'Why mislead people?': Moment Chris Wallace fact-checks Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over claim Biden infrastructure plan will create 19m new jobs - when the actual figure is 2.7m

 Pete Buttigieg walked back Sunday on his claim Joe Biden's infrastructure package would create 19 million jobs in American – clarifying the plan would still create jobs, but at a much lower number of 2.7 million.

Fox News host Chris Wallace asked President Biden's transportation secretary why he 'misled folks' by claiming the number was more than 16 million than what he is now sharing.

'You're right. I should have been more precise,' Buttigieg admitted. 

Buttigieg claimed he meant to say that projections show the $2.5 trillion infrastructure bill would create nearly 2.7 million more jobs on top of the 16.3 million that would already be created without the package passing.

Wallace pushed Buttigieg on the claim, insisting there's a huge difference between the jobs numbers he shared last week to the ones he is now sharing on Sunday.

'It will create 2.7 million more jobs than if we don't do it and that's very important because there are people on this network and others saying with a straight face that this would somehow reduce the number of jobs,' Buttigieg argued in defense of his flip-flopping statistics.

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In a fiery back-and-forth Sunday, Fox News' Chris Wallace pushed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on why he 'misled' Americans by claiming Biden's infrastructure bill will create 19 million jobs when projections say it will create 2.7 million

He added: 'It's going to add jobs compared to doing nothing.'

'But would you agree that you and the president and Brian Deese, the economic advisor on this program last week, you all exaggerated the jobs impact?' Wallace didn't let up.

'Look, there are a lot of different analyses about just how many million jobs this is going to create,' Buttigieg deflected.

Last Sunday in an interview with NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Buttigieg claimed Moody's estimated Biden's massive plan would create 19 million jobs in America.

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese pushed the same talking point last week in an appearance on 'Fox News Sunday' with Wallace.

'Secretary, you're the one who cited Moody's Analytics as 19 million, and it's actually 2.7 million, which is a bunch, but it's not what you said,' Wallace said when Buttigieg tried to bring up other analyses.

'It's part of a scenario that Moody says will create 19 million jobs, but the bottom line is it's going to add jobs and this is a direct refutation of people who are saying otherwise,' Buttigieg said.

'So yeah, you're right, I should be very precise. The difference in jobs that that particular analysis suggests is 2.7 million more. That is a great place to be,' he insisted.