Fox host Shepard Smith debunked a false claim Wednesday that was propagated by his own colleagues just days earlier. Right-wing media had reported that hurricane relief supplies in Puerto Rico were not being distributed because the truck drivers on the island were on strike. Smith called the claim “fake news,” noting that “there is no trucker's strike” and that “the truckers in Puerto Rico are victims too.”
Fox News’ Julie Banderas said on "America’s News Headquarters" last week that “the truckers, the Puerto Rican employees, are on strike.” President Donald Trump seemed to have circulated the news when he told a pool of reporters that truck drivers were not doing enough to get the supplies to victims of the hurricane.
Fortunately for Fox News viewers, Smith fact checked Banderas and the president.
"Of course, the president mentioned the truckers," Smith said on his show. "The biggest problem on the island is distribution of supplies, we’re told. Getting needed goods to people outside San Juan has been extremely challenging. According to our reporters on the ground, many of those who would move the supplies have lost their homes and vehicles in the storm. Some of the truckers can't be reached because there's no communication working in so many areas still."
"Reports that a union truckers’ strike added to the problems are not true," he added. "They are, in fact, fake news, spread largely, it appears, by a website called Conservative Treehouse and then over Twitter and Facebook. Again, there is no trucker's strike. That's fake news. The truckers in Puerto Rico are victims too."
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