Trump lies

[stpioc]

It is really pretty blatant..

For example, in the six full months that Trump has been in office – February 2017 to July 2017 – the economy added 1.07 million jobs. That’s not bad. But over a comparable period last year – February 2016 to July 2016 – the economy added 1.24 million jobs. For the comparable period the year before – February 2015 to July 2015 – the economy added 1.37 million jobs. For the comparable period the year before that – February 2014 to July 2014 – the economy added 1.51 million jobs. For the comparable period the year before that – February 2013 to July 2013 – the economy added 1.17 million jobs. In other words, Trump and his Republican allies are impressed that the economy created a million jobs over the first six months of Trump’s presidency. What they don’t appear to realize is that these are the weakest job numbers over the same period in five years.

The part of the job numbers Team Trump doesn't want to talk about | MSNBC

• He is now touting job numbers that are actually worse than the numbers before his presidency, which he called totally fake news (he argued that the real unemployment rate was 42%, see below).
  
• He claims credit for the job numbers even if he hasn't instigated any major policies which would affect them in any significant way.
  

In case you doubted:

We may assume President Trump is quite pleased with the strong jobs report from his first full month in office: He retweeted the Drudge Report's triumphant “GREAT AGAIN” framing of the numbers Friday morning, after touting employment figures released by payroll firm ADP earlier in the week. Not so long ago, however, Trump's view of the monthly jobs report, which comes courtesy of the nonpartisan federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, was markedly different. As recently as December, he described the report as “totally fiction.” 

If there was any argument over whether Trump was flip-flopping on the jobs report at the precise moment it reflected positively on him, White House press secretary Sean Spicer laid it to rest Friday afternoon, telling reporters: “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.' ”

19 times Trump called jobs numbers ‘fake’ before they made him look good - The Washington Post

The article found 19 cases where Trump argues the numbers are fake. He hasn't been making that argument since his election, while the numbers are still produced in the same way, by the same bureau..

[Admin]

And then there is the new state TV of course..

At one point in the video, McEnany credits Trump with creating "more than 1 million jobs" — a characterization Tapper objected to. "That's interesting language," Tapper said. "She claimed that President Trump himself has created more than 1 million jobs. Not business owners, not Congress, not Wall Street, not investors, not hardworking small businessmen and women — President Trump created those jobs. That's their idea of real news."

Jake Tapper blasts Kayleigh McEnany's surreal pro-Trump video - Business Insider

Amazing how these same figures go from being total bogus to suddenly marvelous (even if they're actually a bit below the last five years) and then touted as Trump's own achievement.

The US will fall apart on this kind of stuff sooner or later. It's surreal.

[stpioc]

And here is yet another lie..

Contrary to an assertion made by President Trump on August 14, 2017, that Democrats were responsible for “some of the worst trade deals in World History,” almost all US free trade agreements were advanced by Republican administrations.

Nearly All US Trade Deals Were Negotiated, Signed, and Implemented by Republicans | PIIE

[Admin]

The Trump administration has rejected a coal-industry push to win a rarely used emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants, a decision one executive said breaks a personal promise from President Donald Trump to take the extraordinary step to benefit the industry. The Energy Department says it considered issuing the order sought by companies seeking relief for plants it says are overburdened by environmental regulations and market stresses. But the department ultimately ruled it was unnecessary, and the White House agreed, a spokeswoman said.

Donald Trump rebuffs coal industry; CEO claims promise broken - Business Insider

[Admin]

Remember this one?

The Justice Department confirmed in a court briefing filed late Friday that neither it nor the FBI has evidence that Trump Tower was the target of surveillance efforts by the Obama administration during the 2016 presidential election. The Motion for Summary Judgement was filed in D.C. district court in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the watchdog group American Oversight, which is seeking government records of surveillance in Trump Tower.

The motion confirms that neither the FBI nor the Justice Department's National Security Division have records documenting wiretaps as alleged by President Trump in a series of tweets earlier this year. In March, Trump wrote on Twitter that he had he discovered that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower wiretapped during the runup to the November election, which he called "McCarthyism."

Justice Dept: No evidence of Trump Tower wiretapping | TheHill

[Admin]

He just simply cannot open his mouth without lying:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday used former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as a misleading example of rising healthcare premiums.
"We're going to have to do something on Obamacare because it is failing," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "Henry Kissinger does not want to pay 116% increase in his premiums, but that's what's happening and it's actually getting worse." Trump appeared to be citing the statistic for the average increase between 2016 and 2017 in premium costs for a plan purchased on the Obamacare individual insurance exchange in Arizona, which was 116% before subsidies were included.

Kissinger, however, likely has not experienced financial stress from the healthcare law. For one, Kissinger lives in New York, where Obamacare premiums increased 16.6% on the individual exchange last year. Kissinger, 94, is also on Medicare — the government sponsored insurance program for older Americans. While there were some changes to Medicare under Obamacare, Trump's concerns about the exchanges have nothing to do with the program.

In addition to the statement about Kissinger, Trump reiterated that he plans to roll out a series of healthcare-related executive orders in the coming days that would allow for association health plans and other modified types of insurance. "I'll also be signing something probably this week which is going to go a long way to take care of so many of the people that have been so badly hurt on healthcare," Trump said.

Incidentally, most health policy experts predict that older Americans and those with health conditions, like Kissinger, could face higher costs under Trump's planned executive orders.

Trump on Henry Kissinger, healthcare, Obamacare - Business Insider

President Donald Trump began his morning by tweeting that The New York Times "set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation."

But by Tuesday afternoon, The Times released audio of Corker explicitly asking for his bombshell interview to be recorded. "I know they're recording it," Corker said of his aides who were also on the line with him and a Times reporter. "And I hope you are, too."

New York Times debunks Trump’s claim that the paper 'set up' Bob Corker - Business Insider

[Admin]

On Wednesday, Trump claimed that a congresswoman’s account of his phone call to Myeshia Johnson, a military widow, was fake news. He said that he had proof she was lying.

Follow Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad! 8:25 AM - Oct 18, 2017 79,615 79,615 Replies 25,274 25,274 Retweets 97,850 97,850 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy

Trump was responded to Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), who overheard Trump’s call with Myeshia Johnson and told reporters that Trump made insensitive comments to her, including telling her that her husband — Sgt. La David T. Johnson, a U.S. solider who was killed on October 4 in Niger — “knew what he was signing up for.”

During a White House briefing on Thursday, Chief of Staff John Kelly attacked Wilson for listening in on the call, despite the fact Johnson’s family invited her to do so. But Kelly also confirmed that Wilson’s account of the conversation was true. “I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning — and broken-hearted — at what I saw a member of Congress doing,” Kelly, a former general whose son was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2010, said. “A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President of the United States to a young wife, and in his way tried to express that opinion that he’s a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted — there’s no reason to enlist, he enlisted — and we was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken.” “That was the message — that was the message that was transmitted,” Kelly continued. “It stuns me that a member of Congress would’ve listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.”

Rep. Wilson wasn’t the only person who said Trump’s comments to Myeshia were disrespectful. Sgt. Johnson’s mother — Cowanda Jones-Johnson — confirmed Wilson’s account of the call to multiple media outlets and said the president “did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband.” On Wednesday, Trump claimed that Wilson changed her story, which she had not.

Yesterday, Trump said it was fake news. His chief of staff just confirmed it was true. – ThinkProgress

That's two lies from the President, even if we take into account that he didn't mean to be insensitive in that phone call. 

And then Kelly also misrepresented another fact about the Congresswoman:

White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly on Thursday erroneously claimed that Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida, claimed credit for securing "$20 million" in federal funding to build a new FBI field office in Miami in 2015, according to a video of the dedication ceremony posted Friday by the Sun Sentinel. Accusing her of being an "empty barrel," Kelly said Wilson focused more on her own actions than the heroism of the two FBI agents for whom the new building had been named.

While Wilson took credit in her speech at the dedication ceremony for shepherding legislation naming the FBI building after two FBI agents who were killed in a 1986 gunfight, she did not claim credit for helping to fund the building, according to the video. Wilson also spent a considerable portion of her remarks praising the valor of law enforcement, retelling the story of the two slain FBI agents and calling on those who work in the field to stand and be recognized. The White House did not directly respond to the video that contradicts the chief of staff's claims, and instead repeated Kelly's criticism of Wilson as "an empty barrel."

Kelly erroneously claimed Wilson took credit for building funding - CNNPolitics

And despite hard evidence the White House refused to back down.

Kelly’s lamentation about women and Gold Star families no longer being sacred was odd, given that his boss has been accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women and viciously attacked a Gold Star family that spoke out against his Islamophobia at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Yesterday, Trump said it was fake news. His chief of staff just confirmed it was true. – ThinkProgress

[Admin]

Former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush pushed back against President Trump's reported claim that the voice in the infamous 2005 backstage tape from the show was not him, accusing the president in a New York Times op-ed of engaging in "revisionist history." "President Trump is currently indulging in some revisionist history, reportedly telling allies, including at least one United States senator, that the voice on the tape is not his. This has hit a raw nerve in me," Bush wrote in the op-ed.

Billy Bush in NYT op-ed: Trump indulging in 'revisionist history' over 'Access Hollywood' tape | TheHill

[Admin]

During a brief press scrum before his speech to FBI agents on Friday morning, President Trump made his latest attempt to convince the American public that his campaign did not collude with Russia. As is his custom, the president enlisted a string of lies in the effort. Over the course of 90 seconds, Trump made at least seven false claims. Below the video is a transcription of Trump’s remarks, with fact-checks of his whoppers noted throughout.

Trump made at least 7 false claims about Russia in 90 seconds – ThinkProgress

See the linked article. What's new?

[Admin]

There he goes again, facts don't matter to this guy..

In Trump’s tweet, he once again references the “33,000” illegally deleted emails. But, here’s the thing, the emails aren’t actually “missing” or “illegally deleted.” We know what happened to them. During congressional testimony, Comey said that there was no “intentional misconduct” as it related to the destruction of the emails by Hillary Clinton. Sure, it sounds sketchy. However, Comey provided this explanation: …[W]e found no evidence that any of the additional work-related e-mails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them. Our assessment is that, like many e-mail users, Secretary Clinton periodically deleted e-mails or e-mails were purged from the system when devices were changed.

As far as the backstory, it’s really not as suspicious as it seems. In 2014, the State Department realized that they had a gap in records, and asked Clinton, as well as other secretaries of state, to turn over any work-related emails that they may have. The lawyers doing the sorting for Clinton in 2014 did not read all of the individual emails. Instead, they did keyword searches to find ones that they were work related. “It is highly likely their search terms missed some work-related e-mails, and that we later found them, for example, in the mailboxes of other officials or in the slack space of a server,” Comey, said during Congressional testimony. “[Clinton] then was asked by her lawyers at the end, ‘Do you want us to keep the personal emails?’ And she said, ‘I have no use for them anymore.’ It’s then that they issued the direction that the technical people delete them,” he said. Bottom line: This was investigated, and there isn’t anything illegal there. Yes, it’s beyond stupid that Clinton had a private email server to begin with. But, the destruction of the emails has been investigated and there is nothing actionable to suggest some grand conspiracy to conceal evidence.

For the Millionth Time, President Trump, Clinton’s 33,000 Emails Were NOT ‘Illegally Deleted’ | Law & Crime