White House Inquiry Finds No Evidence for Trump’s Duct-Tape and Prayer-Rug Claims
An internal administration inquiry looked to back up the president.

Reuters / Carlos Barria
An internal Trump administration inquiry has found no evidence to support the president’s claims that prayer rugs have been found at the Mexican border or that smugglers are binding women with duct tape to traffic them, ABC News reports. While putting forward his case for border-wall funding, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that women have been discovered covered in duct tape and quoted an anonymous rancher claiming that multiple Muslim prayer rugs had been found by farmers near the Mexican border. Administration officials reportedly launched an effort to find evidence to support the president’s claims but, according to an official who spoke to ABC News, absolutely no evidence has been found. It’s been noted by CNN that prayer rugs at the border and duct-taped women were featured in the 2015 fictional crime film Sicario in which FBI agents fight Mexican drug cartels.
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