Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) claimed on Saturday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials would use “manufactured” footage to make it appear as though law enforcement agents were body slammed during the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at the Delaney Hall Detention Center last week.
Watson Coleman said, “We were there for a tour. ICE was giving us the runaround. We finally got into a facility. We heard some noise. We came out, we found that the mayor was there and they were an ICE was having conversations with him. They asked him to leave the facility. He left the facility.”
Host Fredricka Whitfield said, “So your interpretation, you know, and your use of words is very different from the spokesperson for DHS who was on CNN. She used the words body slamming, saying that the mayor and other members of Congress were body slamming and were being rough with the ice officials. You’re disputing that?”
Watson Coleman said, “Yeah, so how ridiculous does that sound? There are 200 pounds. They’ve got about 35 pounds worth of stuff around them, including a gun on their arms. I can tell you what I think about what they’re saying. The President of the United States opens his mouth every day and lies. He can’t breathe without lying. He’s given permission to his cabinet and those who work for him to lie, and she’s lying too.”
Whitfield said, “The DHS spokesperson I mentioned who was on the air earlier is saying that the videotape, the body cam video that would be released later, would show the violent nature of the mayor and others’ body slamming. We don’t see that on this videotape.”
Watson Coleman said, “No, if there’s any such body—kind of footage, it is footage that is manufactured for this purpose. Because I said it before, and I’ll say it again, they are lying.”
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