Trump Baffles Sweden with Migrants-Crime Remark, Later Quotes Fox
Statistics show that Sweden’s crime rate has fallen since 2005, even as it has taken in thousands of refugees.
A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen.
Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten US borders sharply for national security reasons, told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants.
No incident occurred in Sweden and the country's baffled government asked the US State Department to explain. Trump explained in a tweet:
Fox News, a US channel that has been cited favourably by Trump, ran a report Friday about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country.
A White House spokeswoman told reporters on Sunday that Trump had been referring generally to rising crime, not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country.
Trump's comment confounded Stockholm. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media."
Her predecessor was less circumspect. Former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted:
Other Swedes mocked Trump by posting pictures of reindeer, meatballs and people assembling IKEA furniture.
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