If bringing a poorly designed clock to school wasn’t scary enough, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was once reportedly suspended for blowing bubbles in the bathroom at school.
During a Fox & Friends segment on Wednesday, Fox News host Ann Kooiman had concerns about Ahmed’s wild life of crime.
“The techy teenager may not be as innocent as he seems,” Kooiman suggested with alliterative glee.
Kooiman also quoted from a report published in The Dallas Morning News that chronicled Mohamed’s past inventions and difficulties with authority figures. His seventh-grade history teacher, Ralph Kubiak, described him as “weird little kid.”
“I saw a lot of him in me. That thirst for knowledge … he’s one of those kids that could either be CEO of a company or head of a gang.”
When referring to the article on air—and to the publication as The Dallas Morning Sun—Kooiman failed to mention that Kubiak described himself as an outsider and relished the opportunity to talk to Mohamed, one of his “disciples,” about religion, history and everything in between.
“I love him dearly, but sometimes it got to be a little much,” Kubiak agreed. “He just went on and on.”
As for the story of the alleged soap-related suspension, family friend Anthony Bond said that comes from Mohamed being suspended for blowing soap bubbles in the bathroom.
“Kids are kids,” Bond said. “He was a little boy in a new environment, and they were acting out.” Mohamed had just moved to the United States from Sudan.
Kooiman questioned whether President Obama knew about these egregious malfeasances before extending an invitation for Mohamed to visit the White House.
“It’s unknown if President Obama is aware of his past disciplinary problems in school,” she said.
Yikes, if only he did.
The rest of the lengthy story on Mohamed’s past highlights his proclivity for invention, once using a battery charger he put together to revive another student’s phone, as well as his encounters with bullies, including one who used to choke him and call him “ISIS Boy.”
The Daily Beast has attempted to reach Fox & Friends and Kooiman for additional comment.