DISCLAIMER: This article was first published on September 9, 2024
In May, Kyle Clark, a local news anchor in Denver went viral when, as moderator of a televised primary debate, he repeatedly challenged Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) about factual policy claims and her infamous “Beetlejuice” theater incident.
Now, Clark has tangled with Boebert again, this time criticizing the Congresswoman for pushing unverified claims about a gang of undocumented immigrants “taking over” apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado.
The gang, Tren de Aragua, is active in Colorado, and some of its members have recently been arrested. However, law enforcement and the media have challenged various claims about the story.
The claim has been made on social media about a “takeover” of the building by gangs in that Denver suburb, one that’s been denied by Aurora police. Per the Associated Press, city officials have said the buildings are “run down” due to neglect by property managers. However, Republican politicians have pushed the gang line, including former President Donald Trump, who claimed gangs were “taking over the whole town.”
Lauren Boebert, who has never been shy about sharing unverified or bogus information on social media, is also pushing the Aurora story. Boebert hosted a community roundtable last week at Aurora’s city hall. She also pushed a story that the gang is responsible for child prostitution.
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Stepping up to correct Boebert was… Kyle Clark, the same reporter from the debate. Where did the “child prostitution” claim come from?
“It’s from a report prepared by a law firm, working for the lender who holds the mortgage on the Whispering Pines apartment complex. In that report, it is cited as a third-hand, anonymous claim,” Clark said in a news commentary. “Someone told someone who told the law firm, which then notified the city of the claim on August 8th.
Boebert, however, stated in a letter to the Biden Administration that the sexual abuse charge was “confirmed.” They asked Boebert how she had confirmed such a “fact.” Her answer?
“This is a nonpartisan law firm that has come out with this,” she said on camera. “This is information that is vetted, it is nonpartisan, and it’s our most evident form of allegations that have been presented.” She called the media’s questioning of the claim “a coverup by journalists,” in Clark’s words.
Boebert’s roundtable in Aurora, Clark concluded, “continues a trend that we have seen this week where Republicans are now positioning Congresswoman Boebert as the new face of their party’s claims about gangs in Aurora, and how they’re also mixing those claims with fundraising and campaign events designed to benefit the Republican candidate for Congress in the 6th Congressional District, which covers Aurora.”
It’s worth noting that Boebert currently represents Colorado’s Third Congressional District, and switched this year to run in the Fourth; Aurora is not part of either district.
Another frequently-shared version of the story had the Hells Angels on their way to Aurora to reclaim the apartment complexes, but the motorcycle club’s Colorado chapter forcefully denied those claims, in an Instagram post, stating that the organization “does not involve ourselves in political issues outside of motorcycling and takes no stance on the issue of immigration or the presidential election.”
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Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
