U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg‘s “master class” Fox News interview on Sunday about key issues in this year’s presidential election has taken off on social media.
During an interview appearance on Fox News Sunday, Buttigieg, who has emerged as a top choice to be Vice President Kamala Harris‘ running mate in this year’s presidential election after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race last Sunday, discussed immigration and crime.
When speaking with anchor Shannon Bream about how the Republican National Convention (RNC) talked about the intersectionality of immigration and crime, Buttigieg criticized the lack of attention to crime rates under former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.
“The false message of the RNC was that this [immigration] was leading to an increase in crime,” Buttigieg said.
Bream then interjected, “If people had not been in this country illegally, people would still be alive.”
However, Buttigieg quickly added: “Of course there are individual cases, but this is my point right, trying to make people think that crime is up when crime is down under Joe Biden and crime was up under Donald Trump. Now I don’t know how often that gets reported on this network. So if you’re watching this at home, do yourself a favor and look up the data.”
Bream responded, “We invite that.”
There have been 2,222,770 encounters with migrants nationwide so far in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in October, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
However, research has indicated that immigrants commit less crimes than U.S.-born people.
NPR previously reported research from economist Ran Abramitzky from Stanford University found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people. In addition, investigations by The New York Times and The Marshall Project found that between 2007 and 2016, there was no link between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent or property crime in those communities.
Newsweek has reached out to Buttigieg’s office via email for comment.
According to the latest quarterly statistics released in June by the FBI known as the Uniform Crime Report, the rate of violent and property crimes dropped in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
The murder rate fell by 26.4 percent, reported rapes decreased by 25.7 percent, robberies fell by 17.8 percent, aggravated assault fell by 12.5 percent, and the overall violent crime rate went down by 15.2 percent.
Meanwhile, in 2020, violent crime was up 5.6 percent from 2019. In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes. When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12 percent. The estimated number of aggravated assault offenses rose 12.1 percent, and the volume of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses increased 29.4 percent.
A clip of the interview posted by journalist Aaron Rupar has since made its way across X, formerly Twitter, garnering over 375,000 views as of Sunday afternoon.
Director of rapid response for Harris’ campaign Ammar Moussa described Buttigieg’s interview as a “Master class from @PeteButtigieg on Fox.”
Democratic strategist Lis Smith wrote on X, “@PeteButtigieg just led an absolute masterclass on why Dems should go on Fox News.”
While X user and legal analysis page CALL TO ACTIVISM wrote, “Holy moly. Pete Buttigieg is easily the best communicator Democrats have right now.”
This is not the first time Buttigieg has faced off with Fox News as he previously shut down host Bret Baier in January 2023 when the journalist tried to “grill” him over bringing along his husband, Chasten, on a military flight to the Netherlands in April 2022.
Buttigieg used a military aircraft to travel to the northern European country where the Invictus Games—a competition for wounded soldiers and military veterans—were held with a presidential delegation sent by Biden.
Questioned by Baier live on the network about whether the flight was reimbursed, Buttigieg said: “Of course not. I led the American delegation as one of the great honors of my time in this job. And the diplomatic protocol on a presidential delegation is that the principal is often accompanied by their spouse. It was a great trip. Incredible.”
After mentioning how the trip was a crucial occasion to meet with some of his European counterparts, Buttigieg called out Baier on the reason why he was questioning him for bringing his husband, while his predecessors were not grilled for taking their spouses on similar trips.
“Before me, it was the secretary of the army under President Trump who took that trip with his wife. Before that, it was Mrs. Trump as first lady who went. Before that, Mrs. Obama did the same thing,” Buttigieg told Baier. “And I guess the question on my mind is, if no one’s raising questions about why secretary [Mark] Esper and his wife led that delegation, as well they should have, then why is it any different when it’s me and my husband?”
A video of that interview between Baier and Buttigieg was watched by more than 3 million viewers on X at that time.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg among other top Democrats who have been floated to be Harris’ running mate will have until August 7 to be chosen, according to Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jamie Harrison.
“In order to be on the ballot in all 50 states, we have to have all of this wrapped up by August 7. So, if the nominee so chooses…we will likely have our VP nominee also by August 7,” he said on MSNBC‘s Morning Joe on Tuesday.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
