CNN’s Phil Mattingly criticized former President Donald Trump on Monday for making the “crazy” claim that there would be a terrorist attack in the U.S. due to terrorists illegally crossing the southern border despite FBI Director Christopher Wray making similar warnings.
Trump posted a statement on Truth Social Saturday slamming the current state of the southern border.
“Just three years ago we had the strongest and safest Border in U.S. history. Today we have a catastrophe waiting to happen. It is the WORST Border IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, an open wound in our once great Country. TERRORISTS ARE POURING IN, UNCHECKED, FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. There is now a 100% chance that there will be MAJOR TERROR ATTACKS IN THE USA. CLOSE THE BORDER!”
Mattingly, however, took issue with Trump’s post, saying it was a “crazy thing” for a presidential candidate to say.
“You look at what Trump … is posting on his social media account … and part of it is he says ‘terrorists are pouring in, unchecked from all over the world, there is now a 100% chance that there will be a major terror attack in the U.S.,’ which is a crazy thing for a presidential candidate to say,” Mattingly said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a judiciary hearing in December that the nation was facing an unprecedented level of threat of a terrorist attack. (RELATED: Number Of Illegal Migrants Caught On Terror Watchlist On Pace To Hit New Record)
“What I would say that is unique about the environment that we’re in right now in my career is that while there may have been times over the years where individual threats could have been higher here or there than where they may be right now, I’ve never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time.”
“So, blinking red lights analogy about 9/11 – all the lights were blinking red before 9/11, apparently,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said. “Obviously, all of us missed it. Would you say there’s multiple blinking red lights out there?”
“I see blinking red lights everywhere,” Wray testified.
Border Patrol agents nabbed 50 illegal aliens on the terror watchlist between October and December, just after federal authorities warned Border Patrol that after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah terrorists could possibly cross into the U.S.
There were 172 encounters of terror watchlisted individuals in fiscal year 2023, compared to 30 encounters between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, according to federal data.
An unnamed individual, who identifies as a member of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab, was released into the United States for more than a year after he was caught illegally crossing the southern border near San Ysidro, California in March of 2023, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively reported. The suspect was caught in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after authorities were able to determine the individual was a “confirmed member of al-Shabaab.”