Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas about comments President Joe Biden made regarding images that appeared to show border patrol agents whipping Haitian migrants.
Doocy noted that the person who took the photos of the horseback Border Patrol agents said that he had never seen the reins used to whip anyone and asked why President Joe Biden is “out there today talking about people being strapped.”
Mayorkas said that he had not seen the images when he made statements about the agents using long reins to control their horses in Del Rio, Texas, on Monday. He said Monday that there was an investigation that would be concluded within days, and while that took place, the agents “are conducting only administrative duties.” (RELATED: ‘So Clearly A Crisis’: Brianna Keilar Confronts Mayorkas Over Refusal To Say The Southern Border Is in Crisis)
“And there, the horses have long reins,” Mayorkas told Doocy. “And the image in the photograph that we all saw, that horrified the nation, raised serious questions about what occurred. And as I stated quite clearly, it conjured up images of what has occurred in the past.”
“There was also a question of how one uses the horse. And how one interacts with individuals with the horse,” he continued. “And so I am going to let the investigation run its course. I am not going to interfere with that investigation. The facts will be determined by the investigators. And then the results will be driven by the facts that are determined.”
Doocy asked if it was “helpful to the investigation for the president of the United States to use inflammatory language like ‘people being strapped'” before all of the facts had been determined.
“Let me just be very clear, and repeat what I’ve said,” Mayorkas responded. “I am not concerned with respect to the integrity of the investigation. We know how to conduct an investigation with integrity.”