President Donald Trump lashed out again at his predecessor, using Twitter Tuesday to criticize former president Barack Obama for allegedly releasing 122 "vicious prisoners" from the Guantanamo Bay military detention center who "returned to the battlefield."
Trump did not disclose the source of his allegation but appears to be citing a semi-annual report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which said that as of July 2016, 122 former detainees had returned to terrorism.
But the updated version of the report, released later Tuesday, found that of the 182 detainees released after Obama took office only eight, or 4.4 percent, reengaged in terrorist activities. Another 13 detainees, or 7.1 percent, are suspected of rejoining terrorist groups.
Overall, ODNI found that of the 714 detainees released from the Guantanamo Bay facility, 121 returned to terrorism (16.9 percent) with another 87 (12.2 percent) suspected of reengaging in terrorist activities.
Of the 714 detainees that have been released from Guantanamo Bay, 532 were released by the administration of president George W. Bush.
Trump's Tuesday morning tweet came shortly after a news report on the "Fox & Friends" television program about a U.S. airstrike in Yemen that killed a former Guantanamo detainee. The report credited the Trump administration with killing the former prisoner and reported he was "released by Barack Obama."
This is the second time in recent days Trump has publicly attacked Obama. On Saturday, Trump posted a series of unsubstantiated tweets accusing Obama of wiretapping his presidential campaign at Trump Tower in New York City.
Obama considered closing the controversial prison on a U.S. military base in Cuba. Trump has said he would keep the base open, stop the release of prisoners and possibly send new prisoners there.
VOA's Wayne Lee contributed to this report.
