Tag: Trump administration lies

Will the revised NAFTA deal add 180,000 jobs every year?

Washington Post logo“We are looking at the USMCA, NAFTA 2.0 trade deal. That would be very important and would add a half a point of GDP and 180,000 new jobs per year if we get that through.”

— Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Aug. 18

Kudlow made this comment when he was asked by “Fox News Sunday” guest anchor Dana Perino what additional measures might be needed to bolster the economy. “I don’t think additional measures are needed,” he replied, making this statement about how the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement would result in an additional 180,000 jobs a year.

What’s that claim based on? Continue reading “Will the revised NAFTA deal add 180,000 jobs every year?”

Has the Endangered Species Act saved ‘very few’ plants and animals?

Washington Post logo“In the 40, 50 years of the Endangered Species Act, we’ve recovered very few species. … The act itself hasn’t really been successful in saving very many species.”

— EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, in an interview on Fox Business Network, Aug. 14

The Trump administration has finalized new rules to weaken the Endangered Species Act of 1973, a bedrock wildlife conservation law that bars the development of lands where at-risk species live.

In a Fox Business interview, Wheeler defended the regulatory changes, stating that the ESA has “recovered very few species.” Government statistics show that 47 species of plants and animals deemed at risk under the ESA have been “recovered,” out of nearly 2,000 that have appeared on the list.

But Wheeler is using a very strict definition of what it means to save a species from extinction. These conservation efforts work over many years, and not all species joined the list in 1973. The ESA could be helping a “threatened” or “endangered” species regrow its population significantly before U.S. officials classify it as “recovered” and take it off the list.

View the complete August 16 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence claims he arrested 300 illegal immigrants in a single day. He didn’t.

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s intelligence community often cites a massive roundup of immigrant workers at poultry plants in 2008 as a highlight of his career. Rep. John Ratcliffe claims that as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas, he was the leader of the immigration crackdown, describing it as one of the largest cases of its kind.

“As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,” Rat­cliffe (R-Tex.) says on his congressional website.

But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe’s claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation — at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record.

View the complete August 1 article by Robert O’Harrow, Jr. and Shawn Boburg on The Washington Post website here.

‘That isn’t what he said!’ Fox News host laughs in Mick Mulvaney’s face as he brazenly lies about Mueller’s testimony

AlterNet logoWhen former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress on Wednesday, Democrats had him thoroughly debunk President Donald Trump’s lies about his investigation. The president wasn’t exonerated, the special counsel didn’t conclude there was “no obstruction,” it wasn’t “witch hunt,” and Russia interference in the 2016 election wasn’t a “hoax,” Mueller confirmed.

So when White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney appeared on Fox News Sunday morning in an interview with Chris Wallace, he decided to invent new lies to tell about Mueller.

“Mueller answered the single, one oustanding question,” Mulvaney said. “They asked him: Would you have indicted the president if he were not the president, and Mueller said, ‘absolutely not.’ He would not do that.”

View the complete July 28 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

The Mnuchin myth on Harriet Tubman, exposed

Washington Post logoPRESIDENT TRUMP, who as a candidate in 2016 derided as “pure political correctness” the plan to honor Harriet Tubman by featuring the Underground Railroad’s most celebrated conductor’s image on the front of the $20 bill, can rest easy: Thanks to the intervention of his treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, only likenesses of white men will appear on U.S. paper money for the duration of his presidency.

Mr. Mnuchin’s far-fetched pretext for the delay — that eight more years of technical planning were required to prevent counterfeiting issues in the bill’s new design — is now exposed as risible. As the New York Times reported, the design of the new bill, featuring Tubman, was already quite advanced when Mr. Mnuchin announced the move, apparently fearing an even greater backlash should Mr. Trump cancel the project outright. The treasury secretary’s postponement means the new note will not be complete until after Mr. Trump leaves office, even if he serves a second term. Continue reading “The Mnuchin myth on Harriet Tubman, exposed”

Kellyanne Conway’s flushable claims about the census citizenship question

Washington Post logo“Why can’t we just ask the question the way it was asked for 50 years before the Obama administration yanked it out of there? We’ve been asking questions like this — the American Community Survey every fifth year asks a similar question. And think of all the questions that nobody complains are included in our U.S. Census every 10 years that include a far, far, far smaller number of Americans or, I would argue, are much more intrusive, invasive and expansive. We’re asking people how many toilets in your house, and you don’t want to know who’s using them? It’s absolutely ridiculous, and this is why the president is fighting for its inclusion.”

— White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, in an interview on “Fox and Friends,” July 9, 2019

Conway, a seasoned pollster, got a lot wrong in this defense of President Trump’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

The Supreme Court last month blocked administration officials from adding the question to the census form. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the court that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — who oversees the Census Bureau and approved the citizenship question — violated a federal law that required him to disclose the real reason for the change. (For more on that, read our previous fact checks here and here.)

At first, the Trump administration responded to the court decision by dropping its plans. Then the Commerce and Justice departments reversed course and began exploring whether they could insert the citizenship question while complying with Roberts’s ruling.

View the complete July 10 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

ABC host pounds DHS chief after he claims reports of mistreated migrant children are ‘unsubstantiated’

AlterNet logoDepartment of Homeland Security acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Sunday insisted that multiple reports about the treatment of migrant children at detention facilities are “unsubstantiated.”

In an interview on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz asked why he had refuted a New York Times report which found that children are being mistreated at migrant detention facilities.

“Why did you call those allegations unsubstantiated?” Raddatz asked.

“Because there’s adequate food and water,” McAleenan argued. “Because the facility is cleaned every day. Because I know what our standards are and I know they are being followed. Because we have tremendous levels of oversight — five levels of oversight.”

View the complete July 7 article by David Edwards from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Five memorable moments from Sarah Sanders at the White House

Sarah Huckabee Sanders will depart her role as White House press secretary at the end of June, President Trump announced Thursday.

Her tenure, which officially began in July 2017, featured many controversial moments as she fiercely defended the president and frequently clashed with the press corps.

Over her tenure, she became a trusted aide to Trump and one of the most prominent faces of the White House. She also helped shape the White House’s handling of the media.

View the complete June 15 article by Chris Mills Rodrigo on The Hill website here.

Sarah Sanders to leave White House after turbulent ride

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, whose fierce loyalty to President Donald Trump and clashes with reporters defined her tenure, is stepping down at the end of the month.

The president announced her departure on Twitter Thursday afternoon. Trump said she would be returning to her home state of Arkansas, adding that he hoped she would decide to run for governor.

“She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job!” Trumpwrote on Twitter. “I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas — she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”

View the complete June 13 article by Andrew Restuccia on the Politico website here.

To Conceal Trump Taxes, Mnuchin Cites Non-Existent Legal Memo

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is continuing to defy a request from Congress, first issued in April, to provide Trump’s tax returns.

On Tuesday, Justin Sok, senior adviser for Treasury’s Office of Legislative Affairs, insisted that Mnuchin was justified in his stonewalling because of supposed legal advice from the Department of Justice that doesn’t even exist in writing yet — and no one knows when it ever will.

“The Department of Justice intends to memorialize its advice in a published legal opinion as soon as its practicable,” Sok wrote in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “We will provide a copy of the opinion to you when we receive it.”

View the complete May 31 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.