Sen. Markwayne Mullin scrambled to defend why Egypt was left off Donald Trump’s newly announced 12-country travel ban, despite the president citing a recent attack allegedly committed by an Egyptian national as justification.
In an interview Wednesday with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source, the Oklahoma Republican argued that Trump mentioned the Boulder, Colorado, attack only to highlight visa and vetting issues, not to suggest Egypt should be added to the ban.
“He didn’t specifically say Egypt, he said it underscores the reasons why we need to do this,” Mullin said. “He’s using it as an example, because it’s fresh on people’s minds. That doesn’t mean Egypt has to be on it. Egypt was never being considered at this level for a travel ban.”
Trump announced a travel ban on nationals from 12 countries from entering the U.S.—Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—which will take effect starting Monday.
The suspect in the Boulder attack, 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is accused of targeting attendees at a peaceful march advocating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. He was allegedly armed with a makeshift flamethrower and homemade incendiary devices.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Soliman entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in August 2022, which expired in February 2023. He applied for asylum in September 2022 and received a two-year work authorization in 2023, which expired in March.
While announcing the new travel ban—which echoes his ban on several Muslim-majority nations during his first term—Trump referenced the Boulder incident, saying it “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them.”
Collins pressed Mullin on the inconsistency of referencing the Boulder attack but excluding Egypt from the list.
“This is explaining why we’re doing it, but this isn’t the reason why it was done,” Mullin replied vaguely.
When asked directly whether the Boulder attack was “part of the reason” for the ban, Mullin said, “I wouldn’t say that.”
Collins concluded: “I think people might just wonder—if the concern is vetting people who come into the United States on visas and overstay those visas—that is exactly what the suspect here is accused of doing.”
