Tag: Trump lies

Trump’s Pinocchio-laden claims about Joe Biden, Ukraine and polls

Washington Post logo“We’re putting up the bulk of the money. … Europe has to put up money for Ukraine also.”

— President Trump, in remarks to reporters at the United Nations, Sept. 24, 2019

Before giving his annual speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump paused to speak to reporters about the growing controversy over his dealings with Ukraine. In doing so, he provided a string of false and misleading statements designed to obscure his actions and confuse Americans.

Before we tour through Trump’s comments, here’s a quick refresher. On July 25, Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Just days earlier, Trump unexpectedly ordered the withholding of nearly $400 million in military aid to the country, which is battling a separatist conflict backed by Russia on its Eastern border. What was said on the call is not precisely known — though Trump has said he will release the transcript — but Trump has acknowledged he raised former vice president Joe Biden, currently leading in the polls for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Trump originally said he halted the aid because of worries about corruption — suggesting also that “corruption” by Biden was a concern — but at the United Nations, he changed his story. Now he says it was because the Europeans were not contributing enough to Ukraine.

View the complete September 25 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

Trump scoffs at rising impeachment calls: ‘It’s nonsense’

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday scoffed at the mounting calls or impeachment proceedings from House Democrats as he faces increasing scrutiny for his interactions with Ukraine.

More than a dozen Democrats have come out in favor of impeachment in recent days as new information emerged that Trump withheld funds for Ukraine and raised the subject of former Vice President Joe Biden, who is running for president, and his son during a call with the Ukrainian president

“I think it’s ridiculous. It’s a witch hunt. I’m leading in the polls. They have no idea how they stop me, the only way they can try is through impeachment,” Trump told reporters as he arrived at the United Nations ahead of his address to world leaders Tuesday morning.

View the complete September 24 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Trump promised he was ‘rebuilding and expanding’ steel industry. Turns out, it’s ‘got some real problems’

AlterNet logoDonald Trump’s favorite tough-guy theme with his China tariffs is how he’s making “Pennsylvania and USA more prosperous/secure by bringing Steel and Aluminum industries BACK.”

Back in January, he claimed “Tariffs on the ‘dumping’ of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S. We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S.” Then in April, “The forgotten voters of the 2016 Election are now doing great,” he crowed in April. The Steel Industry is rebuilding and expanding at a pace that it hasn’t seen in decades.”

Totally revived! Many jobs! Billions paid! So much for that. The price of steel peaked in the summer of 2018 and has been in decline since. Prices for steel are now lower than they were before the initial tariffs were imposed. Car-making and construction is down, so demand is down and “three of the largest steel companies in the country—U.S. Steel, Fort Wayne-based Steel Dynamics and Nucor—all warned their financial results would be worse than projected in the third quarter.”

View the complete September 24 article by Joan McCarter from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

Trump confirms he withheld military aid from Ukraine, says he wants other countries to help pay

Washington Post logoNEW YORK — President Trump confirmed Tuesday that he withheld military aid from Ukraine, saying he did so over his concerns that the United States was contributing more to Ukraine than European countries were.

“My complaint has always been, and I’d withhold again and I’ll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine because they’re not doing it,” Trump told reporters at the United Nations General Assembly.

Trump was responding to reporting by The Washington Post that he told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to hold back almost $400 million in military aid for at least a week before Trump spoke to the Ukrainian president.

View the complete September 24 article by Seung Min Kim and Colby

As the national debt has risen, Trump officials kept saying it would fall

Washington Post logoWhen Republicans cut corporate and individual taxes in 2017, they promised two things: It would grow the economy and it would not add to the national debt. Neither of those have borne out.

Not only has economic growth slowed, in part because of President Trump’s ongoing trade war with China, but the deficit has grown to its highest level in seven years, in part due to reduced tax revenue.

To counter these trends, the Trump administration has engaged in economic double-talk, including repeatedly saying, falsely, that the federal deficit — and by extension, the national debt — was falling or would fall in the future. You can watch Trump officials do this again and again — even as the debt rises — in the video above.

View the complete September 23 article by JM Rieger on The Washington Post website here.

Fact-checking Trump’s latest claims on Biden and Ukraine

Washington Post logo“That call [with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] was a great call. It was a perfect call, a perfect call. What wasn’t perfect is the horrible thing that Joe Biden said. And now he made a lie when he said he never spoke to his son. I mean, give me a break. He’s already said he spoke to his son. And now he said yesterday very firmly. Who wouldn’t speak to your son? Of course you spoke to your son. So, he made the mistake of saying he never spoke to his son. He spoke to his son. But, more importantly, what he said about the billions of dollars that he wouldn’t give them unless they fired the prosecutor, and then he bragged about how they fired the prosecutor, and then they got the money.”

— President Trump, speaking to reporters, Sept. 22, 2019

“I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.”

— Former vice president Joe Biden, speaking to reporters, Sept. 21

“Somebody ought to look into Joe Biden’s statement, because it was disgraceful, where he talked about billions of dollars that he’s not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor is taken off the case. So, somebody ought to look into that.”

— Trump, remarks to reporters, Sept. 20 Continue reading “Fact-checking Trump’s latest claims on Biden and Ukraine”

Inspector General Rebuts Trump Excuses For Silencing Intel Whistleblower

A top official in the intelligence community has disputed the factual basis for the Trump administration’s suppression of a whistleblower complaint believed to regard the potential misconduct of the president himself, a new letter released Thursday revealed.

The letter was made public by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA). He is locked into a fierce and potentially explosive dispute with an array of forces within the administration to obtain the complaint, which was made through proper channels by an intelligence official last month to the community’s inspector general. Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson determined that the complaint was “credible” and “urgent,” and subsequent reporting from the Washington Post found that it concerns a “promise” made by Trump in communication with a foreign leader.

But acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, who is supposed to take such urgent complaints from the IG to Congress, has refused to turn over the documents after consulting with the Justice Department about the matter. DNI General Counsel, in consultation with the DOJ, told Schiff and the committee that the law doesn’t require “disclosure of the complaint to the intelligence committees” because it did not concern “allegations of conduct by a member of the intelligence community or involve intelligence activity under the DNI’s supervision.”

View the complete September 19 article by Cody Fenwick from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

Correction: Trump never said all those things you heard him say

Washington Post logoIs President Trump losing his marbles?

(Or did he not have a full bag to begin with?)

On Tuesday, with characteristic inhumanity, he insulted journalist Cokie Roberts on the occasion of her death: “I never met her. She never treated me nicely. But I would like to wish her family well.”

On Monday, he declared that he “didn’t say that” he thought Iran was
responsible for the attack on Saudi oil
refineries.

On Sunday, he denied that he had said he would meet with Iran with no conditions.

View the complete September 18 column by Dana Milbank on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s Challenge: Can His Word on Iran Be Trusted?

New York Times logoFor a president with a loose relationship with the facts and poisonous relationships with allies, the attack on the Saudi oil fields poses a challenge: how to prove the administration’s case that Iran was behind the strike and rally the world to respond.

President Trump must now confront that problem as he struggles with one of the most critical national security decisions of his presidency. Over the next few days or weeks, he will almost certainly face the reality that much of the world — angry at his tweets, tirades, untruths and accusations — could be disinclined to believe the arguments advanced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others that Iran bears responsibility for the attack.

If Mr. Trump tries to gather a coalition to impose diplomatic penalties, tighten sanctions to further choke off Iranian oil exports or retaliate with a military or cyberstrike, he may discover that, like President George W. Bush heading into Iraq 16 years ago, he is largely alone.

View the complete September 17 article by David E. Sanger on The Washington Post website here.

Eric Trump’s Four-Pinocchio claim that the Obamacare website cost more than Trump’s border barrier Add to list

Washington Post logo“President Trump’s wall costs less than the Obamacare website. Let that sink in, America.”

— Quote attributed to comedian Tim Allen in an Instagram post by Eric Trump

Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, has quite a following on social media, so his posts attract a lot of attention. This particular one achieved nearly 80,000 likes within days.

But there are two big problems. First, it’s factually incorrect. Second, while Allen is a conservative, he did not say this. A query to the Trump Organization, where Trump is executive vice president, for comment did not receive a response.

The Facts

First, let’s deal with Allen. There was a Tim Allen — unrelated to the actor — who on Aug. 25 posted a lengthy diatribe on Facebook that included this line. This Tim Allen describes himself as a jewelry technician who lives in Franklin, Va. But that did not stop thousands of people from distributing his post as coming from the actor.

View the complete September 16 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.