CNN’s Erin Burnett conducted a saccharine interview with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Monday’s Erin Burnett OutFront, in which she sympathized with the Mayor for being “picked on” by the President.

Schaaf made headlines in March when she posted a tweet warning illegal aliens about an upcoming ICE raid in the Bay Area. To her credit, Burnett framed Schaaf’s actions as such while introducing her; however, she went on to permit her to repeatedly twist facts, while offering virtually no pushback in response.

Burnett generously framed President Trump’s recent recommendation that Schaaf be investigated for obstruction of justice as “picking on [the mayor] personally.” She had Schaaf respond to a clip of that statement, in which Trump argued that many illegal aliens who had seen the warning had fled and avoided being apprehended by ICE agents.

“That is a ridiculous statement that has come from our President,” the Mayor complained. When pressed to elaborate, she explained:

The accusation that I personally – that the warning that I gave, which was very general, which was really just advising people about their legal rights, and the resources as well as the responsibilities that they have – the idea that that caused any amount of people to not be apprehended as part of that operation just cannot be true.

But Schaaf’s defense relied on an entirely inaccurate framing her March announcement, which read in part:

Earlier today, I learned from multiple credible sources that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to conduct an operation in the Bay Area, including Oakland, starting as soon as within the next 24 hours. As Mayor of Oakland I am sharing this information publicly not to panic our residents but to protect them.

There was plenty there for Burnett to work with. Despite Schaaf’s claim that her warning could not possibly have “caused any amount of people to not be apprehended,” she had clearly believed just the opposite while authoring the tweet, as her stated desire to “protect them” indicated. To clear up any confusion about her interpretation of the word “protect,” she used the term again further on in her statement, in reference to an order forbidding Oakland police officers from “participating in ICE activities.”

Her characterization of the tweet as “very general” was similarly dishonest. In addition to revealing the time and place of the raid, her announcement also indicated that she was sharing all of the information available to her: “I am not aware of any further details of the ICE operation, such as precise locations.” In other words, Schaaf’s tweet was as specific as she was capable of making it.

Of course, Burnett chose not to address any of these factual discrepancies. She instead responded with a leading question about whether the Mayor’s detractors had been engaging in “fear-mongering” when they noted that her actions could have endangered ICE field officers.

The CNN host failed to push back against any of the Mayor's arguments throughout the interview. If Burnett was aware of the factual inconsistencies in Schaaf’s claims, her failure to hold Schaaf accountable would mean she was complicit in her guest’s dissemination of falsehoods. Note that Schaaf's efforts to exonerate herself of wrongdoing hinged upon misrepresenting her actions rather than attempting to justify them. This might explain why Burnett chose not to press her with difficult questions.

To read a full transcript of the interview, click expand below: