Obama misspoke on San Bernardino suspect’s visa

The White House says President Obama misspoke during his Sunday-night address about how one of the suspects in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting entered the U.S.

Obama incorrectly said that Tashfeen Malik used the nation’s Visa Waiver Program.

{mosads}“I’ve ordered the Departments of State and Homeland Security to review the Visa Waiver Program under which the female terrorist originally came to this country,” he said of Malik during his rare speech from the Oval Office to address the terror threat.

White House officials sent out an official transcript early Monday with the word “waiver” crossed out from Obama’s remarks. Obama intended on saying just “visa program” before the extra word slipped into the final draft.

Malik actually entered the U.S. by using a fiancée visa in 2013 and later become a permanent resident in San Bernardino.

Syed Farook, Malik’s husband, reportedly met her online two years ago and courted her in Saudi Arabia.

The couple is suspected of storming an office building in San Bernardino last week, killing 14 people and wounding 21 others in a mass shooting. Both suspects died on Dec. 2 following a shootout with police in the neighborhood of Redlands, Calif.

The FBI is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack. Malik reportedly pledged her allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Facebook during the attack.

The House is taking up legislation this week aimed at screening out potential terrorists from the Visa Waiver Program.

The program, which is used by approximately 20 million tourists annually, gives tourists from 38 countries expedited entrance into the U.S. Tourists from participating nations, including Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom, can visit the U.S. for 90 days without obtaining a visa.

The proposed House legislation would exclude visitors who have recently traveled to Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan as of 2011. It also denies visa waivers for those with dual citizenship from those countries.

The Senate has drafted similar legislation also due this week.

Malik was a native Pakistani who resided in Saudi Arabia before marrying Farook. 

Residents from those two countries are not eligible for the Visa Waiver Program.