President Donald Trump on Friday erroneously said a new report linked an increase in crime in parts of the United Kingdom to the “spread of Radical Islamic terror.”
“Just out report: ‘United Kingdom crime rises 13% amid spread of Radical Islamic terror,'” the president tweeted on Friday morning.
He appeared to tie the report to his efforts to restrict travel into the United States, tweeting, “we must keep America safe!”
Trump appears to reference figures for only England and Wales released by Britain’s Office of National Statistics on Thursday. The office said all “police recorded crime” rose 13 percent in the year ending in June from the previous year.
The report only briefly mentions terrorism and does not use the term “radical Islamic terror,” which Trump quoted on Twitter. It says 35 of 664 recorded homicides in the time period related to terror attacks in London and Manchester, or about 5 percent. Those attacks also largely contributed to a 59 percent rise in the number of attempted murders, the report said.
However, the government office neither gave a specific analysis of terrorism nor mentioned it as a leading factor in the 13 percent overall increase in recorded crimes.
Trump has previously used terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe as justification for his push to restrict travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.
His efforts hit another snag this week. A federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump’s latest, broader travel restrictions on eight countries.
A second federal judge in Maryland also blocked parts of the measure.
Trump’s efforts to impose what he has called a “travel ban” has been hampered by his campaign proposal to temporarily stop all Muslims from coming into the U.S.
Source: cnbc
Trump erroneously suggests the UK linked an increase in crime to terrorism