Trump Ambassador Gets Caught in a Blatant Lie About His Own Islamophobia

U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra found himself in an awkward situation this week after he was shown footage of Islamophobic comments he had emphatically denied making just moments before.

Hoekstra, a former congressman whose Twitter profile describes him as a “commentator on intelligence issues and the threat from radical Islam,” was in the midst of an interview with the Dutch Nieuwsuur news agency when he was asked about his claim that there are “no-go zones” in the Netherlands as a result of immigration from largely Muslim countries.

“I didn’t say that,” Hoekstra immediately replied. “That is actually an incorrect statement. We would call it ‘fake news.’”

Peter my man, let’s go to the tape! Via The Guardian:

So not only was Hoekstra—the kind of person who once ran a campaign ad featuring an Asian woman bragging, “we take your jobs”— caught in a bald-faced lie about his earlier comments, but he then denied having denied it in the first place.