For a single minute on Monday morning, hosts on "Fox & Friends First" segment were certain they were talking to former three-term Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick.
The two hosts planned to talk to Kirkpatrick about previous statements she has made opposing calls to disband Immigration and Customs Enforcement, something she reiterated as recently as last week at the Represent Me AZ forum in Tucson.
But despite referring to their guest as Ann Kirkpatrick and the news ticker displaying the same name, Fox News' remote interview was with Barbara L’Italien, a Democratic state senator in Massachusetts running for a seat in Congress.
“Good morning. I’m actually here to speak directly to Donald Trump,” L’Italien began.
It went downhill from there, with the two Fox hosts arguing for about a minute with the woman they clearly still thought was Kirkpatrick.
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L’Italien re-iterated her name, only to have the feed cut off.
"That didn't go as planned," host Rob Schmitt said before cutting to commercial.
"Despite speaking to producers prior to the interview, L’Italien did not identify herself as anything other than Kirkpatrick until she was live on air, at which point we ended the interview," Desiree Dunne, executive producer of "Fox & Friends First," told the Huffpost, one of the first outlets to report the mix-up.
L’Italien told the Huffington Post that "Fox & Friends First" contacted her campaign, mistakenly believing the show was reaching out to Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick said the mix-up only further muddies the waters on how she feels about the federal agency.
The former congresswoman, who is running in a crowded field of seven candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee in Arizona's Congressional District 2, say she supports ICE.
"ICE needs top-to-bottom reform. Trump's policies — especially around family separation — are illegal and should end immediately.," she said. "These policies are immoral and they are counterproductive."
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