According to PolitiFact, a whopping 70% of Trump’s claims are untrue. “Debates are about each candidate laying out their vision for America, not making things up.
Clinton Campaign: Trump Cannot Pass Debate Test If He Repeats These Debunked Lies
In a prebuttal to the first presidential debate, Hillary for America officials today released a damning list of Donald Trump’s most discredited lies from the campaign so far, and said that repeating these false claims would make it impossible for him to get a passing grade in Monday’s critical test before the voters. According to PolitiFact, a whopping 70% of Trump’s claims are untrue.
“Debates are about each candidate laying out their vision for America, not making things up. Donald Trump has shown a clear pattern of repeating provably false lies and hoping no one corrects him. Voters and viewers should keep track: any candidate who tells this many lies clearly can’t win the debate on the merits,” said HFA Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri.
Trump’s Seven Deadly Lies
- FALSE: Trump opposed the Iraq War.
Washington Post: Trump: “I was totally against the war in Iraq.” // Four Pinocchios.
“As our timeline shows, Trump was not ‘totally’ against the Iraq War. Trump expressed lukewarm support the first time he was asked about it on Sept. 11, 2002, and was not clearly against it until he was quoted in the August 2004 Esquire cover story. (We even made a video documenting how this is a bogus claim.) Yet he repeatedly claims he opposed the war from the beginning — and thus, earns Four Pinocchios.”
- FALSE: Trump opposed intervention in Libya.
Factcheck.org: Donald Trump on Libya, May 20 interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”: I would have stayed out of Libya.” // False.
“Trump’s claim that he ‘would have stayed out of Libya’ doesn’t square with his comments at the time. In February 2011, Trump, referring to Gadhafi, said that the U.S. should go into Libya ‘on a humanitarian basis’ and ‘knock this guy out very quickly, very surgically, very effectively and save the lives.’”
- FALSE: Clinton supports open borders.
PolitiFact: Trump says Clinton wants to create ‘totally open borders.’ // False
“This is a huge distortion of Clinton’s proposals. Clinton has praised work already done to secure the border, and she said she supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions more in border security while creating a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. Her plan calls for protecting the border and targeting deportation to criminals and security threats.”
- FALSE: Clinton wants to get rid of the Second Amendment.
ABC News: “Claim: Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment” // False.
“When Trump made this same claim earlier in the cycle, Politifact rated the claim false after finding no evidence of Clinton ever advocating for the abolishment of the Second Amendment… Bottom line: there’s no evidence to support Trump’s claim.
PolitiFact: “Donald Trump falsely claims Hillary Clinton ‘wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment,’” // False.
“We found no evidence of Clinton ever saying verbatim or suggesting explicitly that she wants to abolish the Second Amendment, and the bulk of Clinton’s comments suggest the opposite. She has repeatedly said she wants to protect the right to bear arms while enacting measures to prevent gun violence.”
- FALSE: President Obama and Clinton founded ISIS.
Washington Post: “Is Obama the founder of ISIS?” // Absolutely not.
“Absolutely not. It’s like saying that Ronald Reagan is the founder of al-Qaeda because the arms he sent to the mujahideen in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion led to the creation of al-Qaeda. It’s a ludicrous claim.”
Washington Post: “Trump also claims Hillary Clinton was a “co-founder” of ISIS. Does that make sense?” // No.
“No. Within the administration, Clinton was one of the loudest forces for keeping a residual force in Iraq and for intervening in Syria, such as arming the rebels. So the criticism especially does not apply to her, since she advocated a more hawkish policy than was undertaken by Obama.”
- FALSE: Clinton would allow 620,000 refugees into the U.S. with no vetting.
Washington Post: Trump: “This includes her plan to bring in 620,000 new refugees from Syria and that region over a short period of time.” // This is an “invented figure.”
“Trump has used this number before, but it stems from the unverified assumption that Clinton, who has called for 55,000 additional refugees from Syria, would continue at that pace for every year of her first term, on top of the Obama administration’s proposal for 100,000 refugees for fiscal year 2017. Trump then multiplies 155,000 times four years to reach 620,000 refugees. Clinton has never proposed such a “plan,” so this is an invented figure.”
Washington Post: Trump: “Under the Clinton plan, you’d be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of the children and their children.” // “It’s false…”
“Trump has repeatedly made this “hundreds of thousands” claim, usually referring to Syria, but it’s false… Trump also falsely claims there is “no system to vet” refugees. The process actually takes two more years, after vetting that starts with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and then continues with checks by U.S. intelligence and security agencies.”
- FALSE: Trump will make Mexico pay for the wall.
NPR Fact Check: Trump: “And Mexico will pay for the wall. 100 percent.” // Mexican President “would not pay” for the wall.
“After his meeting with Donald Trump today, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto reiterated his insistence that Mexico would not pay for construction of a border wall. Peña Nieto said he made that clear to Trump during their meeting, although Trump told reporters that the issue of payment was not discussed. — Scott Horsley”
TRUMP’S LIES ON DOMESTIC POLICY
Clean Energy and Climate Change
Factcheck.org: Trump suggested “there is no drought” in California because the state has “plenty of water.” // False
Factcheck.org: He also said water is being shoved “out to sea” to protect a “three-inch fish” at the expense of farmers. // False
Factcheck.org: Trump said wind farms in the U.S. “kill more than 1 million birds a year.” // No evidence
Politifact: In California, "the windmills are killing hundreds and hundreds of eagles." // Mostly False
Factcheck.org: Trump said “hairspray’s not like it used to be” because chemicals in it that affect the ozone layer have been banned…. He also said using hairspray in his apartment, “which is all sealed,” would prevent any ozone-depleting substances from escaping into the environment. // False
WRAL: "It could be warming and it's going to start to cool at some point," Trump said in a September radio interview. "And you know in the 1920s people talked about global cooling. I don't know if you know that or not. They thought the Earth was cooling. Now it's global warming. Actually, we've had times where the weather wasn't working out so they changed it to extreme weather and they have all different names, you know, so that it fits the bill." // “Nonsense”
Crime and Policing
Vox: Trump retweeted a chart detailing USA homicide statistics that indicated "the real problem in the criminal justice system is not police brutality or racial bias but black people themselves" // “...the numbers in Trump’s Tweet are completely wrong.”
Vox: Trump says: "Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administration’s rollback of criminal enforcement." // Baseless
ABC News: “Claim: Crime has increased under Obama’s presidency.” // False
Associated Press: “TRUMP: "Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administration's rollback of criminal enforcement.” // “President Barack Obama has actually achieved some big increases in spending for state and local law enforcement.”
Politifact: "Crime is rising." // Pants on Fire
Politifact: Trump: "Inner-city crime is reaching record levels." // Pants on Fire
Washington Post: Trump: "The policies put into place by Rudy ultimately brought down crime by 76 percent and murder by 84 percent." // Three Pinocchios
Washington Post: “You know, I’m looking at statistics where your crime numbers are so crazy, they’re going through the roof, so we can’t have it anymore.” // Four Pinocchios
NPR: Donald Trump claim: President Obama “has made America a more dangerous environment that frankly that I have ever seen of anybody in this room has ever watched or seen.” // “The Brennan Center for Justice says overall crime rates from 2014 to 2015 were ‘nearly identical.’”
Factcheck.org: Trump: "There are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously." // False
Economy, Jobs, Labor and Wages
Huffington Post: Trump on America: “We don’t have money.” // “We’re the richest country in the world, and maybe in world history.”
New York Times: Trump: "G.D.P. was zero, essentially, for the last two quarters." // “Essentially wrong”
Huffington Post: “The world is taking advantage of the United States and it’s driving us into literally being a third world nation.” // “The United States is not ‘literally’ turning into a third world nation.”
Factcheck.org: Donald Trump told an audience in New Jersey that he has more employees “than almost anybody in New Jersey.” // False
Factcheck.org: “Trump claimed credit for getting Ford Motor Co. to move a plant from Mexico to Ohio.” // “Ford says that’s baloney.”
Vox: Trump says: "Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African-American and Latino workers." // FALSE
Associated Press: TRUMP on the unemployment rate: "This 5 percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics." // THE FACTS: “The unemployment rate ... is not a ‘hoax.’”
Washington Post: Trump: “Right now, 92 million Americans are on the sideline outside of the workforce, and they’re not a part of our economy. It’s a silent nation of jobless Americans.” // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: Trump: "Fifty-eight percent of your [African American] youth is unemployed." // Four Pinocchios
CNN: “Trump also said that ‘58% of African-American youth are not employed.’" // FALSE
PolitiFact: Trump: "Youth unemployment is through the roof." // False
NBC News: “TRUMP CLAIM: Nearly four in 10 African-American children are living in poverty, while 58 percent of African-American youth are now not employed.” // “Trump isn't correct that 58 percent of African American youth are unemployed.”
Washington Post: Trump: "Since President Obama came into office, another 2 million Hispanics have joined the ranks of those in poverty." // Three Pinocchios
PolitiFact: Trump: "Since President Obama came into office, another 2 million Hispanics have joined the ranks of those in poverty.” // Mostly False
Washington Post: Trump: “2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the President took his oath of office.” // “Trump is being misleading”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "Two million more Latinos are in poverty today than when President Obama took his oath of office less than eight years ago. Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.” // “THE FACTS: Trump is playing with numbers to make the economy look worse than it actually is.”
PolitiFact: "Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don't believe the 5.6. Don't believe it." // False
Factcheck.org: the “real” unemployment rate is “anywhere from 18 to 20 percent” and “maybe even 21 percent.” // “We see no factual basis for this opinion.”
Associated Press: TRUMP, on 14 million people leaving the workforce during Obama's presidency: "My economic plan rejects the cynicism that says our labor force will keep declining." // THE FACTS: “It's not cynicism that's the problem, it's mostly aging.”
Factcheck.org: “Trump said in June “there are no jobs” to be had.” // “Official statistics were showing 5.4 million job openings -- the most in 15 years”
Vox: Trump says: "Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely." // FALSE
Washington Post: Donald Trump claim: “Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.” // “Yet another misleading figure.”
Health Care
Huffington Post: Trump: “Obamacare is a disaster.” // “It’s actually pretty OK.”
FactCheck.org: Trump said that he’d repeal the Affordable Care Act and ‘you will be able to choose your own doctor again.’” // “Trump used a popular false talking point about the Affordable Care Act.”
Associated Press: Trump: "We will repeal and replace job-killing Obamacare. It is a total disaster." // “Job growth has been solid by historical standards since Obama's health care overhaul was signed into law in March 2010.”
Immigration
Washington Post: Trump: “There are scores of recent migrants inside our borders charged with terrorism. For every case known to the public, there are dozens and dozens more. We must stop importing extremism through senseless immigration policies.” // Four Pinocchios
CNN: Mexico sends its criminals across the border // FALSE
National Journal: Illegal immigration was not a major campaign issue until Trump brought it up. // FALSE
Politifact: Trump says Clinton wants to “Create totally open borders.” // FALSE
Politico: “If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn’t even be talking about it. This was not a subject on anybody’s mind until I brought it up at my announcement." // “Politicians have been debating immigration policy for way longer than the life of the billionaire's two-month old presidential campaign.”
Huffington Post: Trump: “We have at least 11 million [illegal immigrants in the U.S.]. Some people think it could be 31 million, it’s somewhere in between.” // “...there is virtually no evidence that the real number could be even a few million higher than 11 million.”
Factcheck.org: "Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion a year just to maintain what we have." // “We cannot find any support for Trump’s claim...”
Factcheck.org: Trump said Mexico doesn’t have a birthright citizenship policy. // “It does”
Factcheck.org: "And by the way Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn’t have that,” Trump said, referring to birthright citizenship. // “Incorrect - Mexico does have such a policy”
Associated Press: "Our country is out of control. People are pouring through the southern border." // “Trump's suggestion that illegal immigration is increasing at the border is not supported...”
Vox: Trump says: "By ending catch and release on the border, we will stop the cycle of human smuggling and violence. Illegal border crossings will go down. We will stop it. It won’t be happening very much anymore. Peace will be restored." // Baseless
NPR: Donald Trump claim: “One more child to sacrifice on the order and on the altar of open borders.” // “America does not have ‘open borders.’”
Washington Post: Trump: “We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the Middle East every year.” // “Trump overstates the figure here.”
Associated Press: TRUMP, on the number of people in the U.S. illegally: "Our government has no idea. It could be 3 million, it could be 30 million. They have no idea." // THE FACTS: “The Homeland Security Department estimates there are 11.4 million people in the United States illegally. Few in the immigration debate challenge that estimate.”
Screening Refugees
PolitiFact: "This is a war against people that are vicious, violent people, that we have no idea who they are, where they come from. We are allowing tens of thousands of them into our country now." // Pants on Fire
FactCheck.org: FactCheck.org: “Trump said that ‘there’s no way to screen’ those refugees to determine ‘who they are or where they come from.’ // “That’s false.”
Vox: Trump says: "There’s no way to screen these refugees in order to find out who they are or where they come from." // FALSE
ABC News: “Claim: There is no way to screen Syrian refugees.” // False
Vox: "We're not screening people." // “Trump is wrong…”
NBC News: Trump wrong in saying there is no way to screen Syrian refugees // “Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any visitors to the U.S., and the process historically takes up to 16-24 months.”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "My opponent has called for a radical 550 percent increase in Syrian (refugees). ... She proposes this despite the fact that there's no way to screen these refugees in order to find out who they are or where they come from. I only want to admit individuals into our country who will support our values and love our people." // “Trump persists in making the bogus claim that the U.S. doesn't screen refugees.”
Washington Post: “Under the Clinton plan, you’d be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of the children and their children.” // “Trump also falsely claims there is “no system to vet” refugees…”
Huffington Post: “We have no idea who they are, we have no idea where is their paperwork. They have no paperwork; they have no identification.” — Trump on Syrian refugees. // “Syrian refugees are the most heavily vetted group coming to the U.S. The process takes a year and a half to two years.”
Washington Post: “Even our own FBI director has admitted that we cannot effectively check the backgrounds of people we’re letting into America.” // “Trump overstated what FBI Director James Comey said in congressional testimony.”
PolitiFact: Germany "is crime-riddled right now" because of migration to Europe. // Mostly False
Washington Post: Trump falsely claims that U.S. lacks screening for refugees // FALSE
FactCheck.org: Trump claimed Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine "wrote a letter very recently asking for more [Syrian refugees] than even Hillary [Clinton] wants." // FALSE
Politifact: There is "no system to vet" refugees from the Middle East. // False
Vox: "Altogether under the Clinton plan, you'd be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to prevent radicalization of the children and their children." // “Trump is wrong here as well…”
Factcheck.org: Trump wrongly claimed that “Syrian refugees are being relocated in large numbers to New Mexico.” // False
NPR: Donald Trump claim: “...there's no way to screen these refugees in order to find out who they are or where they come from.” // False
NPR: “Trump wrongly says Clinton would admit refugees without screening procedures” // FALSE
Taxation
Factcheck.org: Trump said his tax plan is revenue neutral. // Nope
PolitiFact: "We're the highest taxed nation in the world." // FALSE
Vox: Trump says: "America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world. Reducing taxes will cause new companies and new jobs to come roaring back into our country." // FALSE
Washington Post: Donald Trump claim: “America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world.” // “[T]he United States isn’t anywhere near the top among industrialized nations.”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world.” // “THE FACTS: Trump continues to repeat this inaccuracy.”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "We are one of the highest taxed nations in the world." // “This repeated claim by Trump is wrong.”
New York Times: "Right now, we're the highest-taxed country in the world." // “Not even close.”
Trade
FactCheck.org: Trump said President Obama “crippled us” with “a huge trade deficit.” // “Actually, the trade deficit has gone down under Obama.”
Washington Post: Trump: “Yesterday for the first time she said she wants to renegotiate trade agreements. First time, yesterday. Well, because of me.” // Four Pinocchios
CNN: Trump alleged that Clinton was responsible for the theft of "billions and billions of dollars in our intellectual property, and China has taken it. And it's a crime which is continuously going on, and it's going on right now." // FALSE
PolitiFact: Trump said Hillary Clinton "has even deleted this record of total support (for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement) from her book." // Pants on Fire
CNN: Trump: "Our trade deficit with China soared 40% during Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state -- a disgraceful performance for which she should not be congratulated, but rather scorned." // FALSE
Factcheck.org: Donald Trump on the trade deficit, May 5 rally in West Virginia: “Every single country in the world that does business with us beats us on trade. ” // “The U.S. doesn’t get beat by “every single country” on trade…”
Washington Post: Trump: “Hillary Clinton has also been the biggest promoter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will ship millions more of our jobs overseas and give up congressional power to an international foreign commission.” // “Clinton, as secretary of state, supported TPP negotiations but once the trade pact with 12 Asian rim nations was completed, she announced she opposed it.”
Huffington Post: Trump: “A lot of people are sending goods over to other countries, and especially goods that can spoil like what you do. They send over to other countries, and the other country refuses to accept them, and yet we accept their goods without tax, without anything.” // FALSE
Veterans and the Military
Associated Press: TRUMP: Asked about the problem of sexual assault within the military, said, " ... the best thing we can do is set up a court system within the military. Right now, the court system practically doesn't exist." // THE FACTS: “The U.S. military already has an extensive justice system, one with roots in the U.S. Constitution.”
Washington Post: Trump on sexual assault in the military: "What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together [in the military]?" // Three Pinocchios
Politifact: "I wanted to keep it private, because I don't think it's anybody's business if I want to send money to the vets." // Pants on Fire
Associated Press: TRUMP: "And right now, we are not strong. Believe me, we have a depleted military. We have the greatest people in the world in our military. But it is very sadly depleted." // “THE FACTS: The U.S. military, by far the world's largest and most powerful, is by no means depleted…”
Associated Press: TRUMP, on people illegally in the U.S.: "They're treated better than our vets." // “THE FACTS: People in the country illegally do not have the right to work, vote or receive most government benefits.”
TRUMP’S LIES ON FOREIGN POLICY
Foreign Policy, National Security and Defense
Washington Post: “Trump’s claim that ‘we’re not allowed to profile’ potential terrorists” // Four Pinocchios
PolitiFact: "Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don't know if it worked." // False
PolitiFact: “CIA Director George told the Bush administration that the Sept 11 attacks terrorist attacks was coming, so they did have advanced notice” // FALSE
Washington Post: Trump: “We shouldn’t have destabilized — Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy. Really bad guy. But you know what, he did well. He killed terrorists. He did that so good.” // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: ”Trump On Saddam Hussein: “You know what he did well?” he asked a campaign crowd in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday night. “He killed terrorists. He did that so good.” // “Donald Trump gives credit where credit isn’t due when he brands Saddam Hussein a potent foil of terrorists.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump said the families of some Sept. 11 hijackers were allowed to leave the U.S. days before the attacks.” // “The 9/11 Commission begs to differ.”
FactCheck: Trump boasted that he “predicted Osama bin Laden.” // “Nope.”
PolitiFact: Donald Trump accuses Hillary Clinton of lying about his views on a nuclear-armed Japan. // Mostly False
PolitiFact: “They said I want Japan to … get nuclear weapons. Give me a break." // MOSTLY FALSE
Washington Post: Trump: “A neighbor saw suspicious behavior [in San Bernardino]. Bombs on the floor and other things, but didn’t warn authorities because they said they didn’t want to be accused of racial profiling.” // “There is no evidence this was the case.”
Factcheck.org: “Trump said the mother of the San Bernardino shooter had advance knowledge of her son’s plans.” // “Officials have made no such charges or accusations.”
Politico: “The killer [In Orlando], whose name I will not use or ever say, was born in Afghan, of Afghan parents, who immigrated to the United States.” // “No gray area here: Omar Mateen was born in New York City 29 years ago.”
CNN: Trump claimed Clinton's "support for violent regime change in Syria has thrown the country into one of the bloodiest civil wars anyone has ever seen." // FALSE
Washington Post: “They [Muslims] knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didn’t turn them in.” // “There is no evidence this was the case.”
Huffington Post: Trump: “Thousands and thousands of people are infiltrating our country.” // “There is no evidence that ‘thousands and thousands’ of terrorists are infiltrating our country.”
Iraq
Washington Post: Trump: "I was totally against the war in Iraq." // Four Pinocchios
NBC News: “But Trump disputed Clinton's account, saying he was consistently against the invasion [of Iraq].” // VERDICT: False
Politifact: Trump: "I was totally against the war in Iraq, saying for many years that it would destabilize the Middle East." // FALSE
Factcheck.org: Trump claimed he was “totally against” the Iraq War and warned “that it would destabilize the Middle East.” // “There is no public record of him being against the war before it started.”
Washington Post: George Stephanopoulos: “You were for it [the Iraq War], though, before you were against it.” Trump: “No, I wasn’t. I was never for it. I was against it — before it ever started, I was against it. And I was against it from before 2004. I was against the war in Iraq, and I was against it for years. And [President George W.] Bush used to hate me for being so against it, and they sent people from the White House to try and convince me. All I’d say is, ‘It will destabilize the Middle East, and Iran will take over the Middle East.’ And that’s exactly what happened.” // Four Pinocchios
NBC News: Trump: "It all started with her bad judgment in supporting the War in Iraq in the first place. Though I was not in government service, I was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started." // FALSE
Politico: “I am the only person on this dais, the only person that fought very, very hard against us — and I wasn’t a sitting politician — going into Iraq. Because I said going into Iraq, that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out, I’ll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it.” // "The reality is that he publicly came out against the war nearly a year and half after the invasion"
Washington Post: Trump: “But I have been just as clear in saying what a catastrophic mistake Hillary Clinton and President Obama made with the reckless way in which they pulled out.” // “Trump criticizes the 2011 withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, saying Obama “got us out the wrong way.” But Trump supported rapid withdrawal as early as March 2007, saying the United States should “declare victory and leave.” So once again Trump criticizes Obama and Clinton for taking action he advocated.”
Factcheck.org: Trump blamed Clinton for the “disastrous strategy of announcing our departure from Iraq, handing large parts of the country over to ISIS and the ISIS killers.” // “The departure date was set by President George W. Bush.”
Iran
ABC News: “Claim: The U.S. gave Iran $150 billion for ‘nothing.’ // False
Associated Press: “Donald Trump is dramatically describing a video that he says shows the U.S. paying off Iran as part of a deal to release U.S. sailors from Iranian custody.” // “There's no evidence such a tape exists.”
NPR: Donald Trump claim: The Iran Deal “gave back to Iran $150 billion and gave us absolutely nothing – it will go down in history as one of the worst deals ever negotiated.” // “PolitiFact has debunked this”
Vox: Trump says: "Iran is on a path to nuclear weapons." // FALSE
Vox: Trump says: "The Iran deal ... gave back to Iran $150 billion and gave us nothing – it will go down in history as one of the worst deals ever made." // FALSE
Washington Post: Trump: “Our incompetent secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was the one who started talks to give 400 million dollars, in cash, to Iran. Scandal!” // Four Pinocchios
CBS News: Fact check: Did Trump see "money pouring off a plane" in Iran? // “The footage does not show pallets of cash. Nor is it the work of Iranian state TV shot in Tehran, as Trump claimed.”
ISIS
Washington Post: Trump: “ISIS is honoring President Obama. He’s the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS.” // "Absolutely not... It’s a ludicrous claim."
Washington Post: Trump: Hillary Clinton "lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS.”// Four Pinocchios
Politifact: Trump: "ISIS is making millions of dollars a week selling Libyan oil." // FALSE
Politifact: Trump: "Hillary Clinton invented ISIS with her stupid policies. She is responsible for ISIS." // FALSE
Washington Post: “Trump claimed Hillary Clinton was a ‘co-founder’ of ISIS.” / “No.”
Washington Post: Trump: “The rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.” // “This is false and facile.”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "In many respects, you know, they (IS militants) honor President Obama." // “THE FACTS: To the contrary”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "He is the founder of ISIS," he said Wednesday night, using one acronym for Islamic State. On Thursday, he told CNBC: "He was the founder of ISIS, absolutely. The way he removed our troops. ... He shouldn't have got out the way he got out. It was a disaster what he did. " // “THE FACTS: The founder of the group was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi… As for the manner of the U.S. withdrawal, Trump actually wanted U.S. troops out years earlier than Obama brought them out.”
Huffington Post: TRUMP: “Lots of things (terrorism plotting activities) happening in the mosques, that’s been proven.” // “THE FACTS: There haven’t been mosques connected to Islamic State attacks in the U.S.”
Politifact: Trump: "In 2009, pre-Hillary, ISIS was not even on the map." // Mostly false
Washington Post: Trump: “And now ISIS is making millions and millions of dollars a week selling Libya oil.” // Four Pinocchios
Politifact: The Islamic State "just built a hotel in Syria." // False
Libya
Politifact: On Libya intervention, Trump says, "I never discussed that subject." // “Pants on Fire”
Factcheck.org: Donald Trump on Libya, May 20 interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”: I would have stayed out of Libya.” // False
Washington Post: Trump: “The failures in Iraq were compounded by Hillary Clinton’s disaster in Libya. President Obama has since said he regards Libya as his worst mistake.” // “First of all, Trump was a fervent advocate of intervening in Libya. Second, Trump misquotes Obama.”
NATO
Huffington Post: Trump: “We’re spending a tremendous — billions and billions of dollars on NATO.” // “Actually, America’s direct spending on NATO is about $500 million annually.”
Washington Post: “I was asked a question recently by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and he talked about NATO. I gave a great answer. I gave an answer that at first people didn’t like, and then they said, ‘You know what, Trump is right,’ experts said. I said it’s obsolete and too many people are getting a free ride because we’re funding 72, 73 percent of NATO.” // Three Pinocchios
Washington Post: “NATO is unfair, economically, to us, to the United States. Because it really helps them more so than the United States, and we pay a disproportionate share.” // Three Pinocchios
Associated Press: TRUMP: "We pick up 73 percent of the cost of NATO. We're paying to protect them. Wouldn't it be nice if people would pay, and we could do things properly? ... That's got to change." // “No…”
PBS: TRUMP: “We pick up 73 percent of the cost of NATO. We’re paying to protect them. Wouldn’t it be nice if people would pay, and we could do things properly? … That’s got to change.” // “No…”
Politifact: Trump: "I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats." // FALSE
Russia
Washington Post: Trump: “ have nothing to do with Russia — for anything.” // Four Pinocchios
New York Times: Mr. Trump denies that he ever praised President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. // “But he did”
FactCheck.org: Donald Trump continues to make the puffed-up assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a “genius.” // FALSE
Politifact: Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin "calls me brilliant." // Mostly False
Washington Post: Trump: “I think when he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment, okay?” // “As we have noted before, Putin did not called Trump “brilliant” or a “genius.” [...] This has been frequently noted, but Trump refuses to change his false characterization of Putin’s statement.”
TRUMP’S LIES ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON
Clinton’s Proposed Policies
Associated Press: “Trump claimed Clinton has been running a policy-free campaign, lacking specific proposals.” // “It's actually Trump who's the newcomer to policy specifics... her campaign has produced so many pages of policy that they've been turned into a book.”
Politifact: Trump: "My opponent has no child care plan." // Pants on Fire
Politifact: Trump says Hillary Clinton has "not answered a single question" about her immigration plan. // Pants on Fire
Politifact: Trump: "Hillary Clinton says she wants to, ‘raise taxes on the middle class.’ " // Pants on Fire
Politifact: Trump says Hillary Clinton "wants to raise taxes on African-American owned businesses to as much as nearly 50 percent more than they're paying now." // FALSE
Politifact: Trump said Hillary Clinton's plan "would tax many small businesses by almost 50 percent."// “The surcharge "is not targeted to small business. It's a wealthy person's tax”
PolitiFact: It "is Hillary Clinton's agenda" to "release the violent criminals from jail. She wants them all released." // Pants On Fire
Washington Post: Trump: “This includes her plan to bring in 620,000 new refugees from Syria and that region over a short period of time.” // “Clinton has never proposed such a ‘plan,’ so this is an invented figure.”
Politico: "Hillary Clinton is the first person in history to run for the presidency who is proposing to abolish the borders around the country that she is supposed to protect," Trump said // “The statement, which is not remotely close to being true…”
Washington Post: Trump: In Hillary Clinton’s America, “illegal immigrants … [are] collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line.” // Four Pinocchios
Politifact: Trump said Hillary Clinton is "proposing to print instant work permits for millions of illegal immigrants to come in and take everybody's jobs, including low-income African-Americans." // FALSE
Politifact: Trump: "Hillary Clinton wants to shut down family farms" using "radical regulation," by raising business tax "rates as high as nearly 50 percent" and by taxing "family farms again at death by as much as 45 percent." // FALSE
PolitiFact: “Donald Trump falsely claims Hillary Clinton 'wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment'” // FALSE
NBC News: Trump: "Her plan is to disarm law-abiding Americans, abolishing the 2nd amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns." // “In no way has Clinton proposed to abolish the Second amendment.”
ABC News: “Claim: Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment.” // False.
Vox: "[Hillary Clinton] says the solution is to ban guns. ... She wants to take away Americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. Let them come into the country. We don't have guns. ... She wants to take away Americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. Let them come into the country. We don't have guns. Let them come in, let them have all the fun they want." // “Clinton has not called for anything remotely resembling a ban on guns...”
Washington Post: “Her plan is to disarm law abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns….She wants to take away American’s guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us.” // “Nope, Clinton does not want to abolish the Second Amendment.”
PolitiFact: Trump said Hillary Clinton "wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment." // FALSE
NPR: Trump claim: “Hillary Clinton's message is that things will never change. Never ever.” // “Clinton has reams of plans and proposals to change everything from the nation's immigration system and criminal justice policies to the way people pay for college.”
Associated Press: TRUMP: "My opponent wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment.” // “THE FACTS: Hillary Clinton has not proposed any revocation of the constitutionally protected right to bear arms.”
VOX: Trump says: "My opponent wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment." // FALSE
Clinton’s Record
CNN: "After 15 years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness." // FALSE
Associated Press: Trump: "In just four years, Secretary Clinton managed to almost single-handedly destabilize the entire Middle East." He blamed her for an invasion of Libya that "handed the country over to ISIS," for making Iran the dominant Islamic power in the region and for supporting regime change in Syria that led to a bloody civil war. He charged that her "disastrous strategy" of announcing a departure date from Iraq created another opening for ISIS there. “These statements make only passing acquaintance with reality.”
Washington Post: Trump: "Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails." // Four Pinocchios
NBC News: Trump: "Her server was easily hacked by foreign governments — perhaps even by her financial backers in Communist China — putting all of America in danger." // “...there is no evidence of penetration of the servers by hackers…”
Politifact: Trump: "Just look at what the FBI director said about her (Hillary Clinton) — her misconduct is a disgrace and embarrassment to our country." // FALSE
CNN: "And when a secretary of state illegally stores her emails on a private server, deletes 33,000 of them so the authorities can't see her crime, puts our country at risk, lies about it in every different form and faces no consequence -- I know that corruption has reached a level like never, ever before." "When the FBI director says that the secretary of state was 'extremely careless' and 'negligent' in handling our classified secrets, I also know that these terms are minor compared to what she actually did," Trump said. // FALSE
NPR: Trump: “I am certain that [putting Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy] was a decision that President Obama truly regrets.” // “President Obama has enthusiastically endorsed Clinton, so it would seem unlikely that he regrets choosing her to be his secretary of state.”
Associated Press: “TRUMP: "When a secretary of state illegally stores her emails on a private server” // “THE FACTS: Clinton's use of a private server to store her emails was not illegal under federal law.”
VOX: Trump says: "When the FBI director says that the secretary of state was 'extremely careless' and 'negligent' in handling our classified secrets, I also know that these terms are minor compared to what she actually did." // FALSE
Factcheck.org: Trump said Clinton ‘illegally’ stored emails on her private server while secretary of state, and deleted 33,000 of them ‘so the authorities can’t see her crime.’” // “The FBI on July 5 cleared Clinton of wrongdoing, and found no evidence of a cover-up.”
Politifact: “In response to FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that his agency will not recommend criminal charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server as secretary of state, Trump tweeted: ‘The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.’” // Two Pinocchios
Politifact: Trump: "We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion. Now, she's been in the public eye for years and years, and yet there's no — there's nothing out there." // Pants on Fire
Factcheck.org: Donald Trump claimed there’s “nothing out there” about Hillary Clinton’s religion even though “she’s been in the public eye for years and years.” // FALSE
Factcheck.org: Trump claimed that the private server that Clinton used as secretary of state “was easily hacked by foreign governments.” // “Attempts were made to hack into Clinton’s server, but… there has been no evidence to date that any of them were successful.”
NBC News: Trump recklessly accuses Clinton of using State Department for personal financial gain // “No evidence of quid pro quo”
Politifact: Trump: "As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton laundered money to Bill Clinton through Laureate Education, while Bill Clinton was an honorary chairman of the group." // FALSE
Politifact: Trump said Hillary Clinton’s State Department "approved the transfer of 20 percent of America’s uranium holdings to Russia, while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation." // Mostly False: “there’s simply no proof of any quid pro quo.”
Politifact: “Trump said Hillary Clinton ‘filibustered legislation to reform’ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” // FALSE
CNN: “Trump said Clinton ran the State Department like her own personal hedge fund, doing favors for oppressive regimes and many others in exchange for cash.” // FALSE
CNN: “Trump asserted that Clinton's private email server was hacked when she was secretary of state.” // FALSE
Factcheck: “Trump lies in saying Clinton has not expressed her religious beliefs” // FALSE
Washington Post: “Donald Trump “called theories of possible foul play ‘very serious’ and the circumstances of [Vince] Foster’s death ‘very fishy.’” // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: “Trump campaign claimed that State Department gave $55.2 million to Laureate Education after hiring Bill Clinton.” // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: Trump: “Look at Benghazi, our ambassador. He wired [Clinton] 500 or 600 times asking for help.” // Two Pinocchios
Politifact: Trump: The Benghazi victims were "left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed." // FALSE
CNN: Trump: "Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate. They needed help. Hillary Clinton's State Department refused them all. She started the war that put them in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die."// FALSE
Washington Post: Trump: “He [Ambassador Christopher Stevens] was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed.”// No evidence.
Washington Post: Trump: “Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate. They needed help. Hillary Clinton’s State Department refused them all.” // “No requests from Stevens for additional security went directly to Clinton, and ‘hundreds and hundreds’ of requests is likely an exaggerated figure.”
NPR: Trump: "Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate, they needed help. Hillary Clinton's State Department refused them all. She started the war that put them in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die. To cover her tracks, Hillary lied about the video being the cause of death, the famous video." // “Clinton said she relied on lower-level officials to make determinations about a security presence at the compound and had not personally denied any requests for more security there.”
CNN: Trump: "Ambassador Stevens and his staff in Libya made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate. They needed help. Hillary Clinton's State Department refused them all. She started the war that put them in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die." // FALSE
TPM: “Trump said Clinton ‘soundly slept in her bed’ through a 3 a.m. phone call warning that the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya was under attack in 2012. Trump said Clinton left Ambassador Chris Stevens ‘helpless to die’ and that she ‘refused’ his requests for security.” // “During her eleven-hour testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Clinton explained that the news of the attack broke at around 9 p.m. on the East Coast, where she was working from home.”
FactCheck.org: Trump says that “instead of taking charge” during the Benghazi attacks, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “decided to go home and sleep.” // “The evidence shows Clinton was fully engaged in the immediate response, and subsequent congressional investigations concluded the government response to the attack — including Clinton’s — was appropriate.”
FactCheck.org: Trump claimed that Clinton failed to take charge during the Benghazi attacks, and instead “decided to go home and sleep.” // “The evidence shows Clinton was actively involved in responding to the attacks, and subsequent investigations concluded the government response was appropriate.”
TRUMP’S LIES ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA
President Obama And Foreign Leaders
Washington Post: Trump: “It all began in 2009 with what has become known as President Obama’s global ‘Apology Tour.’” // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: “He [Obama] gave the world his apology tour.” // “We gave the claim Four Pinocchios in 2011.”
Washington Post: Trump: “I think it’s very sad, when he [Obama] lands in Saudi Arabia, and he lands in Cuba, and there aren’t high officials to even greet him. This is the first time in the history — the storied history of Air Force One.” // Four Pinocchios
Huffington Post: “Nobody respects our president.” // “Reality: This is false in the U.S. and abroad”
Washington Post: “The truth is they [other countries] don’t respect us. When President Obama landed in Cuba on Air Force One, no leader was there, nobody, to greet him. Perhaps an incident without precedent in the long and prestigious history of Air Force One. Then amazingly, the same thing happened in Saudi Arabia. It’s called no respect.” // Four Pinocchios
Birtherism
PolitiFact: “Donald Trump's Pants on Fire claim that he 'finished' the Obama birther talk” // Pants On Fire
PolitiFact: Trump: "The birther movement was started by Hillary Clinton in 2008. She was all in!" // FALSE
Washington Post: Trump: "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008, started the birther controversy." // Four Pinocchios
Washington Post: “You know who started the birther movement? You know who started it? Do you know who questioned his birth certificate, one of the first? Hillary Clinton. She’s the one that started it. She brought it up years before it was brought up by me.” // Four Pinocchios
Associated Press: Trump: "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it," the Republican presidential nominee said last week. "President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period." // “Trump's new allegation that it was all Clinton's fault is as untrue as his original lie.”
FactCheck.org: Donald Trump again has repeated the false claim that Hillary Clinton “started” the so-called “birther” movement against Barack Obama in 2008. // “As we wrote last year, there’s no evidence that Clinton or her campaign had anything to do with bogus claims that Obama wasn’t born in the United States and thus was ineligible to be president.”
PolitiFact: “Hillary started the birther movement” // FALSE
PolitiFact: Trump: "Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy." // FALSE
TRUMP’S LIES ABOUT TRUMP
His 2016 Campaign
Politifact: "In the history of Republican primaries, I’ve gotten the most votes in the history of the Republican party.” // FALSE
Factcheck.org: Trump claimed his campaign is “100 percent” self-funded. // Nope
Fox News: "I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money." // “No he’s not”
New York Times: “I am self-funding my own campaign. I have no people giving me money.” // “Hasn’t been true for months”
New York Times: “Donald J. Trump suggested he was not soliciting campaign contributions.” // “His "Donate" button suggests otherwise.”
PolitiFact: He "never once asked that [Megyn Kelly] be removed." // FALSE
PolitiFact: Trump: "We have a fire marshal that said, 'Oh we can't allow more people’ ... And the reason they won't let them in is because they don't know what the hell they're doing." // Pants on Fire)
PolitiFact: Trump: "I’m beating (Kelly Ayotte) in the polls by a lot." // Pants on Fire
Politifact: “Facing backlash for encouraging violence against protestors at his rallies, Trump denied that he once promised to pay the legal fees of supporters who roughed up protesters. ‘I don’t condone violence,’ Trump said on ABC. ‘I never said I was going to pay for fees.’" // “But this is what he told supporters in Iowa a month earlier: ‘If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.’”
His Personal Wealth, Financial History
Washington Post: Trump: “It has not been easy for me. And you know I started off in Brooklyn, my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.” // Four Pinocchios
AP: "I built a net worth of more than $10 billion." // Yet other assessments put his wealth at far less
Factcheck.org: “Donald Trump repeated his claim that his net worth is $10 billion” // “But outside estimates are far lower”
Associated Press: Trump: "I started off in Brooklyn, New York, not so long ago, with a small loan and built a business that today is worth well over $10 billion." // “Trump's $1 million loan from his father was just the beginning of his family subsidies, which included a far larger inheritance, loan guarantees and even occasional bailouts — one of which was found to be illegal by New Jersey casino regulators...and every independent appraisal has found his assets to be worth far less than he says.”
New York Times: “Trump defended his business record, recalling that he began his career in Brooklyn with a small loan and built a business worth more than $10 billion. ‘I have always had a talent for building businesses and, importantly, creating jobs,’ he said. ‘That is a talent our country desperately needs.’” // “This substantially understates the financial assistance that Trump received from his father.”
Huffington Post: TRUMP: “I started off with a very, very small amount of money.” // “His father gave him a $1 million loan, which is objectively not a small amount of money.”
Huffington Post: TRUMP: “My father didn’t leave a great fortune.” // “FALSE: Citing the Trump family’s own estimate, the New York Times reported that when Fred Trump died in 1999, he was worth $250-300 million.”
Huffington Post: “Now I’m worth over $10 billion.” // “THE FACTS: Forbes put it at around $4.5 billion.”
The Divisive Things He Has Said
Factcheck.org: “Trump denied that he ever called female adversaries some of these things: “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.” // “He used all of those terms”
National Journal: “He called ‘only Rose O'Donnell’ a pig, a slob, and a dog.” // “False, many times over”
Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s revisionist history of mocking a disabled reporter” // Four Pinocchios
Politifact: “Responding to an attack ad, Trump charged Clinton with lying about him mocking a disabled reporter.” // “But he did. There’s video evidence of him mimicking the reporter’s angled hands while flailing his arms and shouting in a strange voice.”
PolitiFact: "Why do you refer to some Republicans and conservatives as losers?" a reporter asked at a May press conference (around the 34:40 mark). "No, no, I didn’t say that. I said (Weekly Standard editor) Bill Kristol is a loser," Trump replied, then took it back. "I didn’t say everybody. Many, but I didn’t say everybody." // “Trump’s usage of the word ‘loser’ is downright idiosyncratic.”
Politifact: “Trump: ‘I never said’ that Muslims would be subject to profiling under his policies.” // False
AND MUCH MORE:
PolitiFact: Trump said the U.S. election system is "rigged." // Pants on Fire
FactCheck.org: Donald Trump claimed that a federal judge presiding over a civil lawsuit against the defunct Trump University is a “member of a club or society very strongly pro-Mexican.” // “Not accurate”
Politifact: Says Judge Gonzalo Curiel "is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican." // MOSTLY FALSE
Washington Post: “[Judge Gonzalo Curiel] is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago on summary judgment. The best lawyers — I have spoken to so many lawyers — they said, this is not a case. This is a case that should have ended.” // Four Pinocchios
PolitiFact: Trump suggested that Cruz’s ‘father was with Lee Harvey Oswald’ // Pants on Fire
New York Times: “I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.” // “A lot of rumors. No proof.”
PolitiFact: Trump: "thousands and thousands of people were cheering" on 9/11 // Pants on Fire
PolitiFact: Trump: "As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games." // Pants on Fire
PolitiFact: Said his book, The Art of the Deal, is "the No. 1 selling business book of all time." // FALSE
PolitiFact: Trump on Feb. 28, 2016: "I don’t know anything about David Duke" // Pants on Fire
Politico: “We’ve had so many instances — people that work for me, just the other day. Two years old, 2 ½ years old, a child, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine, and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.” // “Totally unsupported by medical evidence.”
PolitiFact: We’ve broken "by millions" the all-time record for votes in a GOP presidential primary election. (False)
Factcheck.org: “Trump told the story of a 2-year old who got autism a week after the child got a vaccine.” // “There’s no evidence of such a link.”
Politifact: "You have to be a citizen to vote," but with same-day voter registration, "you have places where people just walk in and vote." // FALSE
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