WASHINGTON
A top aide to President Donald Trump sought to correct Friday her defense of the president's ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries after she cited a terror attack that never happened.
Kellyanne Conway, who famously coined the phrase "alternative facts" during the first week of the Trump administration, told MSNBC's Chris Matthews that President Barack Obama put a six-month ban on refugees from Iraq after two Iraqi asylum-seekers carried out a massacre in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
"Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered," Conway said.
But the incident Conway cited never happened, which is why it was never covered.
Two Iraqi citizens were arrested in 2011 on charges of attempting to send weapons to Daesh's precursor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, for use against U.S. service members in the country.
Mohanad Shareef Hammadi received a life prison term while Waad Ramadan Alwan was sentenced to 40 years in prison and a subsequent lifetime of supervised release for the plot.
Conway sought to backpedal from her claim, saying Friday on Twitter, "Honest mistakes abound."
She posted an ABC News story that was written after the Iraqi duo were taken into custody that claimed "dozens" of terrorists "may" be in the U.S. under the auspices of the refugee program.
"NBC reporter texted me at 6.32 am re: a diff story; never asked what I meant on @Hardball b4 slamming me on @TODAYshow Not cool, not journalism," she wrote, referring to the Hardball political commentary program.
Conway's claim ignited outrage online among circles, while other saw an opportunity for subversion.
An apparently satirical website is asking donors for solidarity "in this time of need".
"We all still carry the vivid memories of what horrors occurred at Bowling Green, but some still relive those moments everyday as they work to rebuild a community torn apart," according to www.bowlinggreenmassacrefund.com,
When visitors click on the donation link they are diverted to a donation page for the American Civil Liberties Union.
While Conway did correct her statement concerning Bowling Green, she left untouched the claim of an Iraqi ban under the Obama administration. That also never happened.
