Trump Tweets New Lie Attacking Obama After ‘Fox & Friends’ Story
Actual Information Easily Obtained in News Reports
President Donald Trump Tuesday morning attacked President Barack Obama via Twitter apparently after watching a “Fox & Friends” segment that had aired less than one hour earlier.Â
The Fox segment discussed the release of prisoners from Gitmo, the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that also houses a military prison for unlawful enemy combatants. As this Fox tweet shows, the story noted that 122 released prisoners “have re-engaged in terrorism.”
Former Gitmo detainee killed by a U.S. airstrike in Yemen; at least 122 former Gitmo detainees have re-engaged in terrorism pic.twitter.com/y9jb420fFZ
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 7, 2017
The Fox story, according to NBC News’ Bradd Jaffy, who noted the Trump connection, aired at 6:12 AM EST. The Fox tweet was posted at 6:33 AM.Â
About 30 minutes after that, President Trump at 7:04 AM used that information as an attack on President Obama, falsely claiming via Twitter that his predecessor was responsible for their release.
122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2017
Had the President, who easily could have called one of his Generals, his Director of National Intelligence, or any one of a number of people who report to him to learn the facts, he would have known that of the 122 prisoners, 113 were released by President George W. Bush. Just nine were released by President Obama.
That information is also readily available in news reports, including this one from The Hill, as the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch tweeted:
Wrong! 113 were released by Bush, only 9 by Obama, according to US Director of Naitonal Intelligence. https://t.co/oL1SfYSd9P https://t.co/NwKVYQ2qEa
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) March 7, 2017
On Saturday Trump falsely and offering zero evidence accused President Obama of wiretapping him.
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