“FOX & Friends First” viewers—including perhaps President Donald Trump—got an unexpected earful Monday morning after the show mistakenly booked a Massachusetts state senator who railed against the administration’s “illegal and inhumane” immigration policy.
Co-hosts Rob Schmitt and Jillian Mele believed they would be speaking to pro-ICE Arizona Democratic candidate Ann Kirkpatrick. They teed up the interview with a clip of her getting booed at a debate with other candidates for the the state’s 2nd Congressional District after she declared her support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the guest was actually a different Democrat—Mass. state Sen. Barbara L’Italien.
“I’m actually here to speak directly to Donald Trump. I feel that what’s happening at the border is wrong. I’m a mother of four, and I believe that separating kids from their parents is illegal and inhumane. I’m actually Barbara L’Italien, I’m a state senator representing a large immigrant community and running for Congress in Massachusetts,” she said.
The hosts referred to her as Kirkpatrick even after she identified herself as L’Italien.
“Stop abducting children and ripping them from their parents’ arms. Stop putting kids in cages, stop making three-year-olds defend themselves in court. Stop hurting Latino children to score political points with your base,” L’Italien got in before her feed was cut.
“Who is this? Who is this?” Schmitt asked, before saying, “That didn’t go as planned.”
On Twitter, L’Italien explained that she went on Fox News “to talk to Donald Trump about his vile, racist policies at the border.”
“As the state senator from a strong immigrant community where people are living in fear,” she added, “this morning I took an opportunity to amplify their voices directly to @realDonaldTrump the only place where I knew he would be listening—Fox News.”
The hosts, however, “didn’t let me finish—I have a lot more to say,” L’Italian tweeted, and posted a video with more remarks: