White House ‘looking into’ woman claiming to be reporter at Harris press conference

A spokesperson for Vice President Harris said officials are “looking into” an incident in which a woman apparently pretending to be a Univision reporter snuck into a press conference in Mexico City to tell Harris that she had voted for her.

The fake reporter identified herself as “Maria Fernanda” from Univision.

When given the microphone to ask her question, Fernanda said, “Thank you Madame Vice President, for me it’s an honor because I actually got to vote for the first time as a nationalized citizen. I voted for you.”

Harris responded by saying, “Thank you.”

Fernanda then asked Harris what messages of hope she would offer to women of color on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Daniel Coronell, president of Univision News, later tweeted a video of the interaction and stressed that the woman was not affiliated with his company.

“In Mexico an individual which has no association with @Univision claimed to be a reporter for @UniNoticias in order to ask the @VP a question and to compliment @KamalaHarris. Let it be clear to everyone that Ms. Maria Fernanda Reyes is not part of this media organization,” Coronell said.

In Mexico an individual which has no association with @Univision claimed to be a reporter for @UniNoticias in order to ask the @VP a question and to compliment @KamalaHarris. Let it be clear to everyone that Ms. Maria Fernanda Reyes is not part of this media organization https://t.co/edxyzRVlt8

— Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) June 9, 2021

Symone Sanders, senior adviser and chief spokesperson for Harris, responded to Coronell. 

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” Sanders tweeted. “We are looking into this.”

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are looking into this. https://t.co/5gVsyOoudr

— SDS (@SymoneSanders46) June 9, 2021