Fact-checking Deb Haaland during KOAT 7 debate with Michelle Garcia Holmes

On Sunday, Democrat Rep. Deb Haaland and Republican challenger Michelle Garcia Holmes came together on KOAT Channel 7 for a candidate debate. Garcia Holmes highlighted her long career in Law Enforcement and at the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. Haaland focused more on her “progressive” policies she has championed while in Congress while slamming President Trump for what she perceived as a “lack of leadership.” 

Haaland made some claims that the Piñon Post fact-checked. Here are some of the major misrepresentations and untruths of the night:

Haaland working in “a bipartisan way.” 

Haaland claims she has worked “tirelessly” and in a “bipartisan way” in the areas of healthcare, the economy, and the environment. However, Haaland votes 95% of the time with socialist Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 96% of the time with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and 96% of the time with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). She also branded President Trump a “dictator,” which does not exactly paint a picture of “bipartisanship.”

Haaland claims Antifa/Black Lives Matter protesters removed from Lafayette Park were “peaceful.” 

Haaland claimed that “President Trump, uh, uh, broke up a peaceful protest — and it was peaceful — in Lafayette Park with teargas. And uh, Sad to say, uh, Park, National Park Police abusing, uh, the media, the journalists who were there.” 

However, the “peaceful protesters,” who spoke to the media, revealed in their own words the “peaceful” nature of their protest.

According to the Washington Examiner:

The “peaceful protester” in question had been atop the maintenance structure in Lafayette Square the night before and was among those who set it on fire, he said. In fact, being shot by the rubber bullets of riot-clad park policemen and other law enforcement agents excited him enough to make him want to burn everything down, including the White House itself.

“Why did they shoot you off the roof?” I asked.

“We were giving it to them good,” he laughed. “Bricks, rocks, bottles — they decided to get us back.”

It all sounded like good fun: the rioting, the vandalizing of revered public monuments, the smashing of windows, the burning, the looting — exactly what you’d do on a dull Sunday night during lockdown after you’ve seen everything there is to see on Netflix.

The Examiner concluded that these “peaceful” protests were “anything but peaceful.” 

Haaland’s support for Antifa

Haaland claimed, “I have never said that I supported Antifa. I have never said that Antifa was a peaceful, uh, organization.” However, that is not what she said in August of 2019 when she called an Antifa mob in the “progressive” city of Portland, Oregon, “folks who are the peaceful protesters working to safeguard their city.” Haaland did, indeed call the organization peaceful, despite Antifa terrorists pepper-spraying counter-protesters in the face and throwing hammers at them as they drove by. Some Antifa terrorists tried to pry open doors on a bus, while the passengers had to stave off their attacks. One man was beaten unconscious. 

Read more about it here. 

Haaland claims she has “never missed a vote”

Garcia Holmes challenged Haaland on the time she spent while in Congress campaigning for Elizabeth Warren’s failed presidential campaign. To that, Haaland claimed, “I have been at every single vote, I have been at every single committee meeting.” However, according to the government watchdog group GovTrack, Haaland had missed ten votes while in the House of Representatives, which is not “every single vote.” 

Read more about it here.

Haaland claims Trump called COVID-19 a “Democratic hoax.” 

Haaland, while answering a question about President Trump’s coronavirus response, claimed the President called COVID-19 a “Democratic hoax,” which an independent fact-checker, FactCheck.org, proved was taken out-of-context and a misrepresentation of the President’s words. 

FactCheck.org writes: 

“Trump did use the word ‘hoax’ but his full comments, and subsequent explanation, make clear he was talking about Democratic attacks on his administration’s handling of the outbreak, not the virus itself.”

Haaland also claimed the President “doesn’t really have a plan for COVID,” However, Garcia Holmes highlighted the President’s fast-tracking of the production of ventilators, providing critical PPE to states, closing off travel from China, among other measures, which clearly displayed the President’s leadership during COVID-19. 

Read more about it here. 

These are just some of the most egregious fact-checkable statements made by Haaland in the KOAT 7 debate. Last week, Michelle Garcia Holmes had a five-minute slot on KOB 4 since Haaland “did not agree to participate in a debate.”