Eric Adams Calls for Probe of Homeless Vets, Migrants Story

New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked for an investigation into the broadly-amplified but false, report that homeless veterans were being forced out of the hotels temporarily housing them in order to make way for immigrants.

MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart held an interview with Adams on Sunday, which was largely focused on Adams’ effort to deal with the influx of migrant asylum seekers who have been bussed in from border states. During this conversation, Capehart asked for Adams’ thoughts on the New York Post’s recent report, which originally claimed that homeless veterans were being “kicked out” for migrants.

The mayor’s response:

It is really troubling, and I’m asking our local and state authorities to investigate what happened here. It was clearly fabricated and it was a conscious decision to fabricate it, from what we are getting. A thorough investigation will determine if any criminality is involved, but there was never a moment where veterans were displaced. We would never do that. And those who put together this scheme and put together this plan to really put a negative light on what we coordinated to do to send migrants throughout the entire state — a real decompression strategy… We’ve never displaced veterans. Someone fabricated that story, and it was blasted across our local tabloids and papers, and it’s really unfortunate that someone would do something like this.

The Post’s report was based on a claim from veterans advocate and YIT Foundation Executive Director Sharon Finch. The claim was discovered to be a lie when a local Republican New York lawmaker and local journalists punched massive holes in the story, which prompted a follow-up story from the Post as they added an editor’s note to the original report.

The report drew massive coverage from Fox News, which they eventually updated with their own note acknowledging the scrutiny of the Post’s report. Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, who was among those who ran with the false story, issued an on-air correction Friday.

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