Trump tells troops, without evidence, that the press isn't reporting on terrorism: 'They have their reasons and you understand that'
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump on Monday accused the press of not reporting instances of terrorism.
In a speech in front of military leaders at the US Central Command — the Pentagon agency that covers security interests in nations throughout the Middle East and Central Asia — Trump suggested the media was covering up instances of terror attacks.
"All over Europe, it's happening," Trump said. "It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons and you understand that."
Trump didn't cite any examples of attacks that were not being reported on by the press.
"So today we deliver a message in a very unified voice to these forces of death and destruction: America and its allies will defeat you," Trump added.
Trump said the terrorist group ISIS is "on a campaign of genocide committing atrocities across the world."
His comments came as one of his top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, recently cited the "Bowling Green massacre" to help justify Trump's executive order temporarily banning entry to the US by nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries.
But such a massacre never happened, and Conway later clarified that she was referring to an incident involving two Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The Iraqi nationals were indicted on federal terrorism charges accusing them, in part, of providing material support to Al Qaeda in Iraq, but they were not found to be planning an attack in the US.