On Friday night's O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly interviewed two guests about alleged problems in Sweden with crime and immigrants, but it turns out one of those guests was a complete fraud.
It all began with a weekend "campaign" rally mere weeks after inauguration, where Donald Trump decried "what's happening last night in Sweden," referring to a debunked Fox News report that claimed crime in Sweden was rising and could be directly attributed to immigrants.
Bill O'Reilly, more than happy to pile on to the false report on his program, invited Nils Bildt, described by Fox as a "Swedish defense and national security advisor" to substantiate these claims. The problem? No one in Sweden has ever heard of him.
Marie Pilsäter, a spokesperson for the Swedish Defense Ministry, told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that no one named Nils Bildt worked there. "We have no spokesman by that name," Pilsäter said. Likewise, the Swedish Foreign Office said, "We do not know who he is."
Bildt made some outlandish claims about Sweden's political debate about immigrants during the O'Reilly segment, saying, "The Swedish political debate is completely false," which is rich, considering Bildt's questionable credentials. "If you don't agree with the liberal, common agenda you are viewed as an outsider and not taken seriously," he added.
Who is this mystery man? Bildt was born in Sweden, the son of Sven Tolling, who is apparently well-known in equestrian circles. Bildt changed his last name from Tolling to Bildt nine years after he emigrated from Sweden in 1994. He is a founding partner in an international consulting company, Dagens Nyheter reported. He also has a criminal record.
Bildt was convicted of a violent crime, assaulting a law enforcement officer, obstruction of justice for threatening an official, and public intoxication in 2014. He was sentenced to one year in prison for the offenses. Bildt, however, denied he was convicted or spent time in jail.
Bildt also denied that he falsely represented himself and claimed Fox News gave him the title of Swedish defense and national security advisor. "I appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News," Bildt told Dagens Nyheter in an email. "The title was chosen by Fox News's editor—I had no personal control over what title they chose. I am an independent analyst based in the USA."
Bill O'Reilly will address the issue on his show on Monday. Fox News, however, is standing behind its claim that Bildt was a qualified guest. Producer David Tabacoff told Dagens Nyheter: "Our booker made numerous inquiries and spoke to people who recommended Nils Bildt and after pre-interviewing him and reviewing his bio, we agreed that he would make a good guest for the topic that evening."
