‘Absolutely Not True!’ Ex-Trump Spox Gets Shot Down On CNN Peddling False Trump Claim About ‘13,000 Murderers’

Former Trump spokesman Marc Lotter got shot down on CNN for peddling former President Donald Trump’s lies about Vice President Kamala Harris releasing “13,000 murderers” into the country — shot down by the reporter who debunked it.

Trump has long made lies about immigrants a facet of his campaign — from the day he descended an escalator to declare “They’re rapists” to the immortal moment he ranted “They’re eating the pets!” on the debate stage.

Another recent attack centers on a letter containing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) statistics that Trump has twisted and lied about, and which reporters like CNN’s Daniel Dale and The Washington Post’s Phil Bump have debunked. The list of criminals at issue grew about twice as fast under Trump as it did under Biden-Harris.

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s OutFront, CNN anchor Erin Burnett convened a panel with Bump, Lotter, and Democratic strategist Aisha Mills that got testy when Bump torpedoed Lotter for re-telling the lies:

BURNETT: Marc, what do you think, the image itself of seeing them together side-by-side?

LOTTER: Well, I think, obviously, we have women that are trying to two rise to the top of the ticket and take over this country, it’s a great sign for our country and our maturity as a nation. But to the point that that you were making a moment ago, it’s like 57 percent voted in 2020 and now they’re living with the consequences when many women are having problems putting groceries on the table for their family, worry about the security of themselves and their families because Kamala Harris let in 13,000 convicted murderers who are illegal immigrants in our country.

All of these things are very real. They’re now living with the consequences of that election. And I think quite a few of them are going to go back and say, I may not love how he tweeted, but I definitely life was better under Donald Trump.

MILLS: No woman is buying that argument at all.

BURNETT: Here’s question though.

All right. So, Phillip, let me ask, there’s a strategy which Harris is engaging and by the way, I’m going to deeply red counties. I mean, I just pointed out this is the county where they’re speaking. That was the birthplace of the Republican Party, where she knows she’s going to get killed, but she’s just trying to get a little, a little bit better, right?

And if you do that a lot of different counties, you can still win states, then there’s another strategy, right? Which is trying to win — win over those moderates. And there are some in the Democratic party who think these Republican endorsements that Harris has been touting is a mistake and its not going to move the needle and she should just focus on getting out her base even in those deeply red counties that should be the way to go.

So what are you hearing?

BUMP: Yeah, I just want to say, first of all, what Mr. Lotter just said about the 13,000 immigrants is absolutely false. And I think it’s important to point that.

LOTTER: It came from ICE, Phil. You’re a reporter.

BUMP: It’s not true. It’s absolutely not true.

(CROSSTALK)

BUMP: Those were people that were in the country for decades. Many of them are in custody currently because they were charged with murders. I’ve actually done the reporting on this. So you can trust me, viewers.

LOTTER: Democracy dies in darkness, Phil.

BUMP: That’s right. That’s right. That’s why we’re honest with our viewers and with our readers.

Watch above via CNN’s OutFront.