President Donald Trump told a historically inaccurate anecdote about paperclips to justify his decision to replace airport security personnel with immigration agents.
The 79-year-old president spoke to reporters Monday morning before boarding Air Force One to travel from Palm Beach, Florida, to Memphis, Tennessee, and he claimed credit for sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into airports during the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
"Mine, that was mine," Trump said when asked whose idea that was. "That was like thepaperclip. You know the storyof the paperclip? 182 years ago,a man discovered the paperclip.It was so simple, and everybodythat looked at it said, 'Whydidn't I think of that?'"
The first bent wire paperclip was first patented in 1867 by Samuel B. Fay, although the design had evolved from pin making of the era. The commonly used, oval-shaped "Gem" paperclip appeared around 1892 but was never patented.
"ICE wasmy idea," Trump added. "I called, first person Icalled was [border czar] Tom Homan. I said,what do you think? He said, Ithink it's great. Then I sawtoday there was some masks on. Ididn't think the masks wereappropriate. I put out astatement and I asked him, wouldit be possible to take off the masks because they should wear amask when they're dealing withthe murderers and the thugs leftlet into our country?"