MSNBC host Alex Wagner grilled White House official Cecilia Munoz Tuesday over why President Obama wouldn't visit the border to address the growing immigrant crisis there head-on, asking pointedly three times about the subject.
Wagner got animated toward the end of the interview, asking disbelievingly whether the administration expected "no blowback" for Obama going to Democratic Party fundraisers in Texas but still not visiting the site of the crisis itself.
"A lot of folks on both sides of the aisle think it is imperative that the president visit the border," Wagner said. "Why is the president not visiting the border?"
Munoz, the White House Domestic Policy Council Director, said the situation had gotten full attention from the president since June 1 before Wagner interrupted, citing what even the White House had designated a "humanitarian crisis."
"The president visits crises all over this country," she said. "Why is he not going to the border to look at this one?"
Munoz replied that the president was "very, very focused" on the situation, but Wagner, criticizing Obama from the left, became openly frustrated.
"So do you expect that there will be no blowback, that the president will be in the state of Texas at a fundraiser, meeting with the governor to talk about the situation, and refuses to go to the actual place that the crisis is happening?" Wagner asked incredulously.