Kristen Welker Slammed For ‘Lying’ About Harris Attending Dignified Transfer Of 13 Fallen Soldiers

NBC News’ Kristen Welker was slammed over the weekend after she falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris attended the dignified transfer of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Welker made the remarks during a segment Sunday morning on “Meet The Press” while discussing with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) former President Donald Trump’s trip to Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) last week to honor the 13 soldiers who were killed during an ISIS suicide bombing in 2021.

Cotton noted that the families of the fallen soldiers “wanted President Trump there.”

“They wanted to take those photos,” he said. “You know who the families also invited? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Where were they? Joe Biden was sitting at a beach. Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington, D.C. She was four miles away, ten minutes. She could’ve gone to the cemetery and honored the sacrifice of those young men and women. But she hasn’t. She never has spoken to them or taken a meeting with them.”

Welker then interrupted and falsely claimed: “They were with them at the dignified transfer.”

WATCH: NBC's Kristen Welker firefights for Kamala Harris against the Abbey Gate families, lying about Harris's attendance at the infamous Dignified Transfer where Biden continuously stared at his watch, which NBC has been forced to walk back. pic.twitter.com/whwzE0TAKT

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 1, 2024

The show then issued a statement falsely claiming Welker only “incorrectly implied” that President Joe Biden and Harris were both at the dignified transfer, even though Welker stated that Harris was there.

“On our broadcast this morning, we incorrectly implied that both President Biden and Vice President Harris attended the dignified transfer of 13 American service members killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal,” the statement said. “Biden was in attendance but Harris was not.”

Welker generated significant backlash with her false claim and faced calls to go on air to apologize for her statement.

Lie of the day award on @NBCNews. Host @kwelkernbc claims Kamala met the Gold Star families of the 13 fallen at Abbey Gate.

Totally false. Kamala has refused to meet or speak to any of them. https://t.co/iaD270H03O

— Rep. Darrell Issa (@repdarrellissa) September 1, 2024

Nope. Not good enough. Kristen Welker needs to go on the air and apologize tomorrow. https://t.co/00wo8tMqDR

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 1, 2024

“We” didn’t “imply” it. Your host, in an attempt to defend and promote Kamala stated it as a fact – it was a lie https://t.co/GuoszBpvjq

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) September 2, 2024

Clean up from Meet the Press.

Welker needs to start her next broadcast of Meet the Press acknowledging the error. https://t.co/FsX7DB6SpY

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 1, 2024

Harris has never met with, spoken with, grieved with or apologized to the families of the Abbey Gate 13. And she continues to refuse to speak with them. https://t.co/nKLXqlo8DD

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) September 1, 2024

She didn’t “imply”…..@kwelkernbc said it.

She made it up. https://t.co/KDnoHScNyK

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 1, 2024

The claim Harris attended the dignified transfer was directly made by the show’s host to Sen. Tom Cotton as an in-interview “fact check” and never implied.

It was directly said and asserted as fact. https://t.co/Z4ezzNAMtL

— Erin Perrine (@ErinMPerrine) September 1, 2024