12 Lies From Donald Trump’s Press Conference Today

Donald Trump had a truly crazy press conference today. It was filled with classic Donald Trump ranting and mistruths. So we thought we’d highlight all the lies that we could catch.

WARNING: there were so many lies that we probably didn’t cover all of them. So if we missed a few, please forgive us and feel free to send us a note with any lies we missed.

Trump lie #1 – “I inherited a mess domestically”

Trump said he inherited a mess. Suggesting that he inherited a bad economy that is losing jobs. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Trump inherited a tremendously strong economy.

Here is a chart of the unemployment rate over the last 10 years provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that disproves Donald Trump’s claim:

Unemployment rate 2007 to 2017

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

And here is a clip from a CNN segment just after the press conference knocking down Trump’s claim of inheriting a mess:

Trump lie #2 – “I inherited a mess abroad”

Trump also tried to suggest that he has inherited a mess when it comes to ISIS. However, the facts suggest otherwise. Barack Obama left office with ISIS at its weakest point ever. It’s also important to note that Al Qaeda also has been largely decimated.

Trump lie #3 – The media is lying about me

Trump said, “The media has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people if we don’t talk about it. Tremendous disservice. We had to talk about it because the press honestly is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.”

Trump continued, “The media is going through what they have to go through to often times distort, not all the time, and some of it is fantastic.”

This, of course, is Trump’s technique of trying to distract from all the bad news he is facing.

And the impartial fact-checking group, PolitiFact has determined that at least 84% of what Donald Trump says is some form of a lie – totally false, false, mostly false, half false. You didn’t read that wrong – 84% of the time Donald Trump is lying.

Donald Trump's PolitiFact scorecard

Source: PolitiFact

Trump lie #4 – “This administration is running like a finely tuned machine.”

Again, any objective observer would tell you this is just not true. The Trump White House is in chaos. White House staffers are on a daily basis leaking stories to the press about how poorly things are going. Not to mention that less than 25 days into his presidency, Trump has already lost: his Labor Secretary pick, nearly every court challenge to his Muslim-ban, and of course his National Security Adviser to what might be the biggest political scandal in American history. And it was reported Thursday that Trump has even lost his replacement pick for National Security Adviser.

Oh yeah, and his Muslim-ban has been knocked down in courts all over the country and the administration is twisting in the wind trying to figure out how to defend it in court.

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Trump lie #5 – There is tremendous violence in the country

Trump again tried to paint a picture of a country plagued with violence. But this is not true. Crime, particularly murder, is at a historic multi-decade low.

Murder rate near 45-year low

Source: CNN

 

CNN: “But the reason there’s no reporting on a 45- or 47-year high murder rate is because the US murder rate isn’t even close to such record highs.”

Trump lie #6 – What Michael Flynn did wasn’t wrong

Sorry, Donald, what Michael Flynn did was likely a violation of the Logan Act, which prevents civilians from trying to influence foreign policy. Trump said that Flynn was just doing his job. The problem is that it was not Michael Flynn’s job, he was not an employee of the government at the time, which makes it illegal for him to try to influence foreign policy.

And don’t forget that Flynn’s actions came at the same time that President Obama was placing new sanctions on Russia. So technically, it was Susan Rice’s job at the time.

Here is a description from the New York Times about the Logan Act: “The Logan Act is a 1799 statute that bars private citizens from interfering with diplomatic relations between the United States and foreign governments. It makes it a felony, punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to three years, if an American citizen, without government authorization, interacts ‘with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.'”

The Times went on to quote Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe who argued that the fact that Flynn’s conversations took place during Trump’s transition period, the Logan Act still applies.

Tribe said, “A president-elect is not an official of the United States,” Mr. Tribe said. “There is no reason why the Logan Act would not apply to the president-elect since it applies to all private citizens, and the people working on the transition are all working in a private-citizen capacity. They have not taken the oath, so they are covered by the act — to the extent that matters.”

Trump lie #7 – The New York Times is failing

Turns out that the New York Times subscriptions are at an all time high. Here is a Twitter exchange between Trump and the New York Times where the Times confirms their subscriptions are at an all time high.

Here is an article from CNBC also disproving Trump’s claim: New York Times subscription growth soars tenfold, adding 132,000, after Trump’s win

Trump lie #8 – Russia story is fake news

Sorry Donald. Again this not only not fake news, but likely to be the biggest political scandal in our lifetimes.

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Trump lie #9 – His electoral college victory is largest since Reagan

Nope. Totally false Donald. Here is how CBS News responded: “That claim is false.”

“In 2012, President Obama defeated his GOP rival, Mitt Romney, with 332 electoral votes. In 2008, Obama won the election against Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, with 365 electoral votes.

“In 1996, President Clinton defeated Republican Bob Dole with 379 votes. In 1992, Clinton won against President George H.W. Bush, the incumbent, with 370 electoral votes. In 1988, Bush won the presidency with 426 votes.”

So basically every Electoral College winner since Reagan, with the exception of George W Bush, had a better margin than Trump. But you know, who needs those fake facts.

Trump lie #10 – The news is fake (but the leaks are real)

Donald Trump got called out by a reporter who asked how can the news be fake if the leaks are real. Well Trump didn’t have much of an answer for that.

Sorry Donald, the news can’t be fake if the leaks are real. Reality doesn’t work that way.

Trump lie #11 – Airport chaos from Muslim-ban was Delta’s fault

Trump again said that the roll out of the Muslim-ban went really well and suggested that any problems are due to Delta. Not true. The roll out of the Muslim-ban was in fact very poorly executed. We reported on the Muslim-ban chaos here.

Here is what the Washington Post said about Trump’s attempt to blame Delta for his Muslim-ban chaos: “In fact, Delta’s computer problems began a full 48 hours after Trump signed his executive order Friday afternoon. The airline’s IT systems went down about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, causing Delta to cancel 170 flights that evening and an additional 80 flights Monday, although the systems were restored by midnight Sunday, Delta said.”

Trump lie #12 – Trump said he got 306 Electoral College votes

Well again this is not true. Donald Trump received 304 Electoral College votes. Sorry Donald. Here is what CNN said, “Trump received 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227.”

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