President Donald Trump tweeted an erroneous claim that was nearly identical to an on-screen graphic that has repeatedly aired on the racist, conspiracy-mongering One America News Network (OANN) that falsely linked crime in the United Kingdom to “radical Islamic terror.”
In a segment airing at 6:25 a.m., OANN ran a chyron which read, “Report: U.K. Crime Rises 13% Annually Amid Spread Of Radical Islamic Terror.”
Minutes later, at 6:31 a.m. Trump tweeted:
Just out report: "United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror." Not good, we must keep America safe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
As The Guardian reported, Trump “erroneously” linked the rise in crime to terror even though the report in question “barely mentions terrorism other than to refer on one occasion to the impact recent terrorist attacks in Britain had on the headline murder rate.” Additionally, as the Daily Mail noted, “British MPs tore into Mr Trump for talking 'nonsense' and said he is 'spreading fear and xenophobia' by wrongly blaming the rise on terrorism.”
Given the timing of his tweet, and the fact that his morning tweets did not mirror "Fox & Friends," as they often do, it is entirely possible that Trump got the segment from watching OANN. The network is available through DIRECTV, which Trump reportedly uses.
Trump has previously praised OANN and the network’s White House correspondent, Trey Yingst, was one of the most called-on reporters during former White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s briefings.
OANN has a history of shilling for Trump, even hyping the president’s lies about the crowd size at his inauguration. The network, additionally, hired Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a political commentator (he was reportedly later fired for appearing "too much" on OANN's competitors). OANN has a penchant for pushing racist commentary and debunked conspiracy theories — including about the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich — and has repeatedly hosted Jack Posobiec, a far-right troll who heavily pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.
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