CBS falsely claims Biden's latest diversity hire of a 'senior Latina' in the West Wing is a 'first'

Yesterday, CBS Senior White House Correspondent Ed O'Keefe inaccurately reported that new senior adviser and assistant to the president Julie Rodriguez will be the "most senior #Latina to ever serve in a West Wing staff job."

As Mercedes Schlapp pointed out via Twitter, President Trump appointed her, a Latina woman, to senior adviser and assistant to the president in 2017. Schlapp also mentioned that Ceclia Munoz was a Latina senior advisor under President Obama.

This is not the first time the media has inaccurately claimed an intersectional "first" hire for the Biden administration.

Leading up to Biden's inauguration mainstream media outlets had falsely claimed that Pete Buttigieg would be the first openly gay cabinet member as Transportation Secretary. Openly gay Republican Richard Grenell had been appointed by President Donald Trump to Director of National Intelligence in February, 2020.

Joe Biden had previously committed himself to a series of diversity hires where he openly said his priority was seeking immutable characteristics first and qualifications second.

The most notable example being January of this year when Biden said he'd only nominate a black woman to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat left by retiring Justice Breyer. That nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was falsely claimed by Politico to be the first "Black Supreme Court Justice."

Biden's efforts to make news with supposed historic "firsts" is set against historically low approval ratings and historically high inflation.

Julie Rodriguez already works as director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and joins as a senior advisor this week. Rodriguez is the granddaughter of activist Cesar Chavez who helped establish the United Farm Workers of America.

Despite Rodriguez's nomination, Biden and the Democratic party have been losing momentum in the Hispanic community. This week Republican Mayra Flores defeated Democratic challenger Dan Sanchez in a special election in Texas that flipped Republican a seat that had been by the Democrats since the 19th Century.