Fox News guest under fire for claiming Biden will jail anti-mask demonstrators in Guantanamo

Anchor interviewing the guest did not challenge the claim

A Fox News guest is under fire for suggesting that Joe Biden will send anti-mask demonstrators at school board meetings to Guantanamo Bay as domestic terrorists.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich appeared on the network on Monday where he was interviewed by host Harris Faulkner.

During the interview, Mr Brnovich complained about a memo released by the Biden Justice Department warning that public officials could be at risk from conservative anti-mask and anti-vaccine protesters.

The complaints play into a false conservative talking point claiming Attorney General Merrick Garland called anti-mask parents "domestic terrorists" in the memo.

"Joe Biden and Merrick Garland essentially want to weaponise the Department of Justice," Mr Brnovich said. "And just because parents are exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out against critical race theory or even vaccine mandates does not make them domestic terrorists."

He then went on to suggest a slippery slope might result in parents being sent to Guantanamo Bay as though they were members of ISIS.

"And if we allow the Biden administration to continue this, God forbid, you're going to end up with mom and pop at Gitmo," he said. "Think about how outrageous that is, Harris."

Faulkner agreed that the claim was "outrageous," but did not push back on Mr Brnovich's claims. She asked if something like what he was describing could actually happen.

"We are living in a time where we need to make sure we are protecting our constitutional rights on every single level," Mr Brnovich said.

Faulkner again did not push back on her guest's baseless claims.

"That's interesting," she replied. "Because you say one leads to the other. That sounds like a slippery slope, which is how you got there."

Mr Brnovich faced backlash on social media and from CNN's Brian Stelter, who criticised Faulkner for allowing his claim to go unchallenged.

Conservative groups have been organising protests to disrupt local school board meetings in an effort to end school mask mandates for students. The CDC still recommends that all students, faculty and teachers wear masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Most children are still unvaccinated, and can bring the virus home to vulnerable parents and grandparents, particularly if they are unvaccinated or are immunocompromised.

While coronavirus cases have been decreasing, there are still 70,000 new cases daily in the US, and the CDC is still recommending indoor mask usage. In the wake of vaccine mandates across the country, the number of Americans with at least one vaccine dose has increased to 80 per cent.