On Monday night’s Special Report, Fox News anchor Bret Baier took time to correct false reporting from MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell earlier that day claiming incompetent Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes was a “Republican,” when, in fact, the Florida official was a lifelong Democrat.
During a panel discussion about the close Senate and gubernatorial races in Florida, Baier noted that Snipes “has been coming under a lot of fire” for her mishandling of vote counting in Broward County. He then teed up a clip of “Andrew Gillum and an anchor on another channel talking about Brenda Snipes.”
After a soundbite ran of Gillum hyping Snipes as “appointed originally by Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican,” a clip of Mitchell followed, with her wrongly declaring:
We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican, appointed by a former governor, then-Governor Jeb Bush. So she was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there.
Immediately following the soundbite, Baier fact-checked the NBC News journalist: “Well, she [Snipes] is a Democrat, is listed as a Democrat, she’s always been a Democrat.” He then read a tweet from Jeb Bush demanding Snipes be “removed from office” for having “failed to comply with Florida law on multiple counts” and “undermining Floridians confidence in our electoral process.”
Baier was perplexed by the false partisan label ascribed to Snipes: “But the whole thing to paint her as a Republican seems – ” Fox News Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt interjected with a possible explanation for Mitchell getting her facts wrong: “I will give that anchor the benefit of the doubt that she was speaking from ignorance or maybe twigging off of Democratic talking points.”
Stirewalt went on to briefly explain how Bush first appointed Snipes:
Jeb Bush put her in position there after the catastrophes of 2000 and 2002 had basically forced his hand, had to get rid of her. He did not replace her with some Republican operative, he replaced her with – I believe she had been a school principal or a superintendent in that county. She is obviously a Democratic official. That’s who she is.
Perhaps Mitchell should double check DNC talking points before she just repeats them on air.
Here is a transcript of the November 13 exchange on FNC’s Special Report:
6:42 PM ET
(...)
BRET BAIER: [Broward County election official] Brenda Snipes, by the way, has been coming under a lot of fire. Here is Andrew Gillum and an anchor on another channel talking about Brenda Snipes.
ANDREW GILLUM: I don’t know Ms. Snipes, but I do know she was appointed originally by Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican.
ANDREA MITCHELL: We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican, appointed by a former governor, then-Governor Jeb Bush. So she was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there.
BAIER: Well, she is a Democrat, is listed as a Democrat, she’s always been a Democrat. Jeb Bush tweeted today, “There is no question that Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes failed to comply with Florida law on multiple counts, undermining Floridians confidence in our electoral process. Supervisor Snipes should be removed from her office following the recounts.” But the whole thing to paint her as a Republican seems –
CHRIS STIREWALT [FOX NEWS POLITICS EDITOR]: I will give that anchor the benefit of the doubt that she was speaking from ignorance or maybe twigging off of Democratic talking points.
Jeb Bush put her in position there after the catastrophes of 2000 and 2002 had basically forced his hand, had to get rid of her. He did not replace her with some Republican operative, he replaced her with – I believe she had been a school principal or a superintendent in that county. She is obviously a Democratic official. That’s who she is.
And she has to go after this. There’s no way you can have this many screw-ups in this many elections this often in a county that’s so populous and so important. There’s no evidence of fraud, but there is gross evidence of incompetence in this office.
(...)
