After facing much criticism for another “alternative fact,” President Donald Trump tried to explain his claim.
While discussing immigration on Feb. 18, President Trump told a rally in Melbourne, Fla. that immigrants were terrorizing Sweden. The President explained that Sweden is one of many European countries hit by terrorist attacks.
“We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden — Sweden, who would believe this?” he said. “Sweden — they took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
However, Sweden claims there were no terror attacks the day Trump mentioned.
To explain himself, Trump posted on Twitter Sunday, saying he based his statement on a Fox News report.
“My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants and Sweden,” he posted.
Despite this explanation, the only report he could have referred to was one that looked at refugees and crime in Sweden. The report did not include any information on recent terrorist attacks. It focused on gun violence and rape cases involved asylum-seekers in 2013, and one Sweden official confirmed Trump’s statement was false.
“No. Nothing has happened here in Sweden,” a Sweden official tweeted. “There has not been any terrorist attacks here. At all. The main news right now is about Melfest.”
The former Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, also joined in on the questioning of Trump’s comment.
“Sweden? Terror attack” he tweeted. “What has [Trump] been smoking?”
After President Trump’s statement, Sweden’s Aftonbladet site released a summary of the news event for Friday. The list included a man setting himself on fire, technical problems at a singer’s rehearsal, a death caused by a workplace accident, harsh weather, and a police car chase.
Although Trump faces massive opposition for his comment, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried rectifying the situation. She said that President Trump was talking about rising crime in general, not a specific issue.
Sweden’s ‘Refugee Crisis’
Sweden has accepted approximately 200,000 refugees in the past few years. While immigrants were involved in a few isolated attacks, officials handled them quickly and placed new measures. The new measures include longer processing times at border check and financial incentives for immigrants who voluntarily returned to their countries.
There are no reported terrorist attacks in Sweden since 2013.
