Critics Pile On Susan Collins Over Viral Video Clip — But It Was Deceptively Edited

Viral video clipper Aaron Rupar sparked an avalanche of criticism of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) on Tuesday night with a post from her debate with Democratic Party opponent Troy Jackson.

Rupar posted an edited 17-second clip from the debate, with the caption:

SUSAN COLLINS: My heart goes out to the family of the man who was shot in Biddeford. My [sic] Duran Guerrero

TROY JACKSON: Well the man’s name was Johan Sebastián Guerrero. That was his name.

The clip presented as though Jackson quickly corrected an error from Collins. But in reality, Collins did correctly name the man who was shot by ICE, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Jackson’s response came a full two minutes later — and was not meant so much as a correction of Collins, but as a tribute to the man by saying his name out loud.

Below is the full transcript of the exchange:

Moderator: All right. We’re going to move on. The fatal shooting of a man in Biddeford by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last July brought the debate over the agency’s actions a lot closer to home.

You have very differing opinions when it comes to either reforming or abolishing ICE. Explain to our viewers your position on ICE and why you feel that way. And Senator Collins, we’ll start with you.

Collins: Well, first of all, my heart goes out to the family of the man who was shot in Biddeford, Mr. Durán Guerrero. And we’ve seen other shootings as well.

I believe that ICE needs reform, and I have proposed and got enacted into law significant reforms for ICE, but more needs to be done. The three major reforms that I was able to get enacted included $20 million for body-worn cameras that would have to be switched on when there was an enforcement action. After the Biddeford shooting, I called the Secretary of Homeland Security, as well as the acting director of ICE, and suggested that they prioritize Maine for receipt of these body-worn cameras, and they did. Every ICE agent in the state of Maine and across the country now has body-worn cameras.

Second, I increased by 17% the budget for the independent Office of Inspector General. The entire delegation wrote to the inspector general to ask for this impartial, thorough investigation into the Biddeford shooting. And finally, I also increased funding by millions of dollars so that we could have better training of ICE officials, including de-escalation training.

I think what happened is far too many ICE officers were hired and deployed without adequate vetting and training. But let us not forget the important work that ICE does, which is why it should be reformed and not abolished. As Troy has said, it investigates child trafficking, human trafficking in general, child exploitation, drug smuggling, international cartels, and financial scams. It recently helped shut down a child pornography ring in the state of Maine. We’ve also seen them deport, for example, the individual from the Venezuelan cartel that murdered a 22-year-old nursing student. I don’t think any of us wants to go back to the days of completely open, uncontrolled borders. That is dangerous for us.

Moderator: And Mr. Jackson, your response to that question?

Jackson: Well, the man’s name was Johan Sebastián Guerrero. That was his name. I mean, he had family, he had a daughter, and he’s not coming home anymore to that family because ICE, and you just heard Senator Collins, they weren’t vetted.

Rupar’s clip resulted in many on the left pouncing on Collins as though she were both ignorant of the facts and Jackson scored a win by correcting her. Rupar did later add a follow-up post, noting, “As some have pointed out, Johan Sebastián Guerrero’s full name was Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, so Collins wasn’t wrong here. However, she did badly flub his name during her first debate with Jackson.”

Below are some of those who amplified the edited post:

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