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Trump aide says she misspoke on ‘massacre’

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  • ASSOCIATED PRESS

    President Donald Trump, followed by Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, left, walked into the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.

A top aide to President Donald Trump said today she misspoke when she cited a 2011 “massacre” in Kentucky that never happened.

A day earlier, during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s temporary ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations by saying that former President Barack Obama instituted a similar policy for Iraqi refugees in 2011.

“President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” Conway said. “Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”

It didn’t happen.

Conway tweeted this morning that she meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists” during the interview.

Her description of the 2011 Obama administration policy as a ban was also a mischaracterization, which she didn’t correct.

Obama never banned Iraqi refugees or other Iraqi travelers from coming to the United States. His administration did slow down the processing for Iraqis seeking Special Immigrant Visas, which are given to translators and interpreters who worked with the U.S. in that country.

The slowdown was prompted by the May 2011 arrest of two men in Kentucky charged with plotting to send weapons and money to al-Qaida operatives abroad. Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi were mistakenly admitted to the U.S. as Iraqi refugees in 2009 and resettled in Bowling Green, Ky.

Alwan and Hammadi are in prison after pleading guilty. They were never accused of plotting to launch attacks inside the U.S.

According to State Department data, 9,388 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States during the 2011 budget year. The data also show that Iraqi refugees were admitted every month during the 2011 calendar year.

In addition, more than 7,800 Iraqis were allowed into the United States on nonimmigrant visas, including tourists, during the 2011 budget year, government data show.


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        • On to more important news : Trump makes deal with Lockheed Martin at the cheapest price EVER. This is nothing compared to Hillary and her people telling the American citizens that the attack in Bengahzi was caused by a video and not a terrorist attack.

        • IRT nalogirl: But it is the same as Trump saying he had nothing to do with the recent soldier dying in Yemen, that it was all Obamas fault

        • Does the SA ever employ Republicans or is it left strictly for the democrats like Advertiser1.
          Newspapers should ALWAYS be objective in their points of view.
          There are always 2 sides to a story and there should be another voice representing the other side.
          What’s worse, the advertiser allows Ad1 to lambast it’s commenters.

      • so, schumer lies on the scotus picks and nothing is said
        kellyanne said she misspoke on the blue ridge massacre and apologized and she gets headlined
        crooked media and the sa/ap is include in
        auwe as wy hod

        • She lied when she said on the same program that Obama banned Iraqi refugees, and she did not apologize. Like Trump, she is a firehose of lies.

        • Kellyanne is trash just as was suggested. She lies to cover up the terrible decisions and actions of an illegitimate, reckless, dangerous “president.”

      • nalogirl and windward are still living in the past, and are still concerned about Hillary’s email server and Benghazi. The millions that marched and rallied in the Women’s March around the world and in this country, there was not a single incident of “rioting or violence”, as windward puts it. Time to wake up, and smell the coffee.

    • Maybe I’m so desensitized by this whole political process, but even when Kellyanne Conway made up the Bowling Green Massacre, I find myself to be completely indifferent.

      I’m not even surprised at this point. My view of Donald Trump and his administration hasn’t changed.

        • Nope. It means that all these liberal nut jobs are making them look worst than what Trump and his team are doing. Rioting, preventing free speech, pepper spray, threatening to bomb the white house, etc. You think what Conway did is worst than all that?

        • Hey windward…why don’t you address the issue at hand, Conway doesn’t have a clue..why do you always try and deflect away from the issue we are talking about?

        • Hey ad1…just a little reading comprehension may help you. I did not leave out Conway in my statement. I simply compared what she did with what the liberals are doing. Isn’t that also addressing the issue?

        • That’s exactly what I mean, you can’t just say that she either lied, or was totally unprepared to discuss the subject at hand. So, no, you are not addressing the issue, you are changing the direction.

        • Windward, to help clarify for you. A says something to B. We are talking about what A said to B. You on the other hand talk about what C is doing to D. Simple enough for even a Trump supporter to understand.

      • Trump adores Fox News, since they continue to spew out Alternate Facts and Alternate News which support and flatter him. Why wouldn’t he not like Fox News, James Murdock, the owner of Fox News, has been a great supporter, of Trump, the Republicans, and the far right. Trump also has the backing Breitbart News, which espouses extremist White nationalist, White Supremacist, White Christian Supremacist views and propaganda, now known as Fact News, Alternative Facts. Steve Bannon, Trump’s Chief Adviser, is an ex-executive of Breitbart News, and now is on Principals Committee of the National Intelligence Agency. Steve Bannon also was a Goldman Sachs Wall Street executive, in the merger and acquisition department. He may be the connection to why Trump has so many in his Cabinet of Goldman Sachs backgrounds and connections.

    • Kellyann is a liar who has consistently distorted the truth to protect her inept, dangerous boss. These people are NOT conservatives or Republican in anyway.

      • IRT Allie, the bigger danger with Trump (thru Conway) is that an ever bigger proportion of Americans will no longer listen to the president when he talks about a real threat to the country. Trump needs to understand that with so much chaff in the air, where is the wheat?

      • Remember Hillary’s account of being shot at as her helicopter landed in a war zone? All lies and you didn’t even notice. Remember Obama saying “if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan” etc. I think the bigger liars are those two!

        • You must be joking. As a liar, trump is unmatched. As noted by politifact, he lied at an unprecedented pace during the presidential campaign. No one else even came close.

        • Deno, I bet you still have your Doctor. Most vets was NOT affected by ADA. More parroting.

  • Trump is a liar who surrounds himself with other liars. They are falling over themselves to fabricate stories for the purpose of masking the remarkable ignorance and incompetence of Mr. Trump.

    It is impossible to overstate or exaggerate how botched this transition has been. Trump is even worse than people feared.

        • So sarge22 pea-brain never got used to Obama as President after 8 years, yet he wants others to get used to a clown as president after less than a month. Sounds like the fake sergeant needs a reality check…

        • Great meeting at the White House today with business leaders. Stay informed and learn how government is supposed to work. The loser whining continues.

        • sarge22 – The first meeting of economic leaders was taken up entirely by Trump talking about inauguration crowd sizes and TV ratings. Nothing of substance was discussed. All of it was Trump’s demented self promotion. He’s obviously mentally ill.

          He is a psychotic.

        • Klastri the loser lying lawyer can’t handle the truth..Obviously you don’t pay attention to the news. Even MSNBC, NBC, CBS, CNN and CNBC interviewed the participants who all stated the meeting went well. Jack Welch ex GE CEO said it was the best meeting he ever had at the White House. Put down your sixth grade weekly reader and wake up. President Trump is getting it done.

  • Conway will forever be known as the “Alternative Facts” Queen. She has lost all credibility and can’take be trusted on anything she says. She is becoming a liability to Trumpville. I know she is loyal to Trump but wonder when we will hear “You’re Fired.”

    • She did her job and helped our new President win the election. All else is useless information. Trump is doing exactly what he was elected to do and the snowflakes just can’t keep up.

      • Even if you accept her excuse that she meant to say “terrorist” versus “massacre”, how do you account for the statement that the Obama administration placed a six month ban on refugees when in fact no such ban was imposed? Sounds mote like the statement was a complete fabrication intended to mislead, and now that she got caught in one of her classic “alternative facts” moments she has to backtrack. Credibility is hard to rebuild. telling whoppers like this one does’t help.

      • TRUMPettes: Listen to sarge22. He makes a lot of sense. The media lies. No question about it. We must bow to the feet of Trump! Heil Trumpf!

  • Conway may have meant “the planned massacre.” Attacking the messenger but ignoring the message doesn’t help the readers.
    ABC News had a story published on November 20, 2013, entitled, “Exclusive: US may have let ‘Dozens’ of Terrorists into Country As Refugees.” See: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-kentucky-us-dozens-terrorists-country-refugees/story?id=20931131 .
    From the ABC News story: “As a result of the Kentucky case, the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News – even for many who had heroically helped U.S. forces as interpreters and intelligence assets. One Iraqi who had aided American troops was assassinated before his refugee application could be processed, because of the immigration delays, two U.S. officials said. In 2011, fewer than 10,000 Iraqis were resettled as refugees in the U.S., half the number from the year before, State Department statistics show.”

  • remember “if you like your doctor you can deep your doctor”
    if you like your insurance plan you can keep your insurance plan??”
    now that’s lying!! it hurt millions of americans
    kellyannes misspeak did not hurt anyone!!
    live with liberals!!
    auwe as wy hod!!

  • Why does the Trump team often refer to what they are doing as being no different than why President Obama did while in office. I thought the Republican’s and Trump did not approve of anything President Obama did.

  • 6 Muslims were massacred in Canada, and Trump has been silent. Not issuing a statement of condolence to a neighboring country after such a tragedy is highly irregular, but perhaps not any more irregular than issuing a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day that doesn’t mention Jews. I guess it’s what we should expect from a President whose chief advisor ran a white nationalist, anti-Semitic website favored by neo-nazis.

    • BS, bsdetection. You did not do your homework.

      “President Obama called Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday about the attack on a mosque in Quebec City that killed six people, officials in both countries said.

      “President Trump expressed his condolences to the Prime Minister and people of Canada following the tragic shooting at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec, located in Québec City, and offered to provide any assistance as needed,” said a statement from Trudeau’s office.

      Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/30/donald-trump-justin-trudeau/97244998/

      • …And then the administration jumped in to say that this Canadian case involving a right wing anti-immigration terrorist was the very reason the US needs to ramp up its own right wing anti-immmigration policies.

      • Trump has made no public statement, nor has the killing of 6 muslims been mentioned on his twitter account. Even Trump’s pal Putin said the terrorist act in Canada was “staggering in its cruelty and cynicism.” Making a statement in a private call with Justin Trudeau isn’t enough. As is noted in your quotation, the report about Trump’s call to Trudeau was made by Trudeau’s office; the White House said nothing for fear of offending his white nationalist base. Trump is quick to comment on acts of terror by Islamists, but silent when the attacker is someone attracted to far-right wing politics who denigrates immigrants and women. Similarly, Trump never mentioned the 2015 Charleston church shooting on his Twitter account, and had no comment when Dylann Roof was convicted. Of course, when there’s a shooting in Europe, he comments immediately if the shooter is a Muslim, but when the shooting happen in the US and the shooter is a white, right wing terrorist, Trump is silent..

        • Wrong again, BS. Same source mentioned above also said:

          “White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed the Trudeau call, and said Trump offered to help Canadian law enforcement and intelligence services in any way he can.”

          “This is another senseless act of violence that cannot be tolerated,” Spicer said.”

        • IRT Ronin: Do you have the link to the call that Trump made to Trudeau??? I can’t find it…#MAGA

  • Sounds like a lot of over hype over nothing. Conway mis-spoke (e.g. a typo) then corrected it. Why is this even news? This is a media feeding frenzy over nothing. Small wonder the national media’s credibility is so low.

  • What a bunch of lying clowns. How can responsible Republicans look themselves in the mirror ….and continue to support this clown show?? Honestly, this is a travesty that has happened to our wonderful country.

  • Conway misspoke and corrected it. Barry lied over and over again and his version of correcting the facts was ” “Now, if you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law, and you really liked that plan, what we said was you can keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law passed.”
    And of course, there’s Chuckie Schumer’s Big Lie:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ULkINCDiIA

  • It is difficult or impossible to separate fact from fiction regarding the travel restrictions imposed on Iraqis by Obama in 2011 because it was done secretly. Americans were unaware of the travel ban or restrictions until 2013 when ABC news reported that two years earlier, the State Department had imposed a freeze in the processing of Iraqi refugees for six months. AP has mischaracterized Obama’s travel restriction as a “slowdown” in the processing for Iraqis seeking Special Immigrant Visas, which are given to translators and interpreters who worked with the U.S. in that country. It was not. According to ABC News, “As a result of the Kentucky case, the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News – even for many who had heroically helped U.S. forces as interpreters and intelligence assets.” The processing was not slowed down, it was stopped. It may be true that Iraqi refugees entered the U.S. in every month in 2011, but that does not prove Obama did not ban Iraqi refugees from coming to the U.S. Those who came while the processing restrictions were in effect most likely were those whose applications had been approved before the restrictions were established.
    .

  • Often, the coverup is worse than the lie. Does Conway really expect anyone to buy her explanation “terrorists” for “massacre”?

    She may not have lied — though, I think she’s a bright woman who knows fact from fake — but she surely misspoke. She should have just apologized for screwing up. Now, she looks worse with a feeble attempt to explain her faux pas.

  • During the interview, Conway said “…they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,…” Now she says she meant “Bowling Green terrorists.” So during the interview, she meant to say “they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green terrorists.” Well, that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Mahalos to Ms. Conway for clarifying one alternative fact with another.

    • Another seat of her pants cover – and this one doesn’t even make sense. What kind of terrorists have masterminds? Their plots have masterminds, their “massacres” have masterminds but not terrorists themselves.

      Oh she meant to say “massacre” alright. The only benefit of the doubt for her is that she wasn’t lying at the time because she didn’t know what she was talking about. The lying part came later.

  • I know some wonderful, sane Republicans. How long can they remain silent and support Trump. Is their Republican agenda worth the inevitable destruction of the Republican party by Trump?

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