Media top headlines August 12
In media news today, female viewers turn off 'Cuomo Prime Time' in droves, MSNBC's Joy Reid says DeSantis and Republicans are 'killing children' with COVID polices, and Brian Stelter gets roasted by critics after his interview with Stephen Colbert
The office of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted PolitiFact for allowing a fact check to remain up without correction regarding his claim that Texas Democrats who fled the state last month could be arrested.
Cruz claimed last month there was "clear, legal authority" to arrest the group of Democrats who flew to Washington to avoid voting on election bills. The fact checkers rated his statement False.
"PolitiFact exists to carry water for the Democrat Party, so they’re not interested in the search for truth," a Cruz spokesperson told Fox News.
TEXAS DEMS START RETURNING HOME AFTER RESTRAINING ORDER BLOCKING ARRESTS
The Texas Supreme Court ruled this week that the Democratic lawmakers who fled the state could be arrested or detained. The decision voided a district judge's temporary restraining order that blocked the threat of arrest and convinced some Democrats to return home.
Cruz's team added there is a provision in the Texas Constitution and a House rule authorizing the arrest of legislators who refuse to show up to do their jobs.
"Pretending that the law doesn’t clearly allow for the arrest and potential physical compulsion of delinquent legislators is patently absurd," the spokesperson continued. "This is yet another example of Politifact getting it wrong in their shameless attempt to make excuses for Democrat lies, under the false pretense of confirming facts."
MEDIA FACT-CHECKERS, FACEBOOK CITED WUHAN LAB-LINKED SCIENTIST TO KNOCK DOWN LAB LEAK THEORY
Cruz tweeted that he was still waiting for PolitiFact to issue a correction after Texas Supreme Court ruling.
"Ted Cruz is the former Solicitor General of Texas, but hey I’m sure the Politifact writer who spent 90 minutes researching this knows Texas law better than he does," RealClearInvestigations reporter Mark Hemingway tweeted.
"Yep," Cruz agreed. "The Texas Supreme Court just agreed with me - unanimously. But, of course, PolitiFact still rules the claim ‘false.’ They have yet to issue a correction."
In its fact check, PolitiFact quoted the Texas state constitution.
"All absentees for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found," Rule 5, Sec. 8 of the House rulebook states, the outlet noted.
But, PolitiFact argued, this section is a gray area that has been open to interpretation, adding there's no judicial precedent for the current situation.
"While the language uses the word ‘arrest,’ there’s uncertainty about how this term is to be interpreted," PolitiFact wrote. "Because none of these errant members have committed any crime, and the House cannot issue a criminal warrant for their arrest, they can’t be arrested in a criminal sense."
It has not changed its "False" rating, although it updated the article with statements from Cruz's office pushing back on its assessment.
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Fox News has reached out to PolitiFact for comment.
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