When "María Fernanda from Univision" took the mic on Tuesday night and asked Vice President Kamala Harris a flattering question to cap off her trip to Mexico, it seemed like Univision's sycophantic day had taken a turn for the worse. But the truth might be far worse than what it seems.
Watch as "Maria Fernanda from Univision" asked what seemed like a question totally in line with Univision's editorial line, "I voted for you" aside:
SYMONE SANDERS: Our next question will come from Maria Fernanda. At Univision.
MARIA FERNANDA: Thank you, Madame Vice President. For me, it's an honor because I actually got to vote for the first time as a nationalized(sic) citizen. I voted for you. So --
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you.
MARIA FERNANDA: -- my question is, what would you say to these women -- those mothers and also women of color on both sides of the border, farmers, many of them who I see every day. As a message of hope, but also, what will you do for them in the next coming years?
HARRIS: That's a great question. And thank you.
Slam dunk story. "Univision reporter fawns all over Kamala Harris" practically writes itself, especially after the earlier "Mexican cousin" story.
But as the video began to make the rounds on Twitter, we heard directly from Univision's President of News, Daniel Coronell:
That's as crystal clear a statement of disavowal as there can be.
Univision prime-time anchor Ilia Calderón also made a similar statement, tweeting:
Further complicating the issue is the fact that Univision Mexico City correspondent Jésica Zermeño (pictured below) was on site at the Harris press conference (who retweeted Coronell's statement).
Given all these elements, we are faced with one of only two possible scenarios which are, by degrees of exponential magnitude, far worse than the original “Univision reporter fangirls over Kamala, says ‘I voted for you’” story:
- Coronell’s statement is true, in which case we are talking about a MAJOR security breach and vetting failure from the Secret Service, Mexican state security, and the White House press team (led by former CNN political commentator Symone Sanders)
- Coronell is lying, in which case (as my colleague Curtis Houck pointed out) Univision has a major journalistic scandal on their hands.
This is a developing story with multiple angles, and we will keep you posted as they unfold.
