Trump rambles about paperclips as ICE question sends him drifting into bizarre anecdote

President Donald Trump told a historically inaccurate anecdote about paperclips to justify his decision to replace airport security personnel with immigration agents.

The 79-year-old president spoke to reporters Monday morning before boarding Air Force One to travel from Palm Beach, Florida, to Memphis, Tennessee, and he claimed credit for sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into airports during the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

"Mine, that was mine," Trump said when asked whose idea that was. "That was like the paperclip. You know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paperclip. It was so simple, and everybody that looked at it said, 'Why didn't I think of that?'"

The first bent wire paperclip was first patented in 1867 by Samuel B. Fay, although the design had evolved from pin making of the era. The commonly used, oval-shaped "Gem" paperclip appeared around 1892 but was never patented.

"ICE was my idea," Trump added. "I called, first person I called was [border czar] Tom Homan. I said, what do you think? He said, I think it's great. Then I saw today there was some masks on. I didn't think the masks were appropriate. I put out a statement and I asked him, would it be possible to take off the masks because they should wear a mask when they're dealing with the murderers and the thugs left let into our country?"

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