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Kellyanne Conway Cited A Fake Terrorist Attack Called the ‘Bowling Green Massacre’ on MSNBC

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Bridget Higgins

Kellyanne Conway, the senior Trump adviser who coined the term “alternative facts,” just spewed another alternative fact of her own: the “Bowling Green Massacre.”

During an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on “Hardball,” Conway attempted to defend the travel ban by speaking of some Iraqi refugees who supposedly masterminded a serious terrorist attack here in the United States.

“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama has a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” Conway said. “Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”

According to CNN, Obama never banned the Iraqi refugee program. He did implement more intense rules for vetting incoming refugees, resulting in a slowdown in processing applications, according to The Washington Post.

As multiple news outlets pointed out, Conway was right, though. The “Bowling Green Massacre” did not get covered.

Because it never happened.

Conway was mistakenly referring to two Iraqis refugees living in Bowling Green, Ky., who were sending weapons to al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2011, The New York Times reports. Both men—Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan—were indicted for terrorism, and sent to prison for at least 40 years. And no, there was no massacre.

Conway admitted her mistake (sort of) on Twitter Friday morning.

To clarify what she meant by the “Bowling Green Massacre,” she linked back to a story of the two Iraqi refugees…covered by ABC News. Which means that the media did, in fact, cover the incident in Bowling Green, Ky.

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Bridget Higgins

U Mass Amherst

Bridget is a senior Journalism major focusing on political journalism at UMass Amherst. She interned for the HC editorial team, writes columns for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, and occasionally gets a freelance article or two on sailing published by Ocean Navigator Magazine. When she isn't greeting random puppies on the street, she loves to cook for her friends, perpetuate her coffee addiction, and spend too much time crafting Tweets. She is also an avid fan of chocolate anything and unnecessary pillows. If you want to know more about Bridget, follow her on Instagram - @bridget_higgins - or Twitter - @bridgehiggins