President Donald Trump‘s press secretary says he meant to say Orlando when he repeatedly referenced a terror attack in Atlanta during interviews and a press briefing last week.
Sean Spicer first referred to an Atlanta attack in an interview on Jan. 29 on ABC’s “This Week.” He also named the city in reference to a terror attack during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Jan. 30 and in a press briefing later that same day.
Spicer told ABC News in an email Wednesday that he “clearly meant Orlando,” apparently referencing the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in June.
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Spicer referenced the attack in a list of terror attacks while he defended Donald Trump’s travel ban, which blocked people from seven Muslim majority countries before the ban was challenged in court.
Omar Mateen, the man who attacked the nightclub was a U.S. born citizen, whose parents came from Afghanistan (which is one of the seven countries involved in the ban.)
Also included in the list are the attacks in San Bernardino and Boston. Similarly the people who carried out the Boston Marathon Bombing and the mass shooting in San Bernardino were radicalized while already in the United States.
Spicer isn’t the only Trump administration official to refer to a terror attack that never happened. Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway referred to a “Bowling Green Massacre” during an interview with MSNBC last week.
It’s believed Conway was alluding to the arrests of two Iraqi citizens who lived in Bowling Green, Kentucky and were charged with terrorism-related offences in 2011.
Conway said she misspoke during the interview and meant to say “Bowling Green terrorists,” calling it an “honest mistake.”
READ MORE: Trump aid Kellyanne Conway mentioned the ‘Bowling Green massacre’ in several interviews
– With files from Rebecca Joseph, Nicole Bogart
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