@Nieuwsuur to new US ambassador: "You mentioned [..] that there are no go-zones in the Netherlands and that cars and politicians are set on fire."
Pete Hoekstra: "I didn't say that. That's actually an incorrect statement [..] fake news."
Hmm, let's have a look at the footage pic.twitter.com/vlstN9vhSK
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) December 21, 2017
The U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands pushed back against a Dutch news station for confronting him with past statements he made about “no-go zones” in the country, calling it “fake news.”
Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, formerly a GOP lawmaker representing Michigan who is Dutch-American, dismissed the past statements despite the clip showing him talking about the zones during a congressional hearing.
“No-go zones” are areas that are believed to be too dangerous to enter, and those opposing more immigration in places like Europe have used the reported zones to push back against policies that would open borders.
{mosads}“Speaking of threat, at one point you mentioned in a debate that there are no-go zones in the Netherlands and that cars and politicians are being set on fire,” a reporter for Nieuwsuur said to Hoekstra.
“I didn’t say that. That’s actually an incorrect statement,” Hoekstra replied. “We would call it ‘fake news.’ ”
The Dutch publication then played the clip of Hoekstra making the statement.
“The Islamic movement has now gotten to the point where they have put Europe in chaos,” he says in the clip. “Chaos in the Netherlands, where there are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned.”
“And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands,” he added.
When the reporter confronted Hoekstra with the clip, he denied using the term “fake news.”
“I didn’t call that fake news,” he said. “I didn’t use the word today, I don’t think I did.”
Hoekstra was sworn in as the ambassador to the Netherlands earlier this month.