SUMMARY
Since taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump has made more than 16,200 false or misleading claims. His record of consistent and pervasive lying is clear.
Three Years After Taking The Oath Of Office, Trump Made More Than 16,200 False Or Misleading Claims. According to the Washington Post, “Three years after taking the oath of office, President Trump has made more than 16,200 false or misleading claims — a milestone that would have been unthinkable when we first created the Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement he has uttered.” [Washington Post, 1/20/20]
2019: Trump Made 8,155 False Or Misleading Claims. According to the Washington Post, “And in 2019, he made 8,155 suspect claims.”[Washington Post, 1/20/20]
2018: Trump Made 5,689 False Or Misleading Claims. According to the Washington Post, “In 2018, he added 5,689 more, for a total of 7,688.” [Washington Post, 1/20/20]
2017: Trump Made 1,999 False Or Misleading Claims. According to the Washington Post, “In 2017, Trump made 1,999 false or misleading claims.” [Washington Post, 1/20/20]
February 24, 2020: Trump Misleadingly Tweeted The Claim That The Coronavirus Situation Was ‘Under Control.’
[Twitter, 2/24/20]
February 24, 2020: There Were 53 Confirmed Cases Of COVID-19 In The United States. According to CNN, “There are now 53 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. These include 36 people who were aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, three people repatriated from China and 14 US cases. This reflects an increase in 18 cases from Friday, all among Diamond Princess passengers.” [CNN, 2/24/20]
March 15, 2020: Trump Claimed That United States Had ‘Tremendous Control Over’ The Coronavirus Outbreak In The Country.
[Twitter, 3/15/20]
March 16, 2020: There Were At Least 3,482 Coronavirus Cases In 49 States, Puerto Rico, The U.S. Virgin Islands, And Washington D.C. According to CNN, “There are at least 3,482 coronavirus cases in 49 states, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Washington DC, according to government agencies and the CDC. At least 65 people have died. West Virginia remains the only state without any confirmed cases.” [CNN, 3/15/20]
March 6, 2020: Trump Falsely Claimed That ‘Anybody That Wants A Test Can Get A Test.’ According to Remarks by President Trump after tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “THE PRESIDENT: Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That’s what the bottom line is.” [Remarks by President Trump after tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – White House, 3/7/20]
Trump’s Claim Was False; There Was An Insufficient Number Of Tests Available In The United States. According to CNN, “That wasn't true. There were an insufficient number of tests available, as Pence said the day prior, and Americans could not get tested simply because they wanted to get tested. ‘You may not get a test unless a doctor or public health official prescribes a test,’ Azar said the day after Trump's remark. (Azar claimed Trump was using ‘shorthand’ for the fact that ‘we as regulators, or as those shipping the test, are not restricting who can get tested.’)” [CNN, 3/11/20]
During A February 25, 2020 Press Conference, Trump Claimed That The United States Was ‘Very Close To A Vaccine.’ According to remarks by President Trump at a Press Conference in New Delhi, “You don't -- there's a very good chance you're not going to die. It's just the -- it's very much the opposite. You're talking about 1 or 2 percent, whereas in the other case, it was a virtual hundred percent. Now they have it; they have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we're very close to a vaccine.” [Remarks by Donald Trump at a Press Conference in New Delhi – Factbase, 2/25/20]
HHS Secretary: You Won’t Have A Vaccine In The Next Few Month, You’ll Have A Vaccine Go Into Testing. According to Politico, “Nearly every time President Donald Trump has talked about a coronavirus vaccine, he has gotten a real-time fact check from a health expert sitting nearby. ‘So you’re talking over the next few months, you think you could have a vaccine?’ Trump asked during a meeting with top health officials on Monday. “You won’t have a vaccine,” corrected Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar after some cross talk. ‘You’ll have a vaccine to go into testing.’ ‘All right, so you’re talking within a year,’ Trump said moments later. ‘A year to a year and a half,’ interjected Anthony Fauci, a government veteran of disease outbreaks under six presidents.” [Politico, 3/5/20]
Scientists May Be Able To Develop A Vaccine Before 2021 But Would Need Time To Produce It According to the BBC, “When will there be a coronavirus vaccine? Researchers have developed vaccines and are starting to test them on animals and people, and if that goes well there could be human trials later in the year. But even if scientists can celebrate having developed a vaccine before 2021, there is still the massive job of being able to mass-produce it. It means, realistically, one would not be ready until at least the middle of next year.” [BBC, 3/17/20]
Trump Falsely Claimed That ‘All Republicans Support People With Pre-Existing Conditions.’ [Twitter, 10/18/18]
The Trump Administration Support Republican-Led States In A Lawsuit That Claimed Obamacare’s Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions Are Illegal. According to NBC News, “The Trump administration backed Republican-led states in a lawsuit that claims Obamacare's protections for pre-existing conditions are illegal, and a federal court ruled the law unconstitutional in December. If the Supreme Court confirms the ruling, insurers would be able to start denying coverage to those people. The White House has not proposed alternative legislation that would offer those with pre-existing conditions the protections Obamacare gives consumers.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
Republicans Spent Years Trying To Repeal Obamacare And Soften Protections For Those With Pre-Existing Conditions. According to NBC News, “Republicans have spent years trying to repeal Obamacare, and the GOP health care bills proposed — and voted on — over the course of the past year would have softened such protections, in some cases allowing insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Supporting the concept of health care for people with pre-existing conditions, and supporting legislation that accomplishes it, are two different things.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
In 2018 Trump Stated That The Obama Administration Separated Children From Their Families At The Border. According to remarks by President Trump on the Illegal Immigration Crisis and Border Security, “But under President Obama, they separated children from the parents. We actually put it so that that didn’t happen […] But President Obama separated the children, the parents. And nobody complained. When we continued the exact same law, this country went crazy.” [Remarks by President Trump on the Illegal Immigration Crisis and Border Security – White House, 11/1/18]
There Was No Widespread Obama-Era Policy Of Separating Parents And Children. According to NBC News, “There was no widespread Obama-era policy of separating parents and children. The Obama administration instead opted to detain families together, earning outrage of their own. Advocates said there were a handful of scenarios under the Obama administration where children were separated from their parents because of fears of human trafficking, but reunification was speedy.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
Trump Used The Lie To Defend His Administration’s Family Separation Policy That Resulted In Thousands Of Migrant Children Being Separated From Their Families. According to NBC News, “The president made this claim as a way to defend his own administration's policy that separated more than 2,600 migrant children from their parents earlier this year — a policy he was forced to end after widespread public outrage and condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
In His September 2018 Address At The United Nations, Trump Claimed His ‘Administration Has Accomplished More Than Almost Any Administration In The History Of Our Country.’ According to remarks by President Trump to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, “Today, I stand before the United Nations General Assembly to share the extraordinary progress we’ve made. In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America’s — so true. (Laughter.) Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay. (Laughter and applause.)” [Remarks by President Trump to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly – White House, 9/25/18]
At The Time Of His 2018 Speech, Trump Had Struggled To Sign The Major Kind Of Legislation He Promised On The Campaign Trail. According to NBC News, “Trump later said he intended that UN moment to garner a laugh, but he's repeated this claim seriously since. There are varying measures of success, but it's not "so true" that his administration has been more successful than any other administration in history. When it comes to legislation, Trump has signed plenty of bills in his first two years as president, but President Barack Obama, in his first two years in office, signed significantly more. And not all legislation is created equal. Trump's struggled to sign the kind of major legislation he promised on the campaign trail. He’s tried and failed several times to repeal the Affordable Care Act. His signature legislative achievement, tax reform, has fallen short of the president’s own boasts about it and he’s offered vague promises of second tax cut to compensate. His first real bipartisan achievement — a criminal justice reform bill called the ‘First Step Act’ — was signed into law in late December, after he made this hyperbolic claim.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
Most Of Trump’s Agenda Focused On Deregulation And Pulling The U.S. Out Of International Deals. According to NBC News, “Much of Trump's agenda included deregulation and withdrawing the U.S. from international deals like the Iran deal and the Paris climate agreement, which he has successfully done. He’s also negotiated a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada intended to replace NAFTA, but in order to get it implemented, he’ll need support from a divided Congress.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
Then Press Secretary Sean Spicer Falsely Claimed That Trump Had ‘The Largest Audience To Ever Witness An Inauguration, Period.’ According to the Guardian, “On Saturday Spicer went on to say that photographs of the inauguration ‘were intentionally framed in a way in one particular tweet to minimise the enormous support that gathered on the National Mall.’ Almost shouting, Spicer continued: ‘Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted. No one had numbers because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out. By the way, this applies to any attempt to count the number of protesters today in the same fashion.’ Then, although he had just said that no one had numbers, Spicer claimed: ‘This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period … These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm for the inauguration are shameful and wrong.’” [Guardian, 1/21/17]
Crowd Safety Consultant: Trump’s Inauguration Crowd On The National Mall Was About On-Third The Size Of President Obama’s. According to the New York Times, “An analysis of news footage appears to indicate that fewer people attended President Trump’s inauguration than President Obama’s in 2009. The footage on this page was captured 45 minutes before each oath of office. Attendees were still entering the National Mall up until Mr. Trump’s speech. The analysis by Keith Still, a professor at Manchester Metropolitan University in England, estimates that the crowd on the National Mall on Friday was about one-third the size of Mr. Obama’s. Professor Still was a crowd safety consultant for the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and has advised the Saudi government on crowds for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.” [New York Times, 1/20/17]
Pictures Showed A Significantly Larger Crowd Turnout At Obama’s 2009 Inauguration Compared To Trump’s 2017 Inauguration.
[New York Times, 1/20/17]
Crowd Scientists: Women’s March In D.C. Had 3 Times As Many People As Trump’s Inauguration. According to the New York Times, “The women’s march in Washington was roughly three times the size of the audience at President Trump’s inauguration, crowd counting experts said Saturday. Marcel Altenburg and Keith Still, crowd scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, analyzed photographs and video taken of the National Mall and vicinity and estimated that there were about 160,000 people in those areas in the hour leading up to Mr. Trump’s speech Friday. They estimated that at least 470,000 people were at the women’s march in Washington in the areas on and near the mall at about 2 p.m. Saturday.” [New York Times, 1/22/17]
Pictures Showed A Significantly Larger Crowd Turnout At The 2017 Women’s March Compared To Trump’s 2017 Inauguration. [New York Times, 1/22/17]
Trump Forced A Government Photographer To Edit Official Pictures Of His 2017 Inauguration To Make The Crowd Appear Larger. According to the Guardian, “A government photographer edited official pictures of Donald Trump’s inauguration to make the crowd appear bigger following a personal intervention from the president, according to newly released documents. The photographer cropped out empty space “where the crowd ended” for a new set of pictures requested by Trump on the first morning of his presidency, after he was angered by images showing his audience was smaller than Barack Obama’s in 2009. The detail was revealed in investigative reports released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act by the inspector general of the US interior department. They shed new light on the first self-inflicted crisis of Trump’s presidency, when his White House falsely claimed he had attracted the biggest ever inauguration audience.” [Guardian, 9/6/18]
October 23, 2018: Trump Claimed That 50,000 People Were Watching His Houston, Texas Rally Outside The Arena, Calling It ‘Some Record Crowd.’ According to Newsweek, “Nearly two years into his presidency, Donald Trump is still lying about his crowd sizes at rallies and campaign events around the country. At a rally in Houston on Monday evening, the president boasted, without evidence, that there were 50,000 people were watching the event outside the arena […] ‘This is some record crowd,’ Trump said in the opening remarks of his 76-minute speech, in which he hit on major campaign messages about immigration and trade. ‘They just told me we broke the record, but we could really break it if we could get all the people that are outside in here. We would break it by three times.’ The president later added that they put big screens up for the ‘50,000 people outside who we love,’ telling the crowd inside to ‘wave to them.’” [Newsweek, 10/23/18]
Houston Police Chief: There Were Only 3,000 People Watching The Rally Outside The Houston Toyota Center. According to Newsweek, “Contradicting Trump's account, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo tweeted that there were only 3,000 people watching outside the Toyota Center, where Trump rallied in support of his former foe Senator Ted Cruz in his re-election bid.” [Newsweek, 10/23/18]
February 11, 2019: Trump Claimed That The El Paso Fire Department Gave Him Special Permission To Pack More People In To His Rally Than The Facility Allowed. According to Politico, “During his rally at the El Paso County Coliseum, Trump touted his base supporters, saying ‘there has never been anything like this in the history of our country.’ ‘If you would say, as an example, that tonight 69,000 people signed up to be here,’ he said. ‘Now the arena holds 8,000. And thank you, Fire Department. They got in about 10,000. Thank you, Fire Department. Appreciate it.’” [Politico, 2/12/19]
The El Paso Fire Department Denied That Trump Had Received Special Permission To Pack More People In His Rally Than The Facility Allowed, Stating That Only 6,500 People Attended The Rally. According to Politico, “The El Paso Fire Department said Trump's statement was untrue. Fire Department spokesman Enrique Aguilar told the El Paso Times on Monday that Trump did not receive permission to exceed the limit and that there were 6,500 people inside the building during the president's rally. The coliseum holds about 6,500 people. There were thousands more watching Trump's speech on big screens outside the facility.” [Politico, 2/12/19]
September 1, 2019: Trump Tweeted That Alabama Would Be Hit By Hurricane Dorian ‘(Much) Harder Than Anticipated.’ [Twitter, 9/1/19]
The National Weather Service In Birmingham Corrected Trump, Tweeting That ‘Alabama [Would] NOT See Any Impacts From #Dorian.’ [Twitter, 9/1/19]
Trump Used A Marker To Falsely Exaggerate The Path Of Hurricane Dorian. [Vox, 9/4/19]
NOAA Released A Statement Supporting Trump And Contracting The National Weather Service Claim That Alabama Would Not Be Impacted. According to the Guardian, “But the president has been adamant throughout the week that he was correct, and the White House has deployed government resources and staff to back him. The latest defense came out on Friday evening, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a statement from an unidentified spokesman stating that information provided by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to the president had demonstrated that ‘tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama.’ The advisories were dated from last Wednesday, 28 August, through Monday, the statement read. The statement also said the Birmingham NWS tweet on Sunday morning ‘spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.’ The statement from NOAA contrasts with comments the agency’s spokesman, Chris Vaccaro, made last Sunday. ‘The current forecast path of Dorian does not include Alabama,’ Vaccaro said at the time.” [The Guardian, 9/7/19]
Weather Service Union Head And Former NOAA Staff Called The NOAA Statement ‘So Disappointing’ And ‘Utterly Disgusting.’ According to the Guardian, “The former National Hurricane Center director Bill Read blasted NOAA leadership on Friday night on his Facebook page calling the situation ‘so disappointing’ and saying he would comment because NOAA employees were ordered to be quiet. ‘Either NOAA Leadership truly agrees with what they posted or they were ordered to do it. If it is the former, the statement shows a lack of understanding of how to use probabilistic forecasts in conjunction with other forecast information. Embarrassing. If it is the latter, the statement shows a lack of courage on their part by not supporting the people in the field who are actually doing the work. Heartbreaking,’ Read wrote. Dan Sobien, president of the union representing weather service employees, tweeted on Friday: ‘Let me assure you the hard working employees of the NWS had nothing to do with the utterly disgusting and disingenuous tweet sent out by NOAA management tonight.’” [The Guardian, 9/7/19]
Trump Claimed That ‘Alabama Was Going To Be Hit Or Grazed,’ And That ‘The Fake News Knows This Very Well.’
[Twitter, 9/5/19]
Trump Claimed That ‘The Fake News Media […] Went Crazy, Hoping Against Hope That I Made A Mistake.’
[Twitter, 9/6/19]
Alabama Was Spared By Hurricane Dorian. According to Politico, “Alabama was spared, but Dorian could still wreak havoc. As of midafternoon Thursday, the center of Dorian was located about 60 miles south of Myrtle Beach, S.C., or 110 miles south-southeast of Wilmington, N.C. The center of Dorian has thus far remained just offshore, but the storm is still lashing the Southeastern coast with dangerous storm surge, damaging winds, heavy rain and tornadoes. Dorian is now headed toward the vulnerable Outer Banks of North Carolina, which are sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pamlico and Albermarle sounds to the west.” [Politico, 9/5/19]
Trump’s Claim That Russian Interference Is A Hoax Earned Him The Politifact 2017 Lie Of The Year. According to Politifact, “Trump continually asserts that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election is fake news, a hoax or a made-up story, even though there is widespread, bipartisan evidence to the contrary. When the nation’s commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to U.S. democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem. For this reason, we name Trump’s claim that the Russia interference is a hoax as our Lie of the Year for 2017.” [Politifact, 12/12/17]
May 11, 2017: In An Interview With NBC News, President Trump Called Russian Interference In The 2016 A ‘Made-Up Story.’ According to CNN, “Trump told NBC News that he was frustrated by the ongoing investigation and believed it was motivated by Democrats' fury at losing the election. It was the first time that Trump had explicitly tied the Russia probe to his rationale for firing Comey. It was one of a series of explanations for dismissing the FBI director, some of which directly contradict those offered earlier by top White House officials. Trump told NBC's Lester Holt: ‘And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said ‘you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.’’” [CNN, 5/12/17]
Trump Tweeted About The Russian Election Interference Calling It ‘The Russia Hoax.’
[Twitter, 9/22/17]
Trump Claimed That He Believed Putin When He Stated He Did Not Interfere With The 2016 Presidential Election. According to Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle Aboard Air Force One en route Hanoi, Vietnam, “[Putin] said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times. But I just asked him again, and he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they’re saying he did […] He just — every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that.’ And I believe — I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, ‘I didn’t do that.’ I think he’s very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth.” [Remarks by President Trump in Press Gaggle Aboard Air Force On en route Hanoi, Vietnam – White House, 11/11/17]
Director Of National Intelligence: Russian President Vladimir Putin Ordered An Influence Campaign To Interfere In The 2016 Presidential Election. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations. We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.” [Background to “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections” – Director of National Intelligence, 1/6/17]
Senate Intelligence Committee: The Russian Influence Campaign In The 2016 Election Made Efforts To Suppress Democratic Turnout. According to the NBC News, “Two separate reports on the operation were prepared for senators, both of which were obtained by NBC News. Both sets of researchers found, as Mueller did, that the Internet Research Agency set out in the 2016 presidential election to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, in part by inflaming right-wing conspiracy theories and seeking to engender distrust among — and suppress the vote of — left-leaning groups, including African-Americans. The Russians set up 30 Facebook pages targeting black Americans, the researchers found, and 10 YouTube channels that posted 571 videos related to police violence against African-Americans. YouTube, which is part of Alphabet, the holding company for Google, was not correct when it said in a statement last year that Russian content did not target a segment of U.S. society, the researchers concluded.” [NBC News, 12/17/18]
Trump’s Claim That The Whistleblower Got The Ukraine Call ‘Almost Completely Wrong’ Won Him Politifact’s 2019 Lie Of The Year.’ According to Politifact, “The whistleblower, who to Trump’s consternation remains unidentified, raised the concern that the president’s actions leading up to and on that phone call amount to interference in the coming presidential election. Agree or disagree with the conclusion, or whether the president’s conduct warrants impeachment, the actions described in the complaint stand up to factual scrutiny. The claim that the whistleblower got his phone call ‘almost completely wrong’ is PolitiFact’s 2019 Lie of the Year.” [Politifact, 12/16/19]
On August 29, A Whistleblower Filed A Complaint With Intelligence Community Inspector General Regarding Trump’s Ukraine Phone Call. According to ABC News, “Aug. 12, 2019: The whistleblower files a complaint with the intelligence community inspector general An unidentified member of the intelligence community filed a complaint with Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community. In the complaint, the whistleblower outlined several instances of concern related to the president's communications with a foreign leader. The complaint has not been made publicly available, but the inspector general revealed the nature of the complaint in a letter, and sources have told ABC News other details of the complaint. [ABC News, 11/12/19]
In Response, Trump Tweeted That His Call Was ‘Pitch Perfect.’ [Twitter, 9/20/19]
Trump Tweeted That The Whistleblower ‘Got [His] Phone Conversation Almost Completely Wrong.’ [Twitter, 10/5/19]
Trump Told Zelensky He Wanted Ukraine To Investigate CrowdStrike And The People Involved With The Russia Investigation. According to Trump in the transcript of the phone call, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike…I guess you have one of your wealth people…The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that who nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, and incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.” [Trump-Ukraine Phone Call Transcript accessed via Politico, 9/25/19]
Trump Pressed President Zelensky To Look Into Joe Biden With Attorney General Barr. According to Trump in the transcript of the phone call, “The other thing, there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it…It sounds horrible to me.” [Trump-Ukraine Phone Call Transcript accessed via Politico, 9/25/19]
Trump: We Do A Lot For Ukraine…And I Wouldn’t Say That It’s Reciprocal. According to Trump in the transcript of the phone call, “I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are […] A lot of the European countries are the same way so I think it’s something you want to look at but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.” [Trump-Ukraine Phone Call Transcript accessed via Politico, 9/25/19]
Before The Call With Zelensky, Trump Ordered His Chief Of Staff To Hold $400 Million In Military Aid For Ukraine. According to the Washington Post, “President Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to hold back almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine at least a week before a phone call in which Trump is said to have pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden, according to three senior administration officials. Officials at the Office of Management and Budget relayed Trump’s order to the State Department and the Pentagon during an interagency meeting in mid-July, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. They explained that the president had ‘concerns’ and wanted to analyze whether the money needed to be spent.” [Trump-Ukraine Phone Call Transcript accessed via Politico, 9/25/19]
The Two Articles Of Impeachment Represented The Culmination Of Investigations Into Trump’s Campaign To Pressure Ukraine To Investigate His Political Rivals. According to CNBC, “The articles represent the culmination of months of investigation by the House into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The probe, with which the Trump administration refused to cooperate in any way, included testimony from federal officials, documentary evidence and statements from the president himself. The articles also reveal a strategic decision by House Democratic leadership to keep their investigation sharply focused on events surrounding Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations into Trump’s political rivals, and not to broaden the impeachment probe to include alleged obstruction of justice by the president in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.” [CNBC, 12/10/19]
The Impeachment Inquiry Began With The Whistleblower Complaint Into Trump’s “Pitch Perfect” Call With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. According to CNBC, “But Pelosi herself announced the impeachment inquiry in September, on the heels of reporting about a bombshell whistleblower complaint raising alarms about Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Trump in that call asked Zelenskiy to ‘look into’ unsubstantiated allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Trump also said Zelenskiy should investigate a debunked conspiracy theory pushed by Russia that suggests Ukraine, not the Kremlin, interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” [CNBC, 12/10/19]
January 21, 2020: Trump Claimed That He Inherited An Economy That ‘Was In A Rather Dismal State.’ According to Remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum, “When I took office three years ago, America’s economy was in a rather dismal state.” [Remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum – White House, 1/21/20]
Obama Left Trump An Economy With An Unemployment Rate Standing At 4.7 Percent, Far Better Than The Historical Average. According to FactCheck, “Obama also leaves Trump an unemployment rate that is well below the historical norm. Currently it stands at 4.7 percent. In all the months since 1948 the median jobless rate was 5.6 percent. Thus Trump has been dealt a far better hand than Obama, who took office when the jobless rate was 7.8 percent and rising. It hit a peak of 10 percent in October of Obama’s first year.” [FactCheck, 1/20/17]
When Trump Took Over, The Economy Had Already Added Nearly 2.2 Million Jobs And Had Been Gaining Jobs For 75 Straight Months. According to FactCheck, “The economy has added nearly 2.2 million jobs in the most recent 12 months. It has gained jobs for 75 straight months – the longest streak on record. President Barack Obama was not so fortunate. When he took office, the economy had already lost 4.4 million jobs in the preceding 12 months.” [FactCheck, 1/20/17]
Trump Entered The White House When The Median Income Was Rebounding After Years Of Stagnation. According to FactCheck, “Trump enters the White House at a time when incomes have begun to rebound after years of stagnation. In 2015 median household income jumped 5.2 percent — the largest one-year percentage increase since records began in 1967. At $56,516, the 2015 figure was 2 percent higher (in ‘real’ or inflation-adjusted terms) than the year before Obama took office.” [FactCheck, 1/20/17]
January 21, 2020: Trump Touted A ‘Blue-Collar Boom’ Changing The American Economy. According to the Wall Street Journal, “President Trump touted what he described as a ‘blue-collar boom’ transforming the American economy and hailed the U.S. trade agreement with China in a speech to global business and government leaders, hours before his impeachment trial was set to begin.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/21/20]
February 5, 2020: Trump Claimed The U.S. Economy Is Going Through ‘A Blue-Collar Boom.’ According to Donald Trump’s Remarks at the 2020 State Of The Union Address, “This is a blue-collar boom. (Applause.)” [Remarks at the 2020 State Of The Union Address - New York Times, 2/5/20]
Under Trump, Manufacturing Took A Large Hit From The Trade War With China And Has Been In Or Near Recession Since August 2019. According to Barrons, “Still, it’s worth noting that manufacturing has taken a big hit from the trade war with China and the sector has been in or near recession since August for the first time since the beginning of 2016. Moreover, manufacturing and construction job growth has slowed, says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, which focuses on low- and middle-income workers. Over the past six months, factories have created just 3,000 jobs. Data released on Friday from the Labor Department showed factories shed 12,000 workers in January. Construction hiring rose, thanks to mild weather, but that trend is cooling as builders report labor shortages.” [Barrons, 2/7/20]
Since Trump Entered Office, Manufacturing Jobs Account For A Slightly Smaller Share Of Employment Than In 2016 And Those Jobs Are Paying Less. According to CBS News, “Since he entered office in 2017, the number of manufacturing jobs also has expanded more slowly than the broader labor market. The result: Manufacturers today account for a slightly smaller share of employment than they did in 2016. Those jobs are also paying less. A decade ago, the average manufacturing job paid $1 an hour more than jobs overall. Today, those same jobs tend to pays less that most other kinds of work, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” [CBS News, 2/5/20]
December 4, 2018: Trump Tweeted About The Money America Is Making Off Tariffs, Exclaiming ‘MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN.’
[Twitter, 12/4/18]
The Cost Of Tariffs Was Passed Down To American Consumers, Not Foreign Exporters. According to NBC News, “Trump is misstating how tariffs work. Tariffs are a fee charged by the U.S. when a good is brought into the U.S. They're designed to make foreign made goods more expensive — thus boosting domestic producers — but that expense, charged to the importer, is typically passed down to American consumers.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
At A Rose Garden Press Conference In July 2018, Trump Stated That ‘We’ve Accomplished An Economic Turnaround Of Historic Proportions.’ According to NBC News, “‘We’ve accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportions,’ Trump said in a July 2018 Rose Garden press conference.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
The Economic Turnaround Trump Referred To Was Credited To His Predecessor, President Barack Obama. According to NBC News, “The economy wasn’t hurting when Trump took office, and it hasn’t turned around in just two short years. The economic turnaround Trump refers to is actually credited to his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who steered the country from a devastating recession into booming growth.Economists told NBC News that Trump might have given the economy a boost with the tax cuts and dampened it with the trade war, but he didn’t turn things around. Economies do not turn on a hair with a new presidency. While Obama can look back on his eight years and see his leadership play out, Trump's effect is still not yet known.” [NBC News, 12/26/18]
In 2019, Trump Made False And Misleading Claims About China And Tariffs At Least 108 Times. According to Yahoo Finance, “When President Trump sat before reporters in the Oval Office on Dec. 19 with Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the subject of the trade negotiations with China came up briefly. ‘They’re still paying tremendous amounts of tariffs,’ the president said. It was a notable comment only for its frequency of use. In fact, according to an analysis by Yahoo Finance, that was at least the 108th instance in 2019 that Trump falsely claimed China is ‘eating’ or ‘being charged’ or in some way ‘paying’ for the tariffs his administration has imposed on Chinese imports. Trump’s claim has been debunked by fact checkers again and again and again and again. Here’s how FactCheck.org put it: ‘Not true.’” [Yahoo Finance, 12/27/19]
February 28, 2019: In Remarks To State Governors Trump Falsely Claimed China Was Paying The U.S. ‘Billions And Billions Of Dollars Of Tariffs A Month.’ According to Remarks by President Trump at the 2019 White House Business Session with our Nation’s Governors, “Now, China is paying us, right now, billions and billions of dollars of tariffs a month. Every month, billions of dollars. I love it. Personally, I love it. But they’re paying billions of dollars. And it’s hurting them; it’s not good for them.” [Remarks by President Trump at the 2019 White House Business Session, 2/25/19]
The Increased Tariff Duties Are Not Paid By China Or Chinese Companies But By U.S. Importers. According to FactCheck.org, “But those increased tariff duties aren’t paid by China, or even by Chinese companies. Import duties are paid by U.S. importers, either directly or more commonly through customs brokers. The government’s ‘Guide for Commercial Importers’ advises those who use brokers to make out a separate check ‘payable to ‘U.S. Customs and Border Protection’ for those customs charges, which the broker will then deliver to CBP.’ And importers — including big retailers like Walmart and Target — face pressure to pass on those increased costs to consumers in the form of higher prices. The National Retail Federation calls Trump’s tariffs ‘a tax on American families.’” [FactCheck.org, 2/28/19]