Donald Trump tweeted: “ISIS is taking credit for the terrible stabbing attack at Ohio State University by a Somali refugee who should not have been in our country.” | Getty Trump tweets alleged OSU attacker 'should not have been in our country'

President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday morning that the Ohio State University student who allegedly wounded several people during a stabbing attack was a “refugee who should not have been in our country.”

In an early morning post to his Twitter account, the Manhattan billionaire said, “ISIS is taking credit for the terrible stabbing attack at Ohio State University by a Somali refugee who should not have been in our country.”


The online comment fits closely with his campaign platform, which first included a proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. but was later altered to a plan that would bar entry to the U.S. for those coming from nations affected by terrorism where thorough screening would be impossible. Trump has used the occasion of other attacks in the past to highlight his plan as the safer course for the country and regularly criticized his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for her plan to allow more refugees from Syria’s civil war into the country.

The Islamic State did, in fact, claim credit for the Ohio State attack, announcing via its news agency that the alleged perpetrator, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was one of its “soldiers.” But an expert from SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremists, noted that the announcement by the Islamic State used the same language that the militant group relied on for many attacks they have seemingly inspired. The expert told POLITICO that the Islamic State’s announcement does not necessarily mean that the group was directly involved in the attack.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday at his daily briefing that the knife attack “may have been motivated by extremism and may have been motivated by a desire to carry out an act of terrorism.” U.S. officials have yet to officially assign responsibility for the attack.