President Donald Trump on Tuesday admitted he has no evidence substantiating his claims that "Middle Easterners" have embedded themselves in migrant caravans meandering through Central America.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he has "very good information" regarding the types of people he believes are sneaking into migrant refugee caravans.
The press tried to get the president to pony up some evidence, but this is Trump we're dealing with, so there isn't any.
"There's no proof of anything but there very well could be."
The president said he speaks with Border Patrol "all the time," touting the agency's ability to "intercept" certain individuals.
"Over the course of the year, over the course of a number of years, they have intercepted many people from the Middle East," Trump said. "They have intercepted ISIS. They have intercepted all sorts of people. They have intercepted good ones and bad ones. They have intercepted wonderful people from the Middle East. And they have intercepted bad ones."
Trump added that Border Patrol had "very recently" identified "people from the Middle East," and that the press "shouldn't be surprised" when he says it because "you've heard that before, it happens all the time."
Watch the full clip below:
No one - including Trump - seems to know what the president is talking about because there isn't any proof.
Even at face value, the idea that Middle Eastern people have infiltrated bands of Central and South American refugees simply doesn't make any sense.
What is obvious, however, is Trump using fear of "the other" as a dog whistle for his supporters.
Vice President Mike Pence threw his weight behind Trump's claims, but just like his boss, offered no evidence.
"At the president's discretion, I spoke to President Hernandez of Honduras," Pence said. "He told me that the caravan that is now making its way through Mexico, headed for the southern border, was organized by leftist organizations and financed by Venezuela."
On Tuesday morning, Pence told The Washington Post: "It's inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border."
Double negative aside, Pence isn't telling the truth.
The State Department said in a report last month they found "no credible evidence" that Middle Eastern terrorists are trying to sneak into the United States by way of Mexico.
But Pence wasn't going to let the facts disrupt his narrative.
Pence boasted to WaPo:
"In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border from countries that are referred to ... in the lexicon as 'other than Mexico.' That means from the Middle East region."
Watch Pence's interview with Jim Acosta here:
Granted, there is a caravan of thousands of migrants marching North through Mexico. As of Tuesday, however, they were still around a thousand miles from the American border.
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