Trump senior adviser defends Muslim ban with massacre that never happened

People were quick to point out that a massacre in Bowling Green never took place

A senior adviser to US President Donald Trump has come under fire after she defended the administration's Muslim ban citing a massacre that never happened.

Kelly Conway in an interview to MSNBC Thursday night blamed two Iraqi refugees for the fictional “Bowling Green massacre”. The US president’s former campaign manager stated Barack Obama had suspended the Iraqi refugee programme in 2011 because of the Bowling Green Massacre, in which two Iraqi refugees had become radicalised and carried out a terrorist attack. She further went on to say that “most people don't know that because it didn't get covered.”



However, Bowling Green a city in US state Kentucky, has never witnessed a terrorist attack carried out by Iraqi refugees - or anyone else.

The incident which Conway was (probably) referring to was the arrest of two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, on charges of terrorism -- they were sentenced to federal prison after they were caught attempting to send money and weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq.

The aftermath of the incident did not lead to a suspension of the Iraqi refugee programme, however, stricter checks were put into place, which included extensive background checks and new screening procedures.



People were quick to call out Conway on her 'alternative fact':

.@KellyannePolls says that 2 Iraqi refugees "were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."
(There was no such massacre.) pic.twitter.com/sD3Nnb5xfE

— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) February 3, 2017

The Iraqis in question not only didn't commit a massacre or kill anyone in Bowling Green, Ky, prosecutor says they didn't plot attack there.

— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) February 3, 2017

The Bowling Green Massacre is an alternative fact.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 3, 2017

The Trump administration recently came under fire when Conway used the term "alternative facts" on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday during a discussion about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration.



White House spokesperson Sean Spicer had said that Trump’s inauguration crowd “was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period." When questioned about the authenticity of that comment, Conway had replied, “You’re saying it’s a falsehood, Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that."