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Gingrich Rewrites 9/11 History in Immigration Ad
June 19, 2007 9:09 PM
ABC News' Jennifer Parker Reports: In a new immigration ad, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich slams the immigration plan supported by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., arguing the legislation would put potential terrorists on a path to U.S. citizenship.
Gingrich -- who has said there is a "great possibility" he will make an '08 bid for the White House -- released the immigration video on his website and to YouTube. In the ad, Gingrich mistakenly suggests 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta did not have legal status in the U.S.
It begins with Gingrich saying, "Mohamed Atta, and several other 9/11 hijackers were in the United States illegally."
Photos of Atta and other 9/11 hijackers appear and the word "Illegally" -- printed in bold, red letters -- flashes over the screen.
"Today, more than five years since that tragic day, our borders remain open to gangs, drug dealers and terrorists," says Gingrich in the ad.
However, a check of the 9/11 Commission Report reveals that Atta entered the United States on a tourist visa and the U.S. subsequently approved him for a student visa.
"Atta was in the country legally on 9/11," confirmed Janice Kephart, a former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and co-author of the commission's report on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel to ABC News.
"Atta was now legally in the United States until the day of the planned attack," reads the commission's report on 9/11 and terrorist travel, about a business tourist visa Atta was issued by the U.S. government on July 19, 2001 good through Nov. 12, 2001.
All of the 19 men who hijacked planes on September 11th, including Atta, entered the United States on a tourist, or student visa, issued by the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Atta's visa status was widely reported in the media in 2002 when the INS famously sent a letter to Atta's Florida flight school, which was received on the sixth month anniversary of 9/11. The letter said the INS had approved a request to change Atta's status from a tourist visa to a student visa weeks before the attacks.
However, Gingrich aides defend the ad, arguing Atta's legal status was given to him by mistake.
"Many of them had incomplete or absurd information on their (visa) applications," said Newt Gingrich's spokesperson Rick Tyler.
Tyler conceded that Atta -- who Gingrich names specifically in the ad -- was approved by the INS for legal status. But, he said, that's only because INS wasn't doing its jobs properly.
"Now, you might say that's a stretch that they were illegal, but all of them should have been stopped," he said, "none of them would have gained legal access had their paper work been filed correctly, so I would argue that they were all illegal."
Citizens United, a conservative group lobbying against the immigration bill, paid for the ad and says they have purchased a "six-figure" media buy for the ad to appear on cable television.
In his ad, Gingrich links the threat of terrorism to the immigration debate, arguing against "amnesty" for undocumented workers. The former House Speaker also takes a swipe at McCain's immigration position.
"The new McCain-Kennedy immigration plan will put millions of people who are in our country illegally including potential terrorists and gang members on a path to U.S. citizenship," he says, urging viewers to lobby against the bill.
This isn't the first time Gingrich has taken on his potential '08 GOP rival over immigration. Gingrich criticized McCain two weeks ago, telling reporters the senator's immigration position has hurt his chances of winning the GOP nomination.
"Sen. McCain carries both the burden of McCain-Feingold and now the burden of the McCain-Kennedy bill," Gingrich told reporters following a conference at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. on June 8. "He has the greatest challenge in a Republican primary in explaining those positions."
June 19, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (27)
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Leave the guy alone. There is no chance he will be nominated and since when do facts matter to a Republican?
Posted by: A Viet Nam Vet | Jun 20, 2007 12:30:11 AM
Leave the guy alone because he has no chance of being elected anyway. Besides a leader who thinks it is possible to deport 12 million people is not worthy of even being considered for leadership. This is the same guy who attacked Bill Clinton for having an affair while he was doing the same how can the country trust him? The country needs a leader who is able to deal with difficult problems facing the nation in a pragmatic way and not one driven by political theatrics and prejudice. Wake up Gingrich empty rhetoric and deceit will not solve our problems.
Sammuel
Posted by: Sammuel Payton | Jun 20, 2007 10:52:36 AM
What an astute "historian" Mr. Gingrich is. Should we take away from this his attention to historic detail when this former history teacher speaks on the campaign trail.
Posted by: Kenneth | Jun 20, 2007 11:16:11 AM
Let the guy talk. The more thise guys open their mouths, the more they prove how stupid they think the American people are. Just because we were taught to believe our leaders, doesn't make us stupid, just Americans. But I think, at least I hope and pray, we have all learned some good lessons this past 6+ years. Not all leaders are good leaders, some are just good liars.
Posted by: Ron | Jun 20, 2007 11:36:10 AM
What? A Republican bending the truth and lying to suit his own agenda!?!?! Shocking!
Posted by: Fredstrong | Jun 20, 2007 1:04:01 PM
I love the quote "according to the 9/11
Commission". Oh yeah, that's one report
everybody should believe. The fox investigating the hen house incident.
We need a TRUELY INDEPENDENT investigation into what happened on
9/11. 19 cavemen with boxcutters is just NOT passing the smell test.
Posted by: WhodaThunkIt | Jun 20, 2007 1:04:18 PM
Ok I get it, the history of the country needs a rewrite post 9/11, and Newt has elected himself as the Author, great now we get a new perspective on Hindsight is better than foreskin hypocrisy.
Newt get a life,and heres hoping that your latest endeavor is pursuing a rolling donut with carnal knowledge on Your mind.
P.S Don't miss or you'll have more than ignorance to deal with.
Posted by: michael dittamore | Jun 20, 2007 1:18:47 PM
In the ad, Speaker Gingrich correctly asserts that “Mohammad Atta and several other 9/11 hijackers were in the United States illegally.”
ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports the opposite, “However, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, Gingrich's statement is incorrect.” She quotes Janice Kephart, a former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and co-author of the commission's report on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel who said, "Atta was in the country legally on 9/11."
But what Jennifer did not report is that the commission’s report unambiguously backs up the statement in the ad as fact.
Posted by: Rick Tyler | Jun 20, 2007 1:22:30 PM
The Newtster for President?
Posted by: sandra l | Jun 20, 2007 1:55:15 PM
Re:Rick Tyler, above. So, when does ABC do a retraction?
Posted by: A Viet Nam Vet | Jun 20, 2007 2:15:01 PM
The person "Viet Nam Vet" with the long diatribe is still wrong, even though some had violations at one time or another the report still says they were legally in the country ast the time of the 9/11 attacks, period. Newt Gingrich is not only wrong but a rediculous example of a washed up loser in Washington!
Posted by: Shane | Jun 20, 2007 4:18:54 PM
Everyone here posting that regular law enforcement officers in regular traffic stops could have or should have done something are showing their ignorance. Regular cops are by law not allowed to detain illegal immigrants if illegal status is the reason for detention. They cannot by law do that! Geniuses everywhere!!!
Posted by: Shane | Jun 20, 2007 4:23:45 PM
Hey guys. If Atta's intent in the U.S. was to kill people, he was here illegally, get it? Nothing illogical about that. They don't offer visas for murderers. Geez, a little common sense here, people...
Posted by: Ron | Jun 20, 2007 6:10:36 PM
Rick hits back with facts and the little libbies act like cats that just been hit with water. Good Job Rick. I'm with Sandra, when is the All BIll Clinton News Network going to retract? Tick Tick Tick Crickets Crickets Crickets
Posted by: John A. | Jun 20, 2007 7:19:16 PM
John A. : You consider ANYTHING from the Heritage Foundation to be facts?! I'll bet you watch FauxNews too...HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! (so you'll get it, 'Faux' means fake)
Posted by: TomBob | Jun 20, 2007 8:08:34 PM
If the work is done in the US then it’s an export. To outsource to Mexico then it’s an import. America needs to make money with its infrastructure and somewhere that concept has been lost to propaganda. Think about this Canada has 30 000 000. million shoppers and the US door is shut by fear.
Posted by: pusedo | Jun 21, 2007 12:56:23 AM
Gingrich 2008!
He offers real solutions which is the best chance this country has.
The Dems in Congress are sinking fast.
Maybe the amnesty bill is not such a winner??
New Gallup data show confidence in Congress at all time low.
Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress.
Posted by: Dave | Jun 21, 2007 3:17:35 AM
Please ***** Don't give citizenship to unknown aliens***** . We VFW “Veterans of Foreign Wars” had to sleep with our rifles during war, please don't make us have to sleep with weapons in our own homes..
President Bush please don't continue to put our families at risk. Please don't take our freedom for granted. Many American have died so that we could sleep at night without fear of having our Wives, daughters and granddaughters being raped and the rest of us having out throats..
We have millions of Trojan horses now all over our country pulled across our borders by Bush and Gonzales. They were thought to be gifts from Mexico. They are telling us that they are harmless. How can a big toy horse hurt us??
Lord help us when the forces from within come out of hiding.. Turd Blossom was hoping that it would only be Mexicans and that they will be grateful and vote GOP tickets; however, he didn’t count on our enemies (terrorist, gangs, rebels and spies) traveling around the world to enter central American then cross Mexico so they could walk across our borders to kill, rape and destroy us fellow Americans.
Posted by: Rev. Bob Richardson | Jun 21, 2007 3:40:01 AM
Gingrich is Right. The ABC Report was taken from a leftist blog. Come on ABC - Get Your Own Facts and Report Correctly. Let's see .... a Leftist Blog being Correct or Former House Speaker & Historian Newt Gingrich? Did Newt get this far just to start misleading Americans (dare I say like Hillary!)? Get real.
Posted by: Wally | Jun 21, 2007 8:47:22 AM
I would say that such a disgraced Republican hack on the FOX payroll who represents such a fringe minority wouldn't stand a chance in 2008, but Bush also came to Washington a failure and a slimeball hack who represented a lunatic fringe but, thanks to our unbaised media, was spun as a "regular guy" from Texas who was as American as apple pie, and look how many morons bought into it.
Posted by: Doc Hickory | Jun 21, 2007 10:32:57 AM
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