President Donald Trump blamed Barack Obama’s administration for releasing “122 vicious prisoners” from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, claiming in a tweet Tuesday morning that the former prisoners “have returned to the battlefield.”
“122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!,” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s tweet seems to follow a “Fox & Friends” segment Tuesday morning reporting on a US air strike in Yemen killing former Guantanamo detainee Yasir al Silmi.
The Fox segment called the air strike a “win in the war on terror” and credited the Trump administration for killing al Silmi, while stating he was “released by Barack Obama.”
The segment ends by stating, “122 prisoners released from Gitmo have returned to the battlefield.”
However, it seems the president may have incorrectly cited the Fox segment. While Trump tweeted that the 122 prisoners were released under Obama, Fox only notes that al Silmi was released under the former president.
As NBC News National Correspondent Peter Alexander points out, a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found that 113 of the 122 former Guantanamo detainees cited by Trump were released under President George W. Bush and only nine under Obama.
Watch the “Fox & Friends” segment below:
Former Gitmo detainee killed by a U.S. airstrike in Yemen; at least 122 former Gitmo detainees have re-engaged in terrorism pic.twitter.com/y9jb420fFZ
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 7, 2017
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