Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 10 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 20Premiums increased overall in 2017 — but Trump cherry-picks the 116 percent increase in Arizona, the state hit hardest by premium increases. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, will actually see a decrease.
“The Governor of Minnesota said that Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- no longer affordable. That's what he said.”
Repeated on Jan. 26Trump takes this comment out of context. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Oct. 12 faulted Republicans in Congress for refusing to adjust the law, which he said was the reason why individual health insurance was “no longer affordable to increasing numbers of people.”
“In Tennessee, where I just left, half of the state has no insurance and --no carrier. It’s gone. And they’re going to leave the other half of the state very soon”
Repeated on Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Apr. 5 Apr. 28 Apr. 29This is false. All eight of the state’s rating areas have at least one insurance carrier and three of them have two carriers.
“Obamacare is dead. Some of you folks have yourself -- you have family members that have suffered greatly under Obamacare. It’s dying. It’s just about on its last legs. If we did nothing, if we did absolutely nothing, Obamacare is dead.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29The Affordable Care Act is not imploding and is expected to remain stable for the foreseeable future, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“Many [NATO] nations owe vast sums of money from past years, and it is very unfair to the United States. These nations must pay what they owe.”
Repeated on Mar. 22Trump appears to not understand how NATO financing works. Headquarters costs are based on gross national income, with the United States paying 22 percent. Then, NATO members are required to spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on national defense -- but that is goal to be achieved by 2024.
“I have to tell you that Obamacare is a disaster. It's failing. ... Obamacare will fail. It will fold. It will close up very, very soon if something isn't done.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29The Affordable Care Act is not imploding and is expected to remain stable for the foreseeable future, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“I was in Tennessee -- we had a tremendous crowd the other night, and they have -- half of the state is uncovered. The insurance companies have left, and the other half has one insurance company and that will probably be bailing out pretty soon also. They’ll have nobody.”
Repeated on Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Apr. 5 Apr. 28 Apr. 29This is false. All eight of the state’s rating areas have at least one insurance carrier and three of them have two carriers.
“Our military is going to be strengthened -- it's been depleted.”
The United States spends far more on defense than any other country, or even the next seven countries combined. It's a stretch to say it is "depleted."
“We have many plants and factories coming back into the United States. Many jobs are coming back to Michigan, to Ohio, to Pennsylvania, to a lot of places where they were losing jobs.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps taking credit for projects that were long in the works before he became president. For example, he repeatedly claims credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“Germany has done very well in its trade deals with the United States, and I give them credit for it.”

“NAFTA has been a disaster for the United States. It’s been a disaster for companies, and in particular, it’s been a disaster for the workers. A lot of the companies just moved, but the workers are screwed.”
Repeated on Feb. 24 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Apr. 18 Apr. 20 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump’s attack on NAFTA is over the top. It is often difficult to separate out the impact of trade agreements on jobs, compared to other, broader economic trends. But the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in 2015 concluded the “net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP,” though it noted “there were worker and firm adjustment costs as the three countries adjusted to more open trade and investment among their economies.”
“All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn’t make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox.
Fox News said it has no evidence to back up claims by Andrew Napolitano, a judicial analyst and commentator on Fox News. Bret Baier said on his show: “We love the judge, we love him here at Fox, but the Fox News division was never able to back up those claims and was never reported on this show.”
“Since November 8th, Election Day, the Stock Market has posted $3.2 trillion in GAINS and consumer confidence is at a 15 year high.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 28This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“I am calling for one of the largest defense spending increases in history.”
Repeated on Feb. 28 Mar. 15This is false. Trump's proposed ten percent increase is actually relatively modest. In the past 30 years, at least one-third of the time the core defense budget was boosted more than Trump's request--in some cases more than double the percentage requested by Trump.
“In these troubled times, our Navy is the smallest it's been since World War I”
Repeated on Mar. 3 Mar. 21This is a misleading comparison. A lot has changed in the past century, including the capacity of ships. The U.S. Naval fleet now includes nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, compared to gunboats and small warships of 100 years ago. The Navy, which currently has 275 ships, is on track to grow to just over 300 ships, approximately the size that a bipartisan congressional panel recommended for the current Navy.
“Does anybody really believe that a reporter, who nobody ever heard of, ”went to his mailbox" and found my tax returns? @NBCNews FAKE NEWS!"
The reporter in question, David Cay Johnston, has won a Pulitzer Prize and covered Trump when he was in the gambling industry. Johnston says Trump used to call him at home.
“Buy American and hire American. It's not just a motto, it's a pledge.”
Repeated on Mar. 6 Mar. 15 Mar. 18 Mar. 20 Mar. 28Trump has a long history of outsourcing a variety of his own products. The Fact Checker has counted a total of 12 countries where Trump products were manufactured (China, the Netherlands, Mexico, India, Turkey, Slovenia, Honduras, Germany, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea).
“You see what's already been happening; plants are coming back, other plants that were expected to be built in other countries are not being built. … Ford has announced 700 new jobs coming back to their plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. Fiat Chrysler has announced that they will create 2,000 new jobs in Michigan and Ohio.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps taking credit for projects that were long in the works before he became president. For example, he repeatedly claims credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico. Fiat Chrysler's plan to invest $1 billion for a factory in Michigan had been in the works for more than a year and had nothing to do with Trump.
“NAFTA, a total disaster.”
Repeated on Feb. 24 Mar. 17 Apr. 18 Apr. 20Trump’s attack on NAFTA is over the top. It is often difficult to separate out the impact of trade agreements on jobs, compared to other, broader economic trends. But the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in 2015 concluded the “net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP,” though it noted “there were worker and firm adjustment costs as the three countries adjusted to more open trade and investment among their economies.”
“Since NAFTA was approved, we've lost nearly one-third of our manufacturing jobs in the United States. Since China entered the World Trade Organization, we've lost 60,000 factories.”
Repeated on Feb. 24 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Apr. 18 Apr. 20 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump hypes the possible connection between these trade deals and the loss of jobs and factories. The Congressional Research Service concluded in 2015 that NAFTA likely had little impact on jobs. Manufacturing jobs in the United States have been adversely affected by many factors, especially changing consumer tastes and technology. Similarly, drawing a connection between China’s entry in the WTO and factory loses is a stretch, especially because the Great Recession play a big role in factory closings.
“Our trade deficit last year reached nearly $800 billion.”
Repeated on Mar. 20 Apr. 2The trade deficit was about $500 billion in 2016.
“I'm saving a lot of money. On the airplanes I saved $725 million. Probably took me half an hour, if you add it up, all of the times. We saved a tremendous amount of money in government already.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump once again takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Sometimes Trump says he saved $600 million, other times $700 million.
“Obama is a disaster. The premiums are going up at numbers as high as 116 percent.  He knew that was the year. Let him be out before it implodes.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 10 Mar. 13 Mar. 17 Mar. 20Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, actually saw a decrease.
“In the first two job reports since I took the oath of office, we’ve already added nearly half a million new jobs.”
Repeated on Mar. 10 Mar. 13 Mar. 14 Mar. 18 Mar. 20The first job report, released in February, was based on data that was collected when Obama was still president.
“We believe in two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American.”
Repeated on Mar. 6 Mar. 15 Mar. 18 Mar. 20 Mar. 28Trump has a long history of outsourcing a variety of his own products. The Fact Checker has counted a total of 12 countries where Trump products were manufactured (China, the Netherlands, Mexico, India, Turkey, Slovenia, Honduras, Germany, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea).
“Tennessee has lost one third of its manufacturing jobs since the institution of NAFTA, one of the worst trade deals ever in history. Our nation has lost over 60,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization -- 60,000.”
Repeated on Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 20 Apr. 18Trump hypes the possible connection between these trade deals and the loss of jobs and factories. The Congressional Research Service concluded in 2015 that NAFTA likely had little impact on jobs. Manufacturing jobs in the United States have been adversely affected by many factors, especially changing consumer tastes and technology. Similarly, drawing a connection between China’s entry in the WTO and factory loses is a stretch, especially because the Great Recession play a big role in factory closings.
“We've already experienced an unprecedented 40-percent reduction in illegal immigration on our Southern border; 61 percent since Inauguration Day -- 61 percent.”
Repeated on Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Mar. 29 Apr. 4 Apr. 4 Apr. 7Trump is citing the 61 percent decline in Southwest border apprehensions from January 2017 to March 2017. It's unclear yet if Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly made an impact, or if it was a result of Trump's rhetoric on immigration throughout the presidential campaign. There tends to be less activity during winter months, and the numbers bounce back in March and through the spring, so it's unclear whether this is a blip or a lasting trend. Moreover, the January data captures the whole month, not just since Inauguration Day.
“Hundreds upon hundreds of people from outside our country have been convicted of terrorism-related offenses in the United States courts.”
Repeated on Apr. 28Of about 400 individuals charged with or credibly involved in jihad-inspired activity in the U.S. since 9/11, just under half (197) were U.S.-born citizens, according to research by the nonpartisan think tank New America Foundation. An additional 82 were naturalized citizens, and 44 were permanent residents.
“Part of the much overturned 9th Circuit Court...that 9th Circuit -- you have to see.
Repeated on Feb. 16Trump is referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which ruled against reinstating his travel ban. But there are other ways to slice the data, and it’s important to put this number into context. Most cases reviewed by the Supreme Court are reversed, and the 9th Circuit rules on more cases in general. The 9th Circuit’s reversal rate was usually higher than the average, but not always the highest.
“It’s a catastrophic situation, and there’s nothing to compare anything to because Obamacare won’t be around for a year or two. It’s gone.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29The Affordable Care Act is not imploding and is expected to remian stable for the foreseeable future, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“Our budget calls for one of the single largest increases in defense spending history in this country.”
Repeated on Feb. 28 Mar. 2This is false. Trump's proposed ten percent increase is actually relatively modest. In the past 30 years, at least one-third of the time the core defense budget was boosted more than Trump's request--in some cases more than double the percentage requested by Trump.
In this tweet, Trump included photos of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's employment report for Trump's first full month in office. This was a clear flip-flop from the stance he held for many years prior to this jobs report. He repeatedly questioned the accuracy of BLS employment statistics, and called figures calculated by career economists as "phony." White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about this contradiction at a news briefing after the report’s release. His response: “I talked to the president prior to this and he said to quote him very clearly. They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.”
“You represent the millions of Americans who have seen their Obamacare premiums increase by double digits and even triple digits. In Arizona, the rates were over 116 percent last year -- 116 percent increase.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 10 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 20Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, actually saw a decrease.
“First of all, it covers very few people. And it’s imploding.  And I said it once, I’ll say it again -- because Obama is gone -- things are going to be very bad this year for the people with Obamacare. They’re going to have tremendous increases.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29Credible estimates suggest the health-care law boosted the number of people with health insurance by 20 million. The Congressional Budget Office said that the individual market would be stable in most markets at least for the next ten years under the Affordable Care Act.
“We're seeing companies like Exxon, Walmart, Intel, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, and so many others announcing that they will keep and create tens of thousands of jobs in the United States. Many, many companies are not moving now, which normally they would have been out of here a long time ago. They're not moving because they understand there are going to be consequences.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps taking credit for projects that were long in the works before he became president. For example, he repeatedly claims credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico. Fiat Chrysler's plan to invest $1 billion for a factory in Michigan had been in the works for more than a year and had nothing to do with Trump.
“The first two job reports that have come out since my inauguration, we've already added nearly half a million new jobs.”
Repeated on Mar. 10 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 18 Mar. 20This is a clear flip-flop from the stance he held for many years prior to the release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report in February, after his first full month in office. He repeatedly questioned the accuracy of BLS employment statistics, and called figures calculated by career economists as "phony." White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about this contradiction at a news briefing after the report’s release. His response: “I talked to the president prior to this and he said to quote him very clearly. They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.”
“In the first full month of my administration following the issuance of my executive orders, illegal immigration on our southern border fell by an unprecedented 40 percent. I want to congratulate General Kelly.”
Repeated on Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Mar. 29 Apr. 4Apprehension numbers for February 2017 did decline by 40 percent, which hasn't happened in at least the past five years, PolitiFact found. But monthly apprehensions in fiscal year 2011 were regularly on par with apprehension figures from February, according to PolitiFact.
No claims
Trump went golfing
“We are making great progress with healthcare. ObamaCare is imploding and will only get worse. Republicans coming together to get job done! - President Donald J. Trump”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29The Affordable Care Act is not imploding and is expected to remain stable for the foreseeable future, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“GREAT AGAIN: +235,000”
Repeated on Mar. 13 Mar. 14 Mar. 15 Mar. 18 Mar. 20The day the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment report for Trump's first full month in office, Trump retweeted Drudge Report: "GREAT AGAIN: +235,000." This was a clear flip-flop from the stance he held for many years prior to this jobs report. He repeatedly questioned the accuracy of BLS employment statistics, and called figures calculated by career economists as "phony." White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about this contradiction at a news briefing after the report’s release. His response: “I talked to the president prior to this and he said to quote him very clearly. They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.”
“We must act now to save Americans from the imploding Obamacare disaster. Premiums have skyrocketed by double-digits and triple-digits in some cases. As an example, Arizona -- which I talk about all the time -- 116 percent increase and it’s going up a lot higher. ’17 would be a disaster for Obamacare. That’s the year it was meant to explode, because Obama won’t be here. That was when it was supposed to be -- it will get even worse. As bad as it is now, it’ll get even worse.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 20Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, actually saw a decrease.
“Americans were promised that Obamacare would bring premiums down $2,500 for a typical family. Instead, they’ve gone up by more than $4,000.”
The baseline for the $4,000 figure goes all the way back to 2008, the year before Obama took the oath of office. To capture what happened after some of the Obamacare provisions went into effect, that's an increase of $1,761. Moreover, since the Affordable Care Act became law, the rate of increase in healthcare costs have slowed. It is still debated by experts about whether the law gets all of the credit, but if costs had continued on the previous path, premiums would have been $3,600 higher.
“The House plan follows the guidelines I laid out in my recent address to Congress – expanding choice, lowering costs, and providing healthcare access for all.”
The House plan, as drafted, does not expand choice, lower costs and was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to reduce the number of people with health insurance compared to current law.
“Despite what you hear in the press, healthcare is coming along great. We are talking to many groups and it will end in a beautiful picture!”
The press is reporting reactions to the replacement plan from lawmakers and industry groups from all sides of the political spectrum. Conservative and liberal industry groups have opposed the plan, along with Democrats and some Republican lawmakers, both moderate and conservative.
“LinkedIn Workforce Report: January and February were the strongest consecutive months for hiring since August and September 2015”
Trump failed to read the fine print of the LinkedIn Workforce report. The numbers were affected by seasonal hiring. When adjusted for seasonal hiring variations, hiring was down 1.3 percent from January to February, the first full month of Trump's term.
“122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!" (@realDonaldTrump account)
Repeated on Mar. 7This is false. Only eight former Gitmo detainees "confirmed of reengaging" in terrorist or insurgent activities were released under Obama, and 113 were released under George W. Bush. Although this tweet, sent at 7:04 a.m., was immediately called out as false on Twitter, Trump repeated it on the @POTUS account at 8:03 a.m. Trump tweeted this on the same day from @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. Therefore, we are counting the two tweets as separate entries in our database.
“122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!" (@POTUS account)
Repeated on Mar. 7This is false. Only eight former Gitmo detainees "confirmed of reengaging" in terrorist or insurgent activities were released under Obama, and 113 were released under George W. Bush. Trump first tweeted this at 7:04 a.m. on the @realDonaldTrump account, and it was immediately called out as false on Twitter. But then at 8:03 a.m., he repeated the same tweet on the @POTUS account. Therefore, we are counting the two tweets as separate entries in our database.
“It's such spirit that we haven't seen in the country in a long time. Jobs are pouring back here. You saw what happened with Exxon, where they just announced a massive job program.”
Repeated on Mar. 6 Mar. 6Trump again takes credit for a project long in the works before he became president. ExxonMobil has been planning this since 2013.
“Buy American & hire American are the principals at the core of my agenda, which is: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”
Repeated on Mar. 15 Mar. 15 Mar. 18 Mar. 20 Mar. 28Trump has a long history of outsourcing a variety of his own products. The Fact Checker has counted a total of 12 countries where Trump products were manufactured (China, the Netherlands, Mexico, India, Turkey, Slovenia, Honduras, Germany, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and South Korea).
“45,000 construction & manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. $20 billion investment [by ExxonMobil]. We are already winning again, America!”
Repeated on Mar. 6 Mar. 7Trump again takes credit for a project long in the works before he became president. ExxonMobil has been planning this since 2013.
“I’m very pleased to announce the great company ExxonMobil is going to be investing $20 billion in the Gulf Coast and the Gulf Coast region. … This was something that was done to a large extent because of our policies and the policies of this new administration having to do with regulators and so many other things.”
Repeated on Mar. 6 Mar. 7Trump again takes credit for a project long in the works before he became president. ExxonMobil has been planning this since 2013.
“I said we’re bringing back jobs and this is one big example of it. But whether it’s the pielines or so many other things, including the fact that car companies are moving back to Michigan, Ohio, soon to be Pennsylvania and lots of other places, we’re really doing well.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps taking credit for projects that were long in the works before he became president. For example, he repeatedly claims credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“The Attorney General has reported to me that more than 300 persons who entered the United States as refugees are currently the subjects of counterterrorism investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
The administration repeatedly used this 300 figure, without any context. That is highly misleading. The 300 figure represents a tiny fraction of all resettled refugees in the United States per year (83,380 on average), and since the refugee program began in 1980 (3 million). Since Sept. 11, 2001, roughly 190,000 refugees were accepted into the United States from the six countries listed in the immigration executive order. The 300 figure represents a fraction — though it is unclear how small or big — of the total open counterterrorism investigations (which could be 1,000 or up to 10,000). And we have no idea what charges are involved, or if these investigations will even result in any charges (or convictions, for that matter).
“Is it true the DNC would not allow the FBI access to check server or other equipment after learning it was hacked? Can that be possible?”
Repeated on Mar. 20The FBI and the Democratic National Committee disagree on whether the FBI requested access to the DNC's servers. FBI Director James Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the bureau made "multiple requests at different levels" to access DNC's servers, but the DNC said the FBI never requested access. The DNC ultimately allowed a private company to review its database and share findings with the FBI.
“Thank you for the great rallies all across the country. Tremendous support. Make America Great Again!”
The size of crowds holding "March 4 Trump" rallies varied, from about 30 people in Indianapolis to about 400 in St. Paul, Minn. Some rallies drew just as many protesters as supporters.
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
There is no evidence that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump's calls. Trump seized on reports in the right-leaning media, but even the reports cited by the White House did not make this allegation.
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
There is no evidence that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump's calls. Trump seized on reports in the right-leaning media, but even the reports cited by the White House did not make this allegation.
“Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!”
There is no evidence that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump's calls. Trump seized on reports in the right-leaning media, but even the reports cited by the White House did not make this allegation.
“I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
There is no evidence that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump's calls. Trump seized on reports in the right-leaning media, but even the reports cited by the White House did not make this allegation.
“Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone.”
This is a misleading comparison. Sessions appears to have misled the Senate about his meetings, while the meetings at the White House were recorded in a public log that Trump has now eliminated.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show.”
Schwarzenegger said he was leaving of his own accord, blaming animus toward Trump for the show's sagging ratings. “You should think about hiring a new joke writer and a fact checker," Schwarenegger tweeted back.
“We should start an immediate investigation into @SenSchumer and his ties to Russia and Putin. A total hypocrite!”
Trump makes a misleading comparison between Attorney General Jeff Sessions's meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Sen. Charles E. Schumer's meeting Vladimir Putin at a pu blic event in 2003. Sessions, who was a Trump campaign surrogate, misled Congress by not disclosing that he met with Kislyak on at least two occasions during the 2016 presidential campaign, including one private meeting at Sessions's Senate office.
“I hereby demand a second investigation, after Schumer, of Pelosi for her close ties to Russia, and lying about it.”
Trump makes a misleading comparison between Attorney General Jeff Sessions's meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Rep. Nancy Pelosi's 2010 meeting with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Sessions, a Trump campaign surrogate, misled Congress by not disclosing that he met with Kislyak on at least two occasions during the 2016 presidential campaign, including one private meeting at Sessions's Senate office. Pelosi and other House leaders met with Medvedev, who brought Kislyak and other top Russian officials to the meeting.

The Senate Democrats did hold up Trump's Cabinet picks at one time. But as of Trump's tweet, there were two empty slots; the administration had not sent the rest of the paperwork for one and had not sent a nominee to fill the other slot. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted the prior evening, on March 2: "After the votes taken earlier this afternoon, the U.S. Senate has now confirmed all of the available Cabinet nominations."
“Our Navy's fleet is the smallest it has been since World War I, and that’s a long time ago.”
Repeated on Mar. 2 Mar. 21This is a misleading comparison. A lot has changed in the past century, including the capacity of ships. The U.S. Naval fleet now includes nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, compared to gunboats and small warships of 100 years ago. The Navy, which currently has 275 ships, is on track to grow to just over 300 ships, approximately the size that a bipartisan congressional panel recommended for the current Navy.
No claims
“Great progress on healthcare. Improvements being made - Republicans coming together!”
Not exactly. The day of this tweet, the House Budget Committee recommended changes to the GOP health-care bill that reflected concerns among conservative critics unhappy with the proposed legislation. Moderate Republicans have also expressed opposition, while deep concerns remain among Republicans in the Senate.
“We saved $700 million plus on an F-35 after I got involved.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million on the F-35 before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Trump over time keeps increasing the money he allegedly saved.
“Remember this, on the border and throughout our country, we're getting the bad ones out, the bad people -- gang members, drug lords, in some cases, murderers.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 13 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 20ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “very, very hardened criminals” that Trump describes.
“You see what I've done. Ford has announced, General Motors, Fiat has announced. They're all building big plants.They're all coming back into the United States. They were fleeing.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“You take a look at what's going on with the stock market. Trillions of dollars of value have been created since I won the election -- I mean, trillions.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Mar. 2This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“When they [the news media] make stories up, when they create sources -- because I believe that sometimes they don't have sources, you know, the sources don't exist, and sometimes they do exist.”
This is an irresponsible and false statement. Major news media organizations do not make up sources. That is grounds for firing.
“The fact is, I did pretty well, much better than past people in the Republican Party in the recent election, having to do with Hispanics, having to do with African-Americans.”
Repeated on Feb. 1Trump got 8 percent of the African American vote versus 6 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012 and 4 percent for John McCain in 2008. But Romney and McCain were running against the first African American candidate, Obama. Strictly by the numbers, Trump actually did worse among blacks than any Republican running against a white man, though in effect he came close to tying George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.
“They get a lot of information [in the Yemen raid], a lot of -- a lot of different things that they really wanted to get.”
The administration has provided no evidence for this claim and NBC News reported that the raid that led to the death of a Navy SEAL "yielded no significant intelligence." The U.S. Central Command in January released a video seized in the raid that purportedly held valuable information — only to later acknowledge that the video was already available online and had not been thoroughly analyzed before its release. A press conference to play up the value of the information was canceled.
“But a few years ago, the EPA decided that navigable waters can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer's land or anyplace else that they decide. Right? It was a massive power grab.”
Trump is referring to the Waters of the United States rule, which has been on hold since 2015 after legal challenges. As PolitiFact reported, the rule specifically excludes puddles and applies to certain ditches, including ones that could carry pollution downstream.
“EPA's so-called Waters of the United States Rule is one of the worst examples of federal regulation and it has truly run amuck and is one of the rules most strongly opposed by farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers all across our land. It's prohibiting them from being allowed to do what they're supposed to be doing. It's been a disaster.”
So Trump incorrectly says the Waters of the United States rule has had a negative impact. The Environmental Protection Agency's 2015 rule spurred legal challenges in courts across the country, alleging that the EPA exceeded the scope of its authority. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay against enforcement of this rule.
“The EPA's regulators were putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands and regulations and permits started treating our wonderful small farmers and small businesses as if they were a major industrial polluter.”
Opponents of the EPA's Waters of the United States rule had argued it would cost taxpayer money and American jobs, the rule has not yet taken effect. So it's unclear what jobs Trump is referring to. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay against the enforcement of this rule, after legal challenges.
“In one case in Wyoming, a rancher was fined $37,000 a day by the EPA for digging a small watering hole for his cattle. His land.”
Trump makes it sound like the rancher simply dug a small hole on his land. FactCheck.org took an extensive look at this case, and found it to be much more complicated. The rancher built a dam on a federal waterway without a permit, as required by the Clean Air Act, according to the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a 5-year ban on lobbying by Executive Branch Officials – and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.”
Trump did sign an order that he said would result in a lifetime ban on administration officials lobbying for foreign governments. But his five-year ban on lobbying is less than advertised. Trump has originally promised to extend the ban to congressional officials, but he did not. Moreover, the five-year ban applies only to lobbying one’s former agency — not becoming a lobbyist. Moreover, Trump actually weakened some of the language from similar bans under Obama and George W. Bush, and reduced the level of transparency.
“We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross — and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate.”
The data are mixed on the amount of drugs coming through the borders. The amount of marijuana and cocaine seized at the border continue to decline, but seized amounts of heroin and methamphetamine increased in recent years.
“Since my election, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart, and many others, have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes undue credit for business decisions made prior to his election. Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Fiat Chrysler's plan to invest $1 billion for a factory in Michigan had been in the works for more than a year and had nothing to do with Trump. Japanese company SoftBank announced its $100 billion technology investment fund three weeks before the U.S. elections, when Trump faced a narrow path to victory. Sprint said its hiring plan was a part of a commitment by SoftBank, which owns a controlling stake in Sprint.
“We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter, and will be saving billions more dollars on contracts all across our government.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for the lowered cost of the F-35 program, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Sometimes Trump says he saved $600 million, other times $700 million.
“We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines — thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs — and I’ve issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.”
Repeated on Jan. 24 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Mar. 28 Apr. 4 Apr. 29Trump appears to be combining two disputed figures — 28,000 jobs for Keystone XL and 12,000 for the Dakota Access pipeline. As for the steel, workers in Arkansas have already built about half of the high-strength line pipe needed for the project, some 333,000 tons.
“As we speak, we are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak and as I have promised throughout the campaign.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 13 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 20ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “bad ones” that Trump describes.
“By finally enforcing our immigration laws we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars and make our communities safer for everyone.”
Trump exaggerates the impact of illegal immigration on crime, taxpayer money and jobs. We covered these three points further in our round-up of Trump's address to Congress.
“Millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect.”
Repeated on Jan. 20 Jan. 26 Feb. 24 Mar. 20“Welfare” is a broad term and can apply to people who are working but receiving government assistance. If someone is receiving means-tested assistance, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not working.
“Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.”
Repeated on Apr. 4This is an absurd Four-Pinocchio claim, based on a real number. The 94 million "not in labor force" that Trump refers to are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2015. It turns out that 93 percent do not want a job at all. The picture that emerges from a study of the data shows that the 95 million consists mostly of people who are retired, students, stay-at-home parents or disabled.
“America has spent approximately six trillion dollars in the Middle East, all this while our infrastructure at home is crumbling. With this six trillion dollars we could have rebuilt our country –- twice.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 9 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Mar. 22Trump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“The murder rate in 2015 experienced its largest single-year increase in nearly half a century. In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher. This is not acceptable in our society.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 27In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Seven people were shot and killed in Chicago on Feb. 22, the deadliest day in the city so far this year. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Jamiel’s 17-year-old son was viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang member, who had just been released from prison.”
Repeated on Mar. 20 Mar. 20Trump likes to use anecdotes as evidence for associating violent crimes with illegal immigration, telling stories of victims of homicide by undocumented immigrants. Clearly, stories like this exist. But the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants do not fit Trump’s description of aggravated felons, whose crimes include murder.
“I can tell you the money is pouring in. Very nice.”
NATO’s guideline, established in 2006, is that defense expenditures should amount to 2 percent of each country’s gross domestic product. In 2016, only four countries besides the United States met that standard, but NATO documents also show that defense spending has increased about three percent from 2015 to 2016. In any case, the money would not be going to the United States or even necessarily to NATO; this is money that countries would spend to bolster their own military.
“More than 1 in 5 people in their prime working years are not working.”
Trump plays a similar trick as he did with the figure of 94 million people not in the labor force. He’s again counting people who do not want to work, such as stay-at-home parents, the disabled and students. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 1 in 25 people in that 25-54 age group looked for work and could not find it.
“I am sending Congress a budget that...calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.”
Repeated on Mar. 2 Mar. 15This is false. Trump's proposed ten percent increase is actually relatively modest. In the past 30 years, at least one-third of the time the core defense budget was boosted more than Trump's request--in some cases more than double the percentage requested by Trump.
“I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called VOICE, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests.”
Actually, these stories have been covered a lot. The Washington Post's media columnist Erik Wemple took a close look and found that the media -- especially local outlets in immigrant-heavy communities like Phoenix -- meticulously chronicles crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
“I just met with officials and workers from a great American company, Harley-Davidson. In fact, they proudly displayed five of their magnificent motorcycles, made in the USA, on the front lawn of the White House.”
Harley-Davidson assembles its bikes in the U.S., but various parts of the bike are manufactured overseas -- an example of how American companies participate in the international economy.
“They [Harley-Davidson] told me ... that it is very hard to do business with other countries because they tax our goods at such a high rate. They said that in one case another country taxed their motorcycles at 100 percent.”
Repeated on Mar. 20India imposes a 100 percent import tariff on motorcycles. But the company largely has been able to get around the tariff by assembling its bikes in India, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
“According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigration system costs America’s taxpayers many billions of dollars a year.”
Trump cherry-picks numbers from a lengthy and detailed report that used several different models of measuring the economic and fiscal impacts of immigrants, showing both the costs and benefits. The report found that first-generation immigrants incur costs to the government that are later balanced out by their descendants for a net positive to the U.S. economy.
“The Middle East is far worse than it was 16, 17 years ago, there's not even a contest. So we've spent $6 trillion.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 9 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 22 Apr. 5Trump made this claim several times in one speech. Trump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“I got involved in an airplane contract, I got involved in some other contracts and we cut the hell out of the prices. I mean, we saved a lot of money, tremendous amount of money, beyond anything that the generals that were involved -- they said they've never seen anything like this before. On one plane, on a small order of one plane, I saved $725 million and I would say I devoted about -- if I added it up, all (inaudible), probably about an hour. So I think that might be my highest and best use.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million on the F-35 before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Trump over time keeps increasing the money he allegedly saved.
“You look at what's happening in our cities, you look at what's happening in Chicago, what's going on in Chicago. We will fight violent crime and we will win and we'll win that one fairly quickly.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Seven people were shot and killed in Chicago on Feb. 22, the deadliest day in the city so far this year. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“We're getting the bad ones out and that's always where I said I was going to start. I was going to start with these bad players and they are bad. They are rough and tough and we're getting them the hell out of our country and we're bringing them to where they started out.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 13 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 20ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “very, very hardened criminals” that Trump describes.
“Obamacare has failed. If you go to Minnesota where they had a 66 percent increase and the governor of Minnesota who is with us today said Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, is no longer affordable, something to that effect. I think that might be it exactly. But the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable. Obamacare has failed.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29To put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“They [The New York Times] had to write a letter of essentially apology to their subscribers because they got the election so wrong.”
Repeated on Jan. 28 Feb. 4 Feb. 6 Mar. 29The New York Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump.
“Since it [Obamacare] has gone into effect, premiums are up by almost 100 percent in many areas....You just take a look at what's happening in various states like Arizona -- I believe it was up 116 percent; it's going to be worse this year.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Mar. 10 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 20 Mar. 21Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, actually saw a decrease.
“It has gotten so bad that nearly 20 million Americans have chosen to pay the penalty or received an exemption rather than buy insurance. That’s something that nobody has ever heard of or thought could happen, and they’re actually doing that rather than being forced to buy insurance.”
Trumps slips in the word "exemption," which allows him to inflate the figure. Only 6.5 million taxpayers paid the so-called “shared responsibility” payments in 2015. That’s actually a decrease from 2014, when 8 million taxpayers made a payment. Another 12.7 million taxpayers received an exemption but the main reason is because they live in a state that choose not to accept the Medicaid expansion in Obamacare.
“The race for DNC Chairman was, of course, totally 'rigged.' Bernie's guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!”
Trump cites no evidence that the battle for Democratic National Committee chair, won narrowly by former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, was rigged. Indeed, there is no evidence and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), who backed Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), rejected Trump's claim. "No, he doesn't have a point," Sanders said when asked about the tweet.
“Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks!”
Repeated on Apr. 28Trump is falsely labeling nonpartisan investigations as "fake news" hyped by Democrats. The CIA concluded in 2016 that Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help elect Trump, an assessment backed up by FBI Director James B. Comey and then-Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. On Jan. 6, the intelligence community released a declassified report expressing "high confidence" in this judgement. Senate and House committees led by Republicans have begun their own investigations, and at least one Republican lawmaker has called for the appointment of a special prosecutor.
“The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.”
Trump is citing such a narrow window of time that the statistics he’s pointing to don’t mean very much. The level of debt fluctuates day to day and week to week, depending on seasonal changes in growth and when the government makes payments, collects tax revenue, issues new debt and other debt matures — making the data very susceptible to cherry-picking. Using the same logic, you could claim that after four days in office Trump increased outstanding public debt by more than $10 billion, and that Obama had reduced it by $6 billion.
“I saw one story recently where they said, ‘Nine people have confirmed.’ There’re no nine people. I don’t believe there was one or two people. Nine people…. They make up sources.”
Trump is referring to a Washington Post article that disclosed that then-National security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials. That article prompted a firestorm that led to Flynn’s firing by Trump, because it turned out that Flynn had misled Vice President Pence and other administration officials about whether he had discussed sanctions. The article cited information provided by “nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls.” (Calls by the Russian ambassador are monitored by intelligence agencies.) No White House official has disputed the accuracy of the article – and indeed, it resulted in Flynn’s departure from the administration.
“The dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news.  And all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy.”
Trump listed five mainstream media organizations –The New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN – as the “fake news media” and declared they are the enemy of the American people. By listing major media organizations as the enemy, Trump was clearly making a statement about the broader news media.
“But it was a little rigged against him [Bernie Sanders], you know, super delegate, super delegate. She [Hillary Clinton] had so many delegates before the thing even started, I actually said to my people, how does that happen?”
Trump says the system was rigged against Sanders because of the superdelegates. In June 2016, when the media began declaring Clinton the presumptive nominee, Clinton was on track to win the nomination even without superdelegates. We dug into this in depth in a separate fact-check.
“These are bad dudes. We’re getting the bad ones out, OK? We’re getting the bad — if you watch these people, it’s like gee, that’s so sad. We’re getting bad people out of this country, people that shouldn’t be whether it’s drugs or murder or other things. We’re getting bad ones out, those are the ones that go first and I said it from day one. Basically all I’ve done is keep my promise.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 13 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 20ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “bad dudes” that Trump describes.
“In the Middle East, we’ve spent as of four weeks ago, $6 trillion. Think of it.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 9 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 22 Apr. 5Trump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“Obamacare covers very few people — and remember, deduct from the number all of the people that had great health care that they loved that was taken away from them — it was taken away from them.”
Trump essentially repeats a false GOP talking point that previously earned Four Pinocchios. The Affordable Care Act is estimated to have added 20 million people to the health-insurance rolls, while the number of people who had to switch out of pre-ACA plans is a fraction of that.
“ICE came and endorsed me. They never endorsed a presidential candidate before, they might not even be allowed to.”
Repeated on Jan. 25Federal agencies can’t endorse political candidates. The unions representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Border Patrol agents did endorse Trump. Both groups said Trump was their first-ever endorsement. But they did not do so unanimously. The National Border Patrol Council endorsement was based just on the vote of 11 union leaders, which sparked controversy among union members. Agents in El Paso, in a 14-to-13 vote, narrowly failed to have the local union disavow the endorsement.
“I’m also working with the Department of Justice to being reducing violent crime. I mean, can you believe what’s happening in Chicago as an example? Two days ago, seven people were shot and I believe killed. Seven people, seven people, Chicago, a great American city, seven people shot and killed. We will support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Feb. 28In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Seven people were shot and killed in Chicago on Feb. 22, the deadliest day in the city so far this year. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Take a look at NAFTA, one of the worst deals ever made by any country, having to do with economic development. It’s economy un-development, as far as our country is concerned.”
Repeated on Feb. 24 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Apr. 18 Apr. 20 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump’s attack on NAFTA is over the top. It is often difficult to separate out the impact of trade agreements on jobs, compared to other, broader economic trends. But the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service in 2015 concluded the “net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest, primarily because trade with Canada and Mexico accounts for a small percentage of U.S. GDP,” though it noted “there were worker and firm adjustment costs as the three countries adjusted to more open trade and investment among their economies.”
“[Keystone XL pipeline] could be 42,000 jobs, somewhere around there — a lot of jobs.”
Repeated on Jan. 24 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Mar. 28 Apr. 4 Apr. 29Trump constantly changes the number of jobs that might be created by the pipeline. This is a high-end estimate which we have previously given Two Pinocchios.
“Ford and Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Intel, and so many others are now, because of the election result, making major investments in the United States, expanding production and hiring more workers. And they’re going back to Michigan and they’re going back to Ohio and they’re going back to Pennsylvania and they’re going back to North Carolina and to Florida.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“It’s time for all Americans to get off of welfare and get back to work, you’re going to love it, you’re going to love it, you’re going to love it.”
Repeated on Jan. 20 Jan. 26 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Mar. 20“Welfare” is a broad term and can apply to people who are working but receiving government assistance. If someone is receiving means-tested assistance, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not working.
“I took a lot of heat on Sweden. And then a day later, I said has anybody reported what's going on? And it turned out that they didn't -- not too many of them did. Take a look at what happened in Sweden. I love Sweden, great country, great people, I love Sweden. But they understand. The people over there understand I'm right.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 19 Feb. 20 Mar. 22Trump had referred to rising crime rates in Sweden, but the country's overall rate has fallen in recent years. Sweden has welcomed refugees and immigrants, but Swedish crime experts do not agree that the country's immigration policies are linked to crime. Just two days after Trump made his false claim, riots broke out in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Stockholm, the country’s capital. That neighborhood was the scene of riots in 2010 and 2013, stemming from anger directed at the influx of refugees and migrants into the country.
“You see what's happening at the border. All of a sudden for the first time, we're getting gang members out. We're getting drug lords out. We're getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate that nobody's ever seen before.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 13 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 20If immigration arrests continue at the current pace under Trump, he is on track to meet arrest rates in the earlier years of Obama's administration before Obama narrowed immigration enforcement priorities.
“I'm trying to find a country where we actually have a surplus of trade as opposed to a -- everything's a deficit.”
It's not that hard to find countries with which the U.S. runs a trade surplus in goods. At the top of the list are Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium and Australia.
“She [Lockheed chief executive] cut her price over $700 million, right? By over $700 million.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump once again takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Sometimes Trump says he saved $600 million, other times $700 million.
“People don't realize how bad it [sex trafficking] is in this country.”
Though human trafficking is a major issue in some regions of the world, experts and available evidence indicate trafficking for sexual exploitation is not a serious problem in the United States. A recent study funded by the Justice Department concluded the total number of juveniles in the sex trade in the United States was about 9,000 to 10,000.
The United States has ”fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity."
The United States has significant nuclear weapons capacity, more than it needs for its security. Trump appears to be referring to a temporary and insignificant gap in the number of deployed weapons between Russia and the United States. Under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which Trump says is "one-sided," by February 2018, neither country can have more than 1,550 warheads on 700 deployed launchers and no more than 800 total deployed and non-deployed launchers.
“Gary Cohn just paid $200 million in tax in order to take this job, by the way.”
Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, sold about $220 million in Goldman Sachs stock before joining the administration. He also received a $65 million payment that was tied to future performance. Given that the capital gains tax rate is capped at 20 percent, there is no way Cohn paid $200 million in tax on a $285 million payout, particularly because he can defer capital gains if the proceeds are invested in approved securities such as Treasury bonds.
“We've already saved a lot -- billions and billions of dollars have been saved.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29From the context of his remarks on the federal budget, Trump is referring to the Lockheed F-35 program and also seems to be adding in a pending contract for a new Air Force One. Again, he is taking credit for something that had already been negotiated, a claim that had previously earned him Four Pinocchios. The Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump had met with Lockheed’s chief executive. The contract with Boeing for Air Force One had not been negotiated.
“Oh, of course. And I do it — wherever I get a chance, I do it [denounce anti-Semitism].”
Since his presidential campaign, Trump was asked repeatedly to address anti-Semitic incidents and other racial or religious harassment incidents. As The Fix blog found, many of his answers left something to be desired.
“Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 19 Feb. 24 Mar. 22Trump referred to rising crime rates in Sweden, but the country's overall rate has fallen in recent years. Sweden has welcomed refugees and immigrants, but Swedish crime experts do not agree that the country's immigration policies are linked to crime.
“My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 20 Feb. 24 Mar. 22Trump referred to rising crime rates in Sweden, but the country's overall rate has fallen in recent years. Sweden has welcomed refugees and immigrants, but Swedish crime experts do not agree that the country's immigration policies are linked to crime.
“The dishonest media, which has published one false story after another, with no sources, even though they pretend they have them. They make them up in many cases.”
It is unclear what stories Trump is referring to here, but mainstream news organizations do not publish articles with “no sources” and certainly do not “make them up in most cases.” That is grounds for firing. Certainly, sources can be misinformed, and respected news organizations strive to correct or update stories if a mistake has been made.
“When Thomas Jefferson said ‘nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself,’ he said, ‘becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.’ That was June 14 — my birthday — 1807.”
Trump selectively quotes from Jefferson here, who for most of his life was a fierce defender of the need for a free press. When Jefferson wrote to 17-year-old John Novell, urging him to avoid a career in journalism, he was embittered by reports spread by his political opponents that he had slept with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. Today, most historians now believe she was the mother of six of his children.
“Jobs are already starting to pour back in.  Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler are bringing in and bringing back thousands of jobs, investing billions of dollars because of the new business climate that we are creating in our country.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Meanwhile, the January jobs report, showing 230,000 jobs were created, reflects the last month of the Obama administration. The data was collected in early January, when Obama was still president.
“I’ve taken steps to begin the construction of Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline. Anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 jobs.”
Repeated on Jan. 24 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Mar. 28 Apr. 4 Apr. 29Trump appears to be combining two disputed figures — 28,000 jobs for Keystone XL and 12,000 for the Dakota Access Pipeline. We have looked closely at the Keystone numbers, and the same methodological issues appear to apply to the Dakota estimates. The actual number of Keystone construction jobs, for instance, is just 3,900 on an annualized basis — and other jobs have already been created (such as for building high-strength line pipe.) In the context of the U.S. economy, which just in January added 230,000 jobs, these are not many jobs.
“They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One. Can you believe this? I said no way. I said I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse.”
Trump is exaggerating here. Boeing only had a $170 million contract to begin designing a replacement for Air Force One, and the cost of the project had not been set. The Defense Department’s five-year plan indicated a cost of $2.9 billion over the next five years for design and development. It’s logical to assume at least another $1 billion in additional expenses to complete and procure the aircraft. An estimate of $4 billion — for design, testing and manufacture of at least two jets — was not completely out of line. But the budget was subject to approval by Congress and the actual design of the aircraft. So Trump is taking credit for cutting a price that had not been negotiated yet.
“We’ve gotten hundreds of millions of dollars off the price of a plane that was going to be ordered.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump is referring to the Lockheed F-35 program. Again, he is taking credit for something that had already been negotiated, a claim that had previously earned him Four Pinocchios. The Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump had met with Lockheed’s chief executive.
“Look at what’s happening in Chicago. Hundreds of shootings. Hundreds of deaths. I’ll tell you what’s happening in Chicago and many other places.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28“Inner cities” is not a category by which crime is measured, and Trump often uses this term to refer to large, urban cities. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Now you know the countries we’re talking about. And these were countries picked by Obama.”
Repeated on Jan. 29Four countries were identified by Congress, in a bill signed by Obama, and then the Obama administration added three more. But Obama — and Democrats in Congress — wanted to require greater visa scrutiny of people who had traveled to those countries. When given a chance, the Obama administration specifically rejected the citizenship-based restrictions that Trump ordered. So there were significant differences in the approach.
“You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
Repeated on Feb. 19 Feb. 20 Feb. 24 Mar. 22This was a very strange comment. Nothing had happened the night before in Sweden, as Swedes quickly noted.
“We’ve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country. And there was no way to vet those people. There was no documentation. There was no nothing.”
Repeated on Jan. 26This is false. The vetting of refugees is careful and takes about two years, including FBI screening, Department of Homeland Security interviews and extensive security and background checks.
“You look at some states, [health insurance premiums in] Arizona up 116 percent.”
Repeated on Feb. 27 Mar. 10 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 20Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, actually saw a decrease.
“Obamacare doesn’t work. It’s become totally unaffordable.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29To put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Believe me, I and we inherited one big mess. That I can tell you.”
Repeated on Feb. 16The economy was in pretty good shape when Trump became president, especially compared with the economic crisis that Obama inherited in 2009. In January 2009, coinciding with the last labor report of the George W. Bush administration, nearly 800,000 jobs disappeared, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with the nearly 230,000 jobs added in January 2017. (Trump has given himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.)
“Look at what's happening to the stock market.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 16 Feb. 28 Mar. 2This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“We're seeing companies open up factories in America. We're seeing them keep jobs at home. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, just to name a very, very few, so many more already.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump repeatedly takes credit for business decisions unrelated to his presidency. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Meanwhile, the January jobs report, showing 230,000 jobs were created, reflects the last month of the Obama administration. The data was collected in early January, when Obama was still president.
“A new Rasmussen poll just came out just a very short while ago, and it has our approval rating at 55 percent and going up.”
Repeated on Feb. 6Trump has a tendency to focus only on polls that are good for him. Rasmussen has a right-leaning bias and earns a C+ grade from FiveThirtyEight.com. Other polls show Trump with significantly lower approval ratings, such as Gallup (40 percent) and the Pew Research Center (39 percent).
“The stock market has hit record numbers.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 28 Mar. 2This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“Plants and factories are already starting to move back into the United States, and big league — Ford, General Motors, so many of them.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps giving himself credit for business decisions made before he became president. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Here’s what Ford chief executive Mark Fields said about the company’s decision to abandon plans to open a factory in Mexico: “The reason that we are not building the new plant, the primary reason, is just demand has gone down for small cars.”
“To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess.”
Repeated on Feb. 18Trump indicated he was backing up this statement by noting that “jobs are pouring out of the country. ... The Middle East is a disaster. North Korea.” The state of foreign policy is open to interpretation — Trump claimed he was developing “a plan for the defeat of ISIS,” the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. But the economy was in pretty good shape when Trump became president, especially compared with the economic crisis that Obama inherited in 2009. In January 2009, coinciding with the last labor report of the George W. Bush administration, nearly 800,000 jobs disappeared, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with the nearly 230,000 jobs added in January 2017. (Trump has given himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.)
“We got 306 [electoral college votes] because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen before, so that’s the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.”
Repeated on Jan. 25Trump was wrong on the size of his electoral college win. Of the nine presidential elections since 1984, Trump’s electoral college win ranks seventh. When a reporter pointed out his error, Trump first indicated that he was talking about Republican candidates. But George H.W. Bush received 426 electoral votes in 1988. Trump’s response: “I don’t know; I was given that information.”
“We've ordered a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal law and that harbor criminal aliens, and we have ordered an end to the policy of catch and release on the border. ... We are saving American lives every single day.”
Repeated on Feb. 5 Apr. 26There is limited research on the impact of sanctuary policies and crime. And the research that does exist challenges Trump’s claim. There’s no official definition of “sanctuary,” but it generally refers to rules restricting state and local governments from alerting federal authorities about people who may be in the country illegally. A handful of studies looked at whether there is a causation between sanctuary cities and crime. They either found no statistically significant impact of sanctuary policies on crime, or a reduction in crime due to immigrant-friendly policing strategies.
“In fact, we had to go quicker than we thought because of the bad decision we received from a circuit that has been overturned at a record number. I have heard 80 percent.”
Repeated on Mar. 15Trump is referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which ruled against reinstating his travel ban. But there are other ways to slice the data, and it’s important to put this number into context. Most cases reviewed by the Supreme Court are reversed, and the 9th Circuit rules on more cases in general. The 9th Circuit’s reversal rate was usually higher than the average, but not always the highest. None of the data supports Trump’s contention that the court is “in chaos” and “in turmoil.”
“We have also taken steps to begin construction of the Keystone Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipelines. Thousands and thousands of jobs, and put new buy-American measures in place to require American steel for American pipelines.”
Repeated on Jan. 24 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Mar. 28 Apr. 4 Apr. 29Trump, in saying “thousands and thousands of jobs,” leaves himself some wiggle room here. (He’d previously incorrectly said 28,000 jobs.) Moreover, some of these jobs have already been created. Workers in Arkansas, for instance, have already built about half of the high-strength line pipe needed for the project, some 333,000 tons.
“You [the media] have a lower approval rate than Congress. I think that’s right.”
Trump indicated that he wasn’t sure if this assertion is correct. It is not. The public’s trust in the media has certainly fallen over the years. But a 2016 Gallup poll shows that Congress is viewed positively by 9 percent of respondents, compared with 20 percent for newspapers and 21 percent for television. That’s not a high confidence level — besides Congress, only “big business” ranks lower than the media — but it’s enough to make Trump’s claim incorrect.
“When WikiLeaks, which I had nothing to do with, comes out and happens to give, they’re not giving classified information.”
WikiLeaks actually released hundreds of thousands of classified State Department cables, in a significant blow to U.S. diplomacy.
“Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates.”
Repeated on Mar. 22 Apr. 3Trump overstates the disclosure about Clinton reportedly getting a single debate question. During the Democratic primaries, a debate was held in Flint, Mich., to focus on the water crisis. Donna Brazile, then a CNN analyst, sent an email to the Clinton campaign saying that a woman with a rash from lead poisoning was going to ask what Clinton as president could do the help the people of Flint. There’s no indication Clinton was told this information, but in any case it’s a pretty obvious question for a debate being held in Flint.
“You know, they say I’m close to Russia. Hillary Clinton gave away 20 percent of the uranium in the United States. She’s close to Russia.”
Trump’s claim suggests the State Department had sole approval authority on a uranium rights deal with a company largely owned by Russia’s nuclear energy agency. But the State Department is one of nine agencies in the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States to vet and sign off on all U.S. transactions involving foreign governments. As we’ve noted before, there is no evidence Clinton herself got involved in the deal personally, and it is highly questionable that this deal even rose to the level of the secretary of state. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also needed to approve, and did approve, the transfer.
“We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court. Got a bad decision.”
Trump appears to have forgotten that imprecise wording in the executive order led to confusion over whether U.S. permanent residents — green-card holders — were also banned from returning to the United States. The White House counsel later issued guidance making clear that they were not covered. The Court of Appeals later said that the counsel’s statement was not a sufficient fix.
“Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia.”
Repeated on Feb. 7Trump met with the Russian ambassador before an April 2016 speech, according to news reports. He's being misleading when he says he has "nothing to do with Russia." Trump repeatedly sought deals in Russia. In 1987, he went to Moscow to find a site for a luxury hotel; no deal emerged. In 1996, he sought to build a condominium complex in Russia; that also did not succeed. In 2005, Trump signed a one-year deal with a New York development company to explore a Trump Tower in Moscow, but the effort fizzled.
“You go to some of these inner city places and it’s so sad when you look at the crime. You have people — and I’ve seen this, and I’ve sort of witnessed it — in fact, in two cases I have actually witnessed it. They lock themselves into apartments, petrified to even leave, in the middle of the day. They’re living in hell.”
Repeated on Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28“Inner cities” is not a category by which crime is measured, and Trump often uses this term to refer to large, urban cities. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize!”
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!”
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism - even before tax plan rollout!”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 28 Mar. 2This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“I will say that I never get phone calls from the media. How did they write a story like that in the Wall Street Journal without asking me or how did they write a story in the New York Times, put it on the front page?”
It is false that these newspapers did not call for comment.
“That’s the other thing that was wrong with the travel ban. You had Delta with a massive problem with their computer system at the airports.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 5Trump’s order, signed on the evening of Friday, Jan. 27, sparked delays, confusion and protests in airports that night and throughout the weekend. Delta’s computer glitch on the night of Sunday, Jan. 29, led to cancellations that night and into Monday morning — days after the first protests and delays due to Trump’s order.
“We've begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster, folks. It is a disaster.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29To put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
“Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion”
Repeated on Feb. 6Trump always uses too high an estimate, $150 billion, and makes it sound like the United States cut a check to Iran. But this was always Iran’s money. Iran had billions of dollars in assets that were frozen in foreign banks around the globe because of international sanctions over its nuclear program. The Treasury Department estimated that once Iran fulfilled other obligations, it would have about $55 billion left. The Central Bank of Iran said the number was actually $32 billion. And it's a stretch to say Iran was "ready to collapse.”
“Smart! ⬇ 'Kuwait issues its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries | Al Bawaba'”
Repeated on Feb. 4This story was posted on Trump's Facebook account, but it turned out to be fake news. Kuwait “categorically denies these claims,” the country’s foreign ministry said. Trump’s Facebook post has not been taken down.
“I love Australia as a country, but we had a problem where for whatever reason, President Obama said that they were going to take probably well over 1,000 illegal immigrants who were in prisons, and they were going to bring them and take them into this country. And I just said, ‘Why?’…1,250. It could be 2,000, it could be more than that.”
Repeated on Feb. 1Trump is referring to the estimated 1,250 refugees and asylum-seekers that the United States, under Obama, agreed to accept from an Australian detention center. Refugees and asylum-seekers who arrive illegally by boat in Australia are called “illegal maritime arrivals.” They can apply for two types of temporary visas, and some may qualify to apply for permanent residency.
“So what’s going on with autism? When you look at the tremendous increases, really, it’s such an incredible -- it’s like really a horrible thing to watch, the tremendous amount of increase.”
There’s not enough research and no medical consensus to determine whether autism is on the rise. The 2016 rates were consistent with the last published rate in 2014. The rate has gotten worse since 2000, but it's unclear how much of that is due to greater awareness, early detection, and the expansion of disorders included on the autism spectrum.
“The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?”
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“We really have done a great job. We’re actually taking people that are criminals — very, very, hardened criminals in some cases with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems — and we’re getting them out and that’s what I said I would do.”
Repeated on Feb. 12 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 20ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “very, very hardened criminals” that Trump describes.
“The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!”
Repeated on Feb. 13 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 20Trump is referring to the recent arrests of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes (“criminal aliens”). Trump takes credit for fulfilling his campaign promise of cracking down on illegal immigration, but these arrests are routine. ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests, however, did include people who would not have fallen under narrowed enforcement priorities under Obama. Still, 25 percent of the arrests were of people who had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the gang members or drug dealers that he describes.
 They said technical difficulties!”
This is not true. In an interview with Erin Burnett, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made a joke about Trump labeling CNN as “fake news.” After he made the joke, the audio cut off, and CNN cut to a commercial. Upon returning from the commercial, Burnett picked up where they left: “Senator, you were just talking — joking — about CNN, fake news.” Then Sanders went on to criticize Trump’s labeling of CNN as “fake news.”
“I am so proud of my daughter Ivanka.
Trump exaggerates by saying that Ivanka Trump was "abused and treated so badly by the media." His tweet was referring to news coverage about Nordstrom dropping her brand. There was no evidence that Nordstrom acted out of political considerations, or that news coverage attacked Ivanka Trump over the news. The company has maintained for months (including in internal emails) that it will base its decisions on sales performance. Internal records reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the sales of Ivanka Trump's brand fell 32 percent at Nordstrom last fiscal year.
“We've had Ford and General Motors and many, many others, Intel, yesterday made a major announcement and they did that because of what is happening with our tax structure which is going along very well.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump keeps giving himself credit for business decisions made before he became president. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Here’s what Ford chief executive Mark Fields said about the company’s decision to abandon plans to open a factory in Mexico: “The reason that we are not building the new plant, the primary reason, is just demand has gone down for small cars.”
“We're also working very much, and this has a lot to do with business, on health care, where we can get great health care for our country at a much-reduced price both to the people receiving the health care and to our country because our country is paying so much, and Obamacare as you know, is a total and complete disaster.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 27 Mar. 11 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 25 Apr. 23 Apr. 24 Apr. 28 Apr. 29To put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“We never even kept a small, just even a little tiny oil well; not one little well. I said keep the oil.”
Repeated on Jan. 25In 2015, Iraq produced about 4 million barrels a day, enough crude oil to fill more than 700 Trump Towers. Securing all of the oil, including in northern Iraq where the Islamic State exists, would require a military force larger than the one that invaded Iraq in 2003. It would also be considered a war crime.
“We've spent $6 trillion -- think of it -- as of about two months ago; $6 trillion in the Middle East. We've got nothing.”
Repeated on Jan. 25 Feb. 9 Feb. 24 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Mar. 22 Apr. 5Trump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“Ford is going to build -- you know, they canceled a big plant in a certain place, I won't say where -- a $2 billion plant. And they're building it in the United States, and they're expanding greatly.”
Repeated on Feb. 9 Feb. 10 Feb. 16 Feb. 17 Feb. 18 Feb. 24 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 6 Mar. 13 Mar. 15 Mar. 17 Mar. 21 Mar. 23 Mar. 24 Mar. 24 Mar. 28 Mar. 28 Mar. 29 Mar. 31 Apr. 2 Apr. 4 Apr. 11 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?”
Trump is wrong that the Connecticut Democrat had misrepresented Gorsuch’s remarks. Blumenthal’s account was immediately confirmed by Ron Bonjean, a member of the group guiding the judge through his confirmation process on behalf of the Trump administration.
“Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave ”service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!"
Cuomo’s first question to Blumenthal was: “What is your response to the president of the United States saying you should not be believed because you misrepresented your military record in the past?” Blumenthal ducked the question, but contrary to Trump’s tweet, the issue was raised.
“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!”
There is no evidence that Nordstrom acted out of political considerations. The company has maintained for months (including in internal emails) that it will base its decisions on sales performance. Internal records reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the sales of Ivanka Trump's brand fell 32 percent at Nordstrom last fiscal year.
“The murder rate in our country's the highest it's been in 47 years, right? Did you know that -- 47 years? I'd say that in a speech and everybody's surprised. Because the press doesn't tell it like it is. It wasn't to their advantage to say that.”
Trump often gets this statistic wrong. In 2015, there was the biggest percentage jump in a single year since 1970-1971, or 45 years ago. It was not the highest rate in 45 or 47 years. Overall, the rate of homicides and violent crimes are back down to the levels they were 45 years ago, and are at about half the rates at their peak in the 1980s and early 1990s.
“Years of getting approvals, nobody showed up to fight it, this company spends tremendous - hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars - and then all of a sudden people show up to fight it.”
As the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale notes, there were protests against the pipeline before it was granted approvals.
“I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!”
Repeated on Feb. 16Trump now claims he doesn’t know Russian President Vladimir Putin, but in the past, he had claimed he had spoken to him. Trump’s assertion he has “no deals in Russia” is misleading at best, since Trump has actively pursued deals there and has relied on Russia investors. As for the nuclear agreement with Iran, that agreement was forged with the assistance of diplomats from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. Obama did not negotiate it alone.
“It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats!”
This is false. Bill Clinton did not have a cabinet in place until March 11, George H.W. Bush had to wait till March 17 and Obama did not get a full cabinet until April 28. Trump would not have grounds to complain that at this point he has fewer Cabinet members confirmed than his predecessors. While Democrats have put up roadblocks, part of the reason for the delay is because paperwork has been slow in coming from some of Trump’s wealthier nominees.
“I saved more than $600 million. I got involved in negotiation on a fighter jet, the F-35. And by the way, Lockheed Martin, a great company.  I got involved, I saved more than $600 million.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump is referring to the Lockheed F-35 program. Again, he is taking credit for something that had already been negotiated, a claim that had previously earned him Four Pinocchios. The Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump had met with Lockheed’s chief executive.
“Many people have come out and said I am right...When you look at the registration, and you see dead people that have voted, that are on many, many dead people are on that have voted, when you see people that are registered in two states that voted in two states, when you see other things, when you see illegals, people that are not citizens, and they are on the registration rolls. See? What they do is they load up the registration rolls. There is a lot of bad things happening.”
In defending his claim that millions of people illegally voted in the election, Trump cited problems with registration. He appears to once again cite a 2012 Pew report that found that 2.75 million people were registered in more than one state but there is no evidence that any of them voted twice. There is also little evidence that "many dead people" voted.
“I have already saved more than $700 million when I got involved in the negotiation on the F-35. You know about that.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive.
“You've seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”
The press is reporting these cases. The White House later clarified to say Trump was referring to attacks that were underreported.
“We've already given them [Iran] billions and billions, probably $150 billion.”
Repeated on Feb. 2Trump always uses too high an estimate, $150 billion, and makes it sound like the United States cut a check to Iran. But this was always Iran’s money. Iran had billions of dollars in assets that were frozen in foreign banks around the globe because of international sanctions over its nuclear program. The Treasury Department estimated that once Iran fulfilled other obligations, it would have about $55 billion left. The Central Bank of Iran said the number was actually $32 billion.
“The previous administration allowed it to happen. Because we shouldn't have been in Iraq, but we shouldn't have gotten out the way we got out. It created a vacuum. ISIS was formed.”
This is false and facile. The terrorist group is the direct result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Trump had supported. The civil war that started in Syria in 2011 breathed new life into what had become a moribund organization. The conflict in Syria created a perfect vacuum in terms of governance, and so the civil war became an opportunity for the restoration of the organization. ISIS then saw opportunity to rebound in Iraq. One factor was the withdrawal of U.S. troops. But there was also rampant mismanagement by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which greatly degraded the Iraqi military and exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.
“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.”
Repeated on Feb. 16This odd tweet appeared aimed at reassuring Trump supporters after polls from CBS News, CNN/ORC, Gallup and Quinnipiac University showed majorities of Americans opposed to the order and its provisions. (Other polls indicated support for Trump’s order.) In the 2016 presidential election, while polls played down Trump’s chances of winning the electoral college, most nationwide polls actually were close to mark. The RealClearPolitics average showed Clinton ahead by 2.1 percentage points — exactly the margin she achieved in her popular-vote victory.
“The failing @nytimes was forced to apologize to its subscribers for the poor reporting it did on my election win. Now they are worse!”
Repeated on Jan. 28 Feb. 4 Feb. 16 Feb. 27 Mar. 29The Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“You had 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers and all we did was vet those people very, very carefully. ... It was 109 people.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 16Trump’s figures on the scope of the travel ban were ludicrously low. The universe of people likely affected by the travel suspension was around 60,000, according to the State Department — not 109. The White House later admitted the 109 figure reflected only the number of people who were affected by the ban and were in-flight at the time the order was signed
“We gave them $1.7 billion in cash, which is unheard of. And we put the money up, and we have really nothing to show for it.”
The payment was connected to a $1.7 billion settlement of claims with Iran announced by the State Department, in which $400 million was always Iran’s money. (The rest was negiotiated interest.) In the 1970s, the then-pro-Western Iranian government under the shah paid $400 million for U.S. military equipment. But the equipment was never delivered because the two countries broke off relations after the seizure of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. Trump says the United States has nothing to show for it, but the money was transferred on the same day four Americans being held in Iran were released, though the Obama administration denied there was any connection.
“I'm very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime. There's a lot of problems.”
Repeated on Feb. 16 Apr. 26There is limited research on the impact of sanctuary policies and crime. And the research that does exist challenges Trump’s claim. There’s no official definition of “sanctuary,” but it generally refers to rules restricting state and local governments from alerting federal authorities about people who may be in the country illegally. A handful of studies looked at whether there is a causation between sanctuary cities and crime. They either found no statistically significant impact of sanctuary policies on crime, or a reduction in crime due to immigrant-friendly policing strategies.
On 3 million illegal immigrants voting: ”Well, many people have come out and said I am right, you know that."
Repeated on Jan. 23This is a fantasy, worthy of Four Pinocchios. Trump is obsessed with how he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, and so he keeps making this claim even though there is no evidence to support it.
“I've been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.”
False. There is zero evidence of his early opposition to the invasion.
“After being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!”
Repeated on Jan. 28 Feb. 6 Feb. 27 Mar. 29The Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!”
Repeated on Feb. 2Trump appears to referring to a news story he posted on his Facebook account — that Kuwait had issued “its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries.” Trump added: “Smart!” But it turned out this was fake news. Kuwait “categorically denies these claims,” the country’s foreign ministry said. Trump’s Facebook post has not been taken down.
“What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?”
Trump tweeted a number of critical comments about the “so-called judge” who halted the president’s travel ban of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The judiciary was established in the U.S. Constitution as a third branch of government (along with the executive and legislative branches), part of the complex system of checks and balances that ensures the continuation of democracy. Marbury v. Madison, a Supreme Court case decided more than 200 years ago, helped establish the notion of judicial review and cemented the notion that the judiciary was equal in power to the president and Congress.
“Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision”
There is little evidence that the ruling halting Trump’s order has allowed “very bad and dangerous people” to pour into the country. The practical effect of the order was to restore visas and refugee admissions. Being accepted as a refugee in the United States is a difficult, lengthy process. Obtaining a U.S. visa generally requires an in-person interview, unless you are a citizen of one of 38 countries that participate in the visa-waiver program. Under a 2015 law, however, four of the seven countries covered in the ban require even dual citizens to have an in-person interview.
“Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump seems to be citing a segment of Sean Hannity’s show, during which Hannity questioned whether there was a paid effort to galvanize protesters showing up at airports in the wake of Trump’s immigration executive order. But there’s no evidence there were paid protesters at airports. There were reports that a group called “Demand Protest” was paying people to protest against Trump on the day of his inauguration, but Snopes.com debunked that claim.
“We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses. They can't borrow money. They just can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.”
If Trump were just talking about all business loans, his statement would be wrong. Commercial lending is at record highs. The picture is murkier if he were referring only to small businesses, as the White House claims. Trump specifically mentioned the “rules and regulations” of Dodd-Frank. The law was not intended to target community banks, and it carved out many exemptions. But regulatory oversight appears to have become tougher, so a case could be made that the post-Dodd-Frank regulatory environment made it harder for community banks to make small-business loans.
“Countries charge U.S. companies taxes or tariffs while the U.S. charges them nothing or little.We should charge them SAME as they charge us!”
Many countries — but not the United States — have a value-added tax, in which tax is collected at each stage in the production or distribution of a product or service. But with refunds, the burden is really paid by the final consumer. Moreover, the VAT also affects domestic producers. In terms of tariffs, it is incorrect the United States charges “nothing or little.” The United States imposes tariffs on Chinese goods, but they are not as high as Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods.
“The January employment report shows that the private sector added 237,000 jobs last month. A lot of that has to do with the spirit our country now has.”
Trump gives himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.
“Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!”
Trump and his administration have quibbled with the news media’s use of the word “ban” to describe the executive order. But Trump himself called it a ban.
“If you remember, I wasn’t going to do well with the African American community, and after they heard me speaking and talking about the inner city and lots of other things, we ended up getting — I won’t go into details — but we ended up getting substantially more than other candidates who had run in the past years. And now we’re going to take that to new levels.”
Repeated on Feb. 28Trump got 8 percent of the African American vote versus 6 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012 and 4 percent for John McCain in 2008. But Romney and McCain were running against the first African American candidate, Obama. Strictly by the numbers, Trump actually did worse among blacks than any Republican running against a white man, though in effect he came close to tying George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.
“Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why?
Repeated on Feb. 2Trump is referring to the estimated 1,250 (not “thousands”) refugees and asylum-seekers that the United States, under Obama, agreed to accept from an Australian detention center. Refugees and asylum-seekers who arrive illegally by boat in Australia are called “illegal maritime arrivals.” They can apply for two types of temporary visas, and some may qualify to apply for permanent residency.
“Overregulation costs our economy an estimated $2 trillion a year, which is incredible -- $2 trillion -- and it costs your businesses a lot of money, tremendous amounts of money and time.”
Trump presents an unbalanced figure. Various organizations have come up with similar estimates on the cost of regulations. But there is an important element missing in the use of this somewhat sketchy figure — the benefit side of the analysis. Every regulation has costs — but also benefits.
“The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ”intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!"
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia”
Actually, The Post is doing great. The Times, like The Post, has seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“Every other country lives on devaluation.You look at what China's doing, you look at what Japan has done over the years.
Repeated on Apr. 2His rhetoric is way out of date. Not only is the United States not being hurt by China’s current currency manipulation, China is also not devaluing its currency anymore. In fact, China is selling foreign currency to prop up its own, in an effort to prevent the yuan from depreciating further and destabilizing the Chinese and global economy.
“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,..... protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”
Repeated on Feb. 5 Feb. 16The Trump White House’s figures on the scope of the travel ban were ludicrously low. The universe of people likely affected by the travel suspension was around 60,000, according to the State Department — not 109. The White House later admitted the 109 figure reflected only the number of people who were affected by the ban and were in-flight at the time the order was signed.
“But we cut approximately $600 million off the F-35 fighter, and that only amounts to 90 planes out of close to 3,000 planes. And when you think about $600 million, it was announced by Marillyn, who's very talented, the head of Lockheed Martin.”
Repeated on Jan. 30 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 18 Feb. 22 Feb. 23 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Mar. 15 Mar. 20 Mar. 21 Apr. 6 Apr. 21 Apr. 29Trump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive.
“If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the 'bad' would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad 'dudes' out there!”
It typically takes weeks or months to get a tourist visa to enter the United States. It certainly would take months for “bad guys,” presumably with records that would take longer for background checks, to receive a tourist visa.
“My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months.”
This was a facile claim, as there were many differences. Obama responded to an actual threat — the discovery that two Iraqi refugees had been implicated in bombmaking in Iraq that had targeted U.S. troops. Second, Obama did not announce a ban on visa applications -- and in fact never banned visas in the first place. Third, Obama’s policy did not prevent all citizens of that country, including green-card holders, from traveling to the United States.
“The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror.”
Repeated on Feb. 18Four countries were identified by Congress, in a bill signed by Obama, and then the Obama administration added three more. But Obama — and Democrats in Congress — wanted to require greater visa scrutiny of people who had traveled to those countries. When given a chance, the Obama administration specifically rejected the citizenship-based restrictions that Trump ordered. So there were significant differences in the approach.
“Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its..... ...dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST”
Repeated on Feb. 4 Feb. 6 Feb. 27 Mar. 29The New York Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers. (The Post announced at the end of 2016 that it is “profitable and growing.”)
“They’ve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria, it was impossible, at least very tough, to get into the United States? If you were a Muslim, you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible, and the reason that was so unfair, everybody was persecuted in all fairness, but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair.”
Trump goes too far to claim that it is “very tough” for Syrian Christians to become refugees in the United States and that they have been “horribly treated.” While it is correct that a relatively small percentage of Syrian refugees have been admitted, the experience of Iraqi refugees is exactly the opposite, even though the same U.N. agency handles the refugee requests. The basic fact is that no one fully understands why there is such a disparity, though it appears connected to the roots the Syrians have with Lebanon.
“The Cuban Americans — I got 84 percent of that vote, and they voted in big numbers.”
Trump received 54 percent of the vote in Florida, according to National Election Pool exit poll data. (There is no national poll since two-thirds of eligible Cuban voters live in Florida.)
“I remember hearing [when I was young] from one of my instructors, ‘The United States has never lost a war.’ And then, after that, it’s like we haven’t won anything. We don’t win anymore.”
This is debatable. At the very least, one might count the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War and the end of the Cold War as victories for the United States.
“I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”
The media simply reported what Trump said about the intelligence community. On Dec. 9, when The Washington Post reported that intelligence officials had concluded that Russia had sought to undermine Hillary Clinton in the election, the Trump team issued a statement: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” After information leaked that Trump had been briefed that an unverified dossier alleged Russia had embarrassing information about him, Trump lashed out at the intelligence agencies and asked, “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
“I looked out, the field was — it looked like a million, million and a half people….The rest of the 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument, was packed.”
Repeated on Jan. 20 Jan. 22 Jan. 25Speaking to employees at the CIA, Trump complained about news coverage showing his inauguration crowd was smaller than Barack Obama’s crowd in 2009. Trump’s crowd did not go all the way to the Washington Monument. No matter how you calculate it, Trump’s crowd was significantly smaller than Obama’s crowd — and the Women’s March on Washington the next day.
“We have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine. … I’ve been on it for 15 times this year.”
Trump has been on the cover of Time magazine a total of 11 times. Richard Nixon holds the record: 55. Depending on whether you count small photographs, Hillary Clinton has been on the cover between 22 and 31 times.
“I just signed two executive orders that will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars.”
Trump lauded two executive actions regarding immigration and border security, including building a wall along the border of Mexico. The numbers appear to have little basis in reality. Just building the wall is estimated to cost as much as $25 billion -- before annual maintenance costs.
“Before we go any further, I want to recognize the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and Border Patrol officers in this room today and to honor their service and not just because they unanimously endorsed me for president.”
The unions for ICE agents and Border Patrol officers did endorse Trump in the 2016 campaign. But they did not do so unanimously. The National Border Patrol Council endorsement was based just on the vote of 11 union leaders, which sparked controversy among union members. Agents in El Paso, in a 14-to-13 vote, narrowly failed to have the local union disavow the endorsement.
“We ended up winning by a massive amount, 306. I needed 270. We got 306.”
Repeated on Feb. 16Trump’s electoral college margin was relatively narrow by historical standards. He ranks 46th out of 58 elections. A switch of about 40,000 votes in three states would have swung the election to Clinton.
“Then he’s groveling again. You know I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear.”
Trump attacked the author of a 2012 Pew Center on the States report for saying his report did not back up Trump’s claims of voter fraud. Trump suggested the researcher had changed his tune, but when the report was issued, the author repeatedly explained it did not reflect voter fraud.