CBP Cameras: were they or weren't they operational?

[lpetrich]

AOC screamed at Border Patrol agents in 'threatening manner' during tour: Witnesses - July 1

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., screamed at federal law enforcement agents “in a threatening manner” during a visit to a Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas, and refused to tour the facility, according to two people who witnessed the incident.

...
“She comes out screaming at our agents, right at the beginning [of the tour] … Crying and screaming and yelling,” said one witness who said he was stunned by the outburst in front of approximately 40 people.

“The agents, they wanted to respond, but they held back because she’s a congressional delegate. But when you have someone yelling at you in a threatening manner … ” the same person said. “They were like, ‘Hey, you need to kinda step back.’”

...
“Something under her breath, ‘Oh, all these guys in here are gonna f--k me.’ The agents are standing there behind the computers. One of the agents laughed at something he was saying to another agent, and she got irate and flipped out,” the second Border Patrol official said. “Now they’re under investigation for it. She took it as they were laughing at her and screams at them and says, ‘What’s so funny?’”

...
The Washington Examiner submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to CBP for video of the events.

AOC tweeted around then:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "After I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as “psychological warfare” - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.
Tell me what about that is due to a “lack of funding?”" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.
This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals." / Twitter

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Isn't The Washington Examiner for people who think the WSJ isn't biased enough?

 

[lpetrich]

Agency says alleged video of AOC berating Border Patrol agent does not exist - Dec 5

The Washington Examiner submitted a FOIA request July 1, hours after a congressional tour of a Border Patrol station in El Paso, Texas, turned tense. ...

In late November, CBP’s FOIA arm responded to the request, saying it did not have video, and instead released nine pages of related documents.

CBP FOIA Analyst L. Beasley wrote in a letter dated Nov. 19, “It has also been determined at the time of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ visit the station’s DVRs were not operational at the time and as such no videos were recorded and no videos exist of the visit.”

Two Border Patrol employees present during the exchange spoke with the Washington Examiner last week and said the 11-year-old station — where migrants are temporarily detained after being arrested for illegally entering the country — is “new” compared to others in the region and had working cameras and recording equipment when the lawmakers visited.

The article mentioned this document: Congressional Photo AllegationBoxed_Redacted

“During the briefing which was presented by El Paso Sector Command Staff, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez abruptly voiced an allegation that a female agent outside of the [REDACTED] had just taken a selfie with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in the background. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez not only verbally voiced this concern, she became agitated and animated as she began to bang on the glass, pointing and screaming at the agent,” according to the memos.

and some similar accounts from some other people there.

 

[lpetrich]

Anna Giaritelli on Twitter: "NEW: Agency claims video said to show AOC berating Border Patrol agent does not exist https://t.co/8DGR2jjJ1J" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Of course CBP is saying the tape “doesn’t exist.”
Bc then everyone would see the horrifying conditions I was talking about.
If the full footage was released, you’d see CBP officers sneaking photos of me in secure spaces, and migrant women on the floor w/ their hair falling out. https://t.co/jewXpk8bAs" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I was in that CBP facility. There were cameras and monitors everywhere. Are we really supposed to believe that every single camera and every single feed in the detention center happened to go offline the day that I and an entire Congressional delegation visited?
I don’t." / Twitter


This reminds me of:
The missing 18 1/2 minutes: Presidential destruction of incriminating evidence - The Washington Post - "On November 17, 1973, the White House informed Federal District Judge John Sirica that the 18 1/2 minute Nixon-Haldeman conversation of June 20, 1972, had been erased." From one of the tape recordings that President Nixon made of White House conversations.