Tag: Trump lies

President Trump’s false claim that insurance companies ‘have made a fortune’ from Obamacare

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website October 19, 2017:

The president misleadingly correlates insurance company’s rising stock prices to profits related to Obamacare, but they are not one in the same. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“We want the money to go to the people. We don’t want the money to go into the pockets. I have a list here where it talks about the insurance companies. … Anthem, big company, from the beginning of Obamacare, 270 percent increase in their stock price. Humana, 420 percent up. Aetna, 470 percent increase from Obamacare. Cigna, 480 percent increase since Obamacare. The insurance companies have absolutely taken advantage of this country and our people. And I stopped it by stopping the CSRs.”
— President Trump, responding to a question from Mike Sacks of E.W. Scripps, Oct. 17, 2017 Continue reading “President Trump’s false claim that insurance companies ‘have made a fortune’ from Obamacare”

Trump’s still-wrong claim that the U.S. is the world’s highest-taxed developed nation

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website October 18, 2017:

The president frequently claims the U.S. has the highest taxes of anywhere in the world. But we don’t. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“Some people say it differently, and they will say we are the highest developed nation taxed in the world. . . . A lot of people know exactly what I am talking about, and in many cases they think I am right when I say the highest. As far as I am concerned, we are really essentially the highest. But if you’d like to add the ‘developed nation,’ you can say that, too. But a lot of people agree that the way I am saying is exactly correct.”
— President Trump, responding to a question from Mike Sacks of E.W. Scripps Co., Oct. 17, 2017

Mike Sacks, national political correspondent for E.W. Scripps, asked President Trump a question The Fact Checker has been dying to ask: Why does he keep saying that the United States is the world’s highest-taxed nation when that is objectively false? Continue reading “Trump’s still-wrong claim that the U.S. is the world’s highest-taxed developed nation”

Criticized for not commenting on soldiers killed in action, Trump falsely says Obama did even less

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website October 16, 2017:

During a news conference at the White House on Oct. 16, President Trump claimed that “most” American presidents, including Barack Obama, didn’t call families of soldiers who were killed in action. Former members of the Obama administration said this is false. (Reuters)

Four U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed earlier this month while on patrol in Niger. President Trump’s silence on their deaths has been notable, with 10 days having passed without any comment from the White House — 10 days during which Trump visited his golf club in Sterling, Va., five times.

During an impromptu news conference in the White House Rose Garden on Monday afternoon, Trump was asked why he hadn’t yet made a public comment on the fatalities. Continue reading “Criticized for not commenting on soldiers killed in action, Trump falsely says Obama did even less”

Fact-checking President Trump’s speech on the Iran deal

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website October 14, 2017:

President Trump announced Oct. 13 that his administration would take new steps going forward to confront Iran. (The Washington Post)

In his speech on the Iran nuclear agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), President Trump made a number of factual assertions. The deal was negotiated by Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China), Germany and the European Union.

Here’s a guide to some of his rhetoric, in the order in which he made these statements. Continue reading “Fact-checking President Trump’s speech on the Iran deal”

President Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Glenn Kessler and Meg Kelly was posted on the Washington Post website October 10, 2017:

As of Oct. 10, the Fact Checker has catalogued 1,318 false or misleading claims by President Trump since he took office in January. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

Five months before unveiling his tax plan, President Trump claimed that it “is the biggest tax cut in history. This is bigger than Reagan. … This is actually bigger than Reagan tax cuts.” We warned readers at the time that there was no public proposal yet and that this was a dubious claim properly measured as a percentage of the nation’s gross domestic product.

Trump would repeat this misleading claim 16 more times before he actually revealed his plan to the public Sept. 27. In fact, the 16th time he said it was during remarks before traveling to Indiana for the speech: “We’re going right now to Indiana. We’re going to introduce a tax plan that’s the largest tax cut, essentially, in the history of our country.” Continue reading “President Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days”

45 After Dark: ‘Substantially Ahead of Schedule’ edition

The following article by Henry C. Jackson was posted on the politico.com website October 13, 2017:

Credit:  Andrew Harrier/European Press Photo Agency

No thanks, Obama.

In a pair of policy decisions that were totally unrelated — but united by a common theme — President Donald Trump today took his most significant steps toward dismantling the legacy achievements of his predecessor: The White House said it would cut off billions of dollars in subsidies for the poor through Obamacare and Trump announced he would refuse to certify the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Neither move is clean and simple. Both moves kickthornier issues to Congress — where both sides are rapidly losing patience with each other. Paired together, though, they were significant decisions that allowed Trump, speaking to a friendly crowd at the Voter Values Summit to declare that his presidency is “substantially ahead of schedule.” Continue reading “45 After Dark: ‘Substantially Ahead of Schedule’ edition”

Is President Trump vindicated on his claim of ‘wires tapped’ by Obama?

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website September 22, 2017:

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
–President Trump, tweets, March 4, 2017

In March 2017, President Trump earned Four Pinocchios for relying on sketchy media reports to claim that former president Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, his 2016 campaign headquarters. Then, on Sept. 19, CNN reported that the U.S. government wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump’s supporters claimed he was vindicated(#TrumpVindicated trended on Twitter), and several readers asked us to revisit our Four Pinocchio rating. Continue reading “Is President Trump vindicated on his claim of ‘wires tapped’ by Obama?”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims Obama never made bipartisan deals. She couldn’t be more wrong.

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the Mic website September 13, 2017:

Former President Barack Obama worked with members of the GOP, including John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, on many occasions. Credit: Saul Loeb/Getty Images

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders lauded President Donald Trump from the White House briefing room Wednesday, saying Trump had done “more for bipartisanship in eight days than [former President Barack] Obama did in eight years.”

“I can’t think of any time when [Obama] made a deal with anyone from the opposing party,” Sanders said, seeking to defend Trump’s decision to negotiate with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on a three-month extension of the debt ceiling.

Maybe Sanders just has a bad memory, however, because Obama made a number of bipartisan deals throughout his presidency.

Those deals were necessary for the Democratic commander-in-chief, who faced a Republican-controlled House for six years of his tenure and a GOP-controlled Senate for the final two.

In 2010, Obama worked with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on an extension of Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits, along with other tax changes.

Three years later, Obama again worked with McConnell to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” which would have triggered a tax increase on Americans earning less than $250,000 a year as well as strict budget reductions.

Obama also reached out to congressional Republicans on other occasions, including during the health care debate back in 2010.

Obama even went so far as to travel to a House Republican retreat in Baltimore that same year, where he spent an hour answering questions about his health care bill.

Trump’s negotiations with Democrats, as well as his dealmaking with Schumer and Pelosi, is nothing new — and Sanders’ assertion that Obama never made any gestures to Republicans is false.

View the post here.

President Trump’s claim foreign leaders told him they’re unhappy with 7-9 percent GDP growth

The following article by Nicole Lewis was posted on the Washington Post website September 13, 2017:

“In the last ten years our economy has grown at an average of only around 2 percent and some would say less than that. When I talk to the leaders of other countries – I speak to them all the time – they’re unhappy about 7 or 8 points of growth – GDP [gross domestic product]. I spoke to a leader of a major, major country recently. Big, big country. They say our country is very big, it’s hard to grow. Well believe me this country is very big. How are you doing, I said. ‘Cause I have very good relationships believe it or not with the leaders of these countries. I said, how are you doing? He said ‘not good, not good at all. Our GDP is 7 percent.’ I say 7 percent? Then I speak to another one. ‘Not good. Not good. Our GDP is only 9 percent.’”

— President Trump, remarks during speech on tax reform, Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 6, 2017 Continue reading “President Trump’s claim foreign leaders told him they’re unhappy with 7-9 percent GDP growth”