Harris Faulkner claimed that a Defense Department spokesman was being 'disingenuous' when he said he wasn't sure how many Americans were still in Afghanistan.
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner on Thursday claimed that the Biden administration should know the whereabouts of every American in Afghanistan because the administration is also tracking people on Facebook.
While discussing ongoing efforts to airlift people out of Afghanistan at a Defense Department press conference on Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters he "[didn't] know how many Americans" were still in the country, where the Taliban retook power over the weekend.
Kirby referred reporters to the State Department for detailed information, noting, "We don't have that kind of granularity."
On her program "Outnumbered Overtime," Faulkner expressed disbelief in Kirby's statement to fellow Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, describing the press secretary as "disingenuous."
"You don't think they have a list? Heck, they have a list of us when we say stuff on Facebook. They're working with big tech to find out whether or not we're saying things we shouldn't say," Faulkner said.
Faulkner's remarks were a reference to efforts by the Biden administration to flag misinformation on issues like vaccines to have them removed from Facebook and other social media platforms. Fox News itself has been a major source of misinformation on the COVID-19 virus.
From the Aug. 19 edition of Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime":
HARRIS FAULKNER: And it is disingenuous for the Pentagon or the State Department, Brian, to say they don't know who's there. You don't think they have a list? Heck, they have a list of us when we say stuff on Facebook. They're working with Big Tech to find out whether or not we're saying things we shouldn't say.
I mean, the administration has already said that. You know they have a list of people in Afghanistan who have American passports.
BRIAN KILMEADE: I don't know what's worse, if they have the list and told us they didn't, or if they really don't have a list —
FAULKNER: Wow.
KILMEADE: — and they didn't care enough to do it.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.