Documents obtained by the Heritage Foundation following a Freedom of Information Act request are casting fresh doubts on last year’s whipping controversy concerning U.S. Border Patrol agents, reports National Review.

During a White House press conference, Mayorkas called the whipping “horrific.” But what is actually horrific is that newly released emails show Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was aware that the media’s salacious portrayal that Border Patrol agents whipped a group of Haitian migrants was false.

Mayorkas knew the accusations were false, even hours before he spoke on the incident .

National Review reports:

One of Mayorkas’s staffers sent him an email less than three hours before the press conference relaying the account of photographer Paul Ratje, who took the viral photos and said the salacious account of what happened was false.

“I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Ratje said in a quote provided to Mayorkas. “He [Border Patrol agent] was swinging it [reins] but it can be misconstrued when you’re looking at the picture.”

Rather than using the information he was provided to correct the narrative, Mayorkas perpetuated the media’s misleading account of the incident by suggesting that something requiring investigation had occurred.

“I want to assure you that we are addressing this with tremendous speed and tremendous force,” Mayorkas said at the time. “The facts will drive the action we take.”

“The investigation will be all-encompassing; we will not cut a single corner,” he vowed.

President Biden himself jumped in on the false narrative; an action which Mayorkas had the power to make sure never happened.

“It was horrible to see what you saw, to see people treated like they did—horses barely running them over and people being strapped,” Biden said at the time. “It’s outrageous. I promise you those people will pay…. There will be consequences. It’s an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment it’s dangerous, it’s wrong.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said it reminded her of the “times of slavery.”

Mayorkas had the opportunity to do not only do the right thing with this knowledge; instead, he chose to do the very wrong thing and turn the agents into villains in the eyes the public and the White House.

“The agents involved were subsequently placed on administrative leave and then investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Although the investigation ultimately cleared them of whipping, disciplinary charges were brought against four agents for endangering migrants” adds National Review.