On the July 9 edition of The Kelly File on Fox News, Megyn Kelly slammed pro-amnesty radio host Richard Fowler for refusing to answer her questions about the death of Kate Steinle in San Francisco. Kelly repeatedly asked her guest why Obama has not commented on her death like he has about Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Freddie Gray.
Fowler shifted the blame to Republicans, insinuating this murder would not have occurred if the Republicans had not blocked George Bush’s attempted immigration reform. After continuing to evade Kelly's several inquiries, the Fox News personality finally exploded at Fowler: “Stop that. Answer my question, please. I'm asking you, give an answer. You can't, because there isn't one. Marc, there's no excuse for it. He [Obama] picks and chooses the victims he wants to highlight and apparently this victim wasn't deemed worthy.”
Earlier in the segment, former George W. Bush speechwriter and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen argued that Obama would not speak out on Steinle’s death because it was not politically convenient for him to do so:
[A]ll of a sudden a woman is killed by a criminal alien and all of a sudden the president is tongue tied. He's got nothing to say. Why is that? The answer is simple. When, in all of those other cases he had liberal policy points that he wanted to make about gun control, about police bias, about racial profiling.
Thiessen expanded on his point: “In this case he has no policy points he want to make because the policies he supports are the ones that got this woman killed. His support for sanctuary cities, his support for releasing criminal aliens into the communities. So he doesn't want to highlight this because there's no political gain to be made from it.”
In the middle of the back and forth between Kelly and Fowler, the radio host opined that the murder of Steinle wouldn’t have happened and “sanctuary cities wouldn’t have happened...[i]f we had comprehensive immigration reform."
In recent days, Kelly has slammed the Obama administration for their refusal to go after sanctuary cities such as San Francisco.
The relevant portion of the transcript is below.
Fox News
The Kelly File
July 9, 2015
MEGYN KELLY: When Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida, the president spoke to his death which was later ruled to be in self-defense. But Kate Steinle, nothing. No comments, no swarm of FBI agents, no DOJ investigation, nothing. Why? Mark Thiessen is a Fox News contributor and the former chief presidential speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Richard Fowler is a nationally syndicated radio host. Thank you for being here, both. Marc, why?
MARC THIESSEN: Yeah, the silence from President Obama is absolutely deafening. He had plenty to say when it came to Trayvon Martin, when it came to Michael Brown, when it came to Freddie Gray, but all of a sudden a woman is killed by a criminal alien and all of a sudden the president is tongue tied. He's got nothing to say.
Why is that? The answer is simple. When, in all of those other cases he had liberal policy points that he wanted to make about gun control, about police bias, about racial profiling. In this case he has no policy points he want to make because the policies he supports are the ones that got this woman killed. His support for sanctuary cities, his support for releasing criminal aliens into the communities. So he doesn't want to highlight this because there's no political gain to be made from it.
KELLY: Richard, do you disagree with any word Marc just said?
RICHARD FOWLER: I disagree with about 90% of it. I think this president is outraged that we haven't passed comprehensive immigration reform. Since this president has come into the White House he has argued –
KELLY: Where is the comment on Kate Steinle's death?
FOWLER: Over and over and over again about comprehensive immigration reform. This president has said a number of times criminals shouldn’t stay –
KELLY: If you could just answer my question, Richard. Could you answer my question?
FOWLER: I am answering your question, Megyn.
KELLY: Where is the comment about Kate Steinle's murder?
FOWLER: The reason why Kate Steinle's murder happened, and the White House will tell you the same thing, is because we have a broken immigration system. George Bush tried to fix it and the Republicans blocked it. Now the president’s tried to fix it. Marco Rubio even tried and it was so bad that he ran away from it. If we would fix our immigration system we wouldn’t be here today.
KELLY: So let me ask you, where is his comment on her murder?
FOWLER: Her murder wouldn't have happened, Megyn, sanctuary cities wouldn’t have happened –
KELLY: Stop that. Stop that.
FOWLER: If we’d had comprehensive immigration reform.
KELLY: Stop that. Answer my question, please. I'm asking you, give an answer. You can't, because there isn't one. Marc, there's no excuse for it. He picks and chooses the victims he wants to highlight and apparently this victim wasn't deemed worthy.
THIESSEN: That's exactly right. And look, why hasn't the president come out into the South Lawn or the Rose Garden or the press podium and said it is unconscionable that the city of San Francisco refused a request from U.S. immigration officials to notify them when this man with seven felony convictions was released. It's his administration that requested that information and it was turned down. And the answer is simple. He supports sanctuary city policies.
