Washington, Feb 3
Kellyanne Conway, President Trump's adviser, who made an assertion to defend the White House's refugee ban that appeared to be factually indefensible was on Friday pushed back on her claim.
Appearing on MSNBC's Hardball TV programme on Thursday night, Conway referred to the "Bowling Green massacre" in Kentucky as part of her attempt to justify Trump's temporary restrictions on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries.
At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind "the Bowling Green massacre". She was mocked over her statements about a massacre that never happened.
"I bet it's brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee programme after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre," she said during the interview.
"Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."
No terrorist attack had taken place at Bowling Green, though a Washington Post report said that Conway was referring to two Iraqi refugees Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan who were arrested in 2011 for trying to send money and weapons to Al Qaeda in Iraq for the purpose of killing US soldiers.
The men had been living in Bowling Green and after their arrest it emerged they had taken part in terrorist activities in Iraq, not the US, according to the report.
Conway later backpedalled her statements, clarifying in a tweet on Friday that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists" instead.
She has previously said that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was using "alternative facts", when falsely claiming President Trump's inaugural crowds were "the largest audience" to witness an inauguration.
Twitter users were quick to jump on Conway's new "alternative" fact.
"Here are the names of all those who lost their lives at the Bowling Green Massacre: Kellyann Conway's career.. Let us give thanks," tweeted one user.
Another tweet read, "I heard the attackers in the Bowling Green Massacre were radicalised by a movie where Sinbad played an Arab cleric with magical powers."
"Maybe Kellyanne is from an alternative timeline where all of this did in fact happen and she's trying frantically to return," said another user.
Conway's interview was by no means the first time the arrests of the two Iraqis in Bowling Green have been politicised as support for blocking refugees from reaching the US, reported the Post.
In December 2015, Senator Rand Paul released a dramatic campaign video ad featuring images and video footage of the two Iraqi nationals, while criticising then-rivals in the presidential race Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio.
In the 90-second ad, the faces of Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi are featured with pounding, dismal music, establishing that the men were "welcomed into America, given public housing and public assistance -- as refugees."
