Trump says teleprompter to blame for claim Revolutionary War army ‘took over the airports’

President Trump said Friday that a teleprompter malfunction was to blame for remarks he made during his Fourth of July address Thursday, in which he mistakenly claimed Revolutionary War soldiers “took over airports” in 1775. 

Trump told reporters on Friday that the teleprompter malfunctioned after coming in contact with rain during his Independence Day speech in Washington prompting him to stumble over his words. 

{mosads}“Actually right in the middle of that sentence, it went out,” Trump told reporters Friday, according to The Boston Globe. “And that’s not a good feeling, when you’re standing in front of millions and millions of people on television.”

Reading from his teleprompter during a rainstorm on Thursday, Trump said: “The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter at Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.” 

“And at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory,” he continued.

His mistake went viral across Twitter after many noted that the first successful airplane flight by the Wright Brothers did not occur until 1903.

The flub also prompted the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories to trend online Thursday night.

Dearest Martha,
Please ensure to pack our socks. We shant ride in the flying carriage whilst having our feet exposed.
George#RevolutionaryWarAirportStories pic.twitter.com/yksgtGK5A1

— ᑕᕼᑌᑎK (@chunkled) July 5, 2019

Real footage of the American Continental Army taking over the airports from British forces in 1776. https://t.co/v4zIkktkY4 pic.twitter.com/8kUjbqIdsl

— Hallie Rubenhold (@HallieRubenhold) July 5, 2019