This is the kind of thing that damages the credibility of the press even more than fake news stories.

A man identified as a Swedish "national security advisor" appeared on The O'Reilly Factor on Thursday night, only to have the Swedish government deny that the guest had anything to do with Sweden's security.

Nils Bildt claims he was upfront with Fox News about his expertise, but for some reason, the network misidentified his credentials.

The Hill:

During the show on Thursday, the network invited Swedish journalist Anne-Sofie Naslund and “Swedish defense and national security advisor” Nils Bildt to talk about the country's immigration policy.

According to the Post, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Friday reported that Bildt is unknown to the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the armed forces.

The newspaper reported that Bildt came to the U.S. from Sweden in 1994. He is listed as one of the founders of Modus World LLC, a company that provides consulting "and management of possible kidnap and ransom situations.”

“I made clear that I am an independent analyst,” Bildt told the Post, noting he did not choose the credentials under which he was introduced.

Fox News defended their decision to book Bildt, stating that the guest was pre-interviewed and was recommended by numerous sources.

“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,” the executive producer of show, David Tabacoff, told the Post.

To make matters worse, Bildt was arrested for assaulting a police officer in 2014:

But it has emerged that Mr Bildt, himself an immigrant in the US, was arrested in June 2014 for assault and battery against a law enforcement officer, obstruction of justice and public inebriation after threatening an official. 

He was charged under the name Tolling, which he later changed to Bildt. 

Methinks Fox was taken in by this charlatan, but that doesn't excuse the poor vetting of the guest. I suppose on short notice, it's difficult to be thorough, but did the bookers misread Mr. Bildt's bio? It says nothing about him being a national security advisor to the Swedish government.

O'Reilly will address the controversy during his Monday night show.