Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii said President Joe Biden was āabsolutely wrongā to condemn Border Patrol agents without waiting for the facts.
Gabbard was interviewed Saturday by Fox News host Jesse Watters on the show āWattersā World.ā
Last week, a photo of a Border Patrol agent on horseback showed the agent using what appeared to be a whip as Haitian illegal immigrants accumulated near the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
However photographer Paul Ratje said that what many eyes thought was a whip was in fact the rein of the horse the agent was riding.
āIāve never seen them whip anyone,ā RatjeĀ said, according to Fox News. āHe was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when youāre looking at the picture.ā
Biden, however, condemned the agents in a White House news conference.
āt was horrible what ā to see, as you saw ā to see people treated like they did: horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. Itās outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay. They will be ā an investigation is underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences. Itās an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment, itās dangerous; itās wrong,ā he said.
For comments that were based on anything but the facts, Gabbard said, āHeās absolutely wrong and he needs to apologize to the American people for saying what he said.ā
āWhat he essentially did was act as judge, jury and executioner for these Customs and Border agents on horseback,ā she said.
āHow can they expect to have any kind of fair outcome to an investigation when the president of the United States has already declared their guilt and that they will be punished?ā she said.
Gabbard said the incident is troubling because it is part of a larger problem of issuing judgment before the facts.
āIf we are no longer a country of laws, if we are no longer a country where we know we will be presumed innocent unless proven guilty, then we donāt have a democracy,ā she said.
āThatās the increasing feeling that a lot of us have, is that we are losing our democracy and moving closer and closer to what essentially is an autocracy,ā she said.
Gabbard said snap judgments that become media dogma are dangerous, noting that those who condemn police officers and others when it fits a political narrative āare getting away with it.ā
āThey are unwilling to sacrifice their interests for the interests of the country,ā she said.
āThey have no business being in positions of leadership at any level in our society because who suffers as a result of this? Itās the American people. Itās our democracy. And they donāt care about the cost and the toll that that takes,ā Gabbard continued.
āAnd this is why leadership that puts service above self, that puts the interest of the American people in our country first, is so critical and essential ā especially now.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
