
[begin video clip]
KAELKE: But, it -- you know, I don't think that that's a nice thing. I don't think --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You killed him emotionally?
KAELKE: No, I shot him.
[end video clip]
DOOCY: Hmm.
CARLSON: She killed somebody? Despite this, some lawmakers want to keep funding the group. Griff Jenkins tracked one of them down for us.