You know President Donald Trump is getting desperate when even Fox News is pointing out the lies the administration is telling about terrorists on the border. All in an effort to build support for Trump’s wall.

Will he repeat on Thursday the debunked claims he has been making when he visits the border?

Will we in the media let him get away with it?

Trump has been making a false claim about thousands of potential terrorists trying to enter through the southern border. Other administration officials, like Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen tried to pass off the same lie.

Sarah Sanders gave it a try, but ...

Then, on Fox News this past Sunday it was the turn of Trump’s press secretary Sarah Sanders.

Only this time, instead of simply being able to spread the untrue White House propaganda, Sanders bumped into journalist Chris Wallace.

He pointed out, first, that while “over 3,000 what we call special interest aliens” were stopped at the border, “special interest aliens are just people who have come from countries that have ever produced a terrorist, they’re not terrorists themselves.”

And, Wallace added, “the state department says, quote, ‘there were no credible evidence of any terrorist coming across the border from Mexico.’”

Fox's Chris Wallace was ready for her

That information comes from a state department report. A number of other news operations have used it to debunk the White House claptrap. But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his associates from spreading the untruths.

Sanders said, “We know that roughly nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is southern border.”

Wallace again was ready to point out the baloney.

“I know the statistic,” he said, “I didn’t know if you were going to use it, but I studied up on this. Do you know what those 4,000 people come where they are captured? Airports.”

“Not always … ” Sanders said.

It's the government's own report

“Airports. The state department says there hasn’t been any terrorists found coming across the southern border,” Wallace said.

That’s true.

The report reads in part:

At year’s end there was no credible evidence indicating that international terrorist groups have established bases in Mexico, worked with Mexican drug cartels, or sent operatives via Mexico into the United States.

It goes on.

Rebuilding a wall of lies

Sanders persisted, but Wallace to his credit wasn’t having it.

“But they’re not coming across the southern border, Sarah, they’re coming and they’re being stopped at airports,” he said.

A wall built on lies can be toppled by the truth. That isn’t the problem. The problem is it easily can be rebuilt.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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