ASL Interpreter: Wasn't Fired, Wants to Return to White House

A White House sign-language interpreter who was outed through the media for her ties to a group that provides sign language accompaniments for right-wing videos, said Tuesday she wasn't fired by the Biden administration and would consider it "an honor" if she's invited back to provide services again. 

However, Heather Mewshaw, who started working as an independent contractor for the White House last year under Trump and who had also done some work for Biden's staff, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" she hasn't heard anything about coming back. 

"I'm sure that in the future there may be a possibility and I think it would be an honor," Mewshaw said. "I just think at that time, the time right now, it's just not probably a good idea."

Time reported in late January that Mewshaw, after her appearance during one of Press Secretary Jen Psaki's briefings, had appeared to manage a Facebook group of ASL-interpreters who provided translations for right-wing videos.

Mewshaw said Tuesday she's worked as a professional interpreter for 21 years in the Washington, D.C., area and she considers it an "honor and privilege to work at the White House for their COVID briefings." 

She also insisted that her signing for the right-wing videos was done as a service, not an endorsement, after her Facebook group got more than 2,000 requests for interpretation, and she rejected claims that she wore a "Keep America Great" Trump campaign hat to the White House, as shown in a picture. 

"That was a photoshopped image of a clip from my volunteer work that was transposed onto a White House briefing photo," she said, explaining that interpreters often use props and that she'd worn the hat "for that specific video only."

But she does think the uproar over her other jobs shows a double standard at play. 

"There is an interpreter in the Atlanta area who is a liberal activist and he goes and interprets for the Republican governor," she said. "There have been articles written about him and he's praised. When I go and do a professional job at the White House and do a wonderful job, but I'm getting the opposite reaction and that's just not right."

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