Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims that His Tax Returns Contain Nothing of Interest
TRUMP LIE:
“As far as my tax returns, you don’t learn that much from tax returns, that I can tell you. You learn a lot from financial disclosure, and you should go down and take a look at that.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that he had “‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return” as “False.” “Trump said that he has ‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return.’ Trump did release an extensive (and legally required) document detailing his personal financial holdings. However, experts consider that a red herring. Unlike all presidential nominees since 1980, Trump has not released his tax returns, which experts say would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets. Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
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PolitiFact: “Experts say [Trump’s tax returns] would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets.” “Trump said that he has ‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return.’ Trump did release an extensive (and legally required) document detailing his personal financial holdings. However, experts consider that a red herring. Unlike all presidential nominees since 1980, Trump has not released his tax returns, which experts say would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets. Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
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PolitiFact: “The fact that Trump has not run for office before or served in government makes the scrutiny of his business dealings especially important for those who care about transparency.” “The fact that Trump has not run for office before or served in government makes the scrutiny of his business dealings especially important for those who care about transparency. Yet the fact that he runs a privately held company makes it hard for outsiders to get a handle on his personal finances as long as no public tax filing is available, experts said. ‘Because Trump’s business dealings are varied and extensive, there is a lot to look at, but the quality of information is often poor, so reporters spend a lot of time looking at information insufficient to draw accurate conclusions,’ said Dennis Caplan, an associate professor of accounting at the University at Albany.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker gave Donald Trump’s claim that there was “nothing to learn” from his tax returns a rating of “Four Pinocchios.” “Trump falsely claims that voters would learn nothing from his tax returns. To the contrary, voters would learn a lot of information that Trump has long tried to hide from the public. Tax returns would help lift a veil of secrecy about Trump’s finances — and let voters know whether his claims about his wealth and charitable giving are true, or if he’s just a bombastic man behind the curtain akin to the Wizard of Oz. […] Four Pinocchios” [Washington Post, 5/12/16]
Fact Check: Trump Lies That He Thinks Climate Change is a Hoax
Hillary Clinton called out Trump for thinking climate change is a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese. Trump lied in response.
TRUMP LIE:
“I did not, I do not say that. I do not say that.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Donald J. Trump [email protected] : The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. [11/6/12 2:15 p.m. ET]
Huffington Post: “Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has rendered his opinion on climate change, and it is characteristically off-kilter.” [Huffington Post, 9/22/15]
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims Hillary Clinton Only Opposes TPP Because Of Him
TRUMP LIE:
“Now you want to approve Trans Pacific Partnership, you were totally in favor of it, then you heard what I was saying how bad it is, and you said I can’t win that debate. But you know that if you did win, you would approve that.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
PolitiFact: “There is no evidence that any of Trump’s comments have influenced Clinton’s thoughts on” TPP. “Did Hillary Clinton actually censor her own book to hide her past support for the trade agreement that has since come under fire? We contacted the Trump campaign asking for its facts to back up the claim. They didn’t respond to our query. For starters, there is no evidence that any of Trump’s comments have influenced Clinton’s thoughts on the treaty. As for the treaty itself, Clinton offered support for it in 2012, long before the deal was finalized. She hailed the deal as ‘setting the gold standard’ during a 2012 speech in Australia, to name just one example. She now says she was, at the time, trying to sell the deal to U.S. allies as a member of the Obama administration.” [PolitiFact, 6/23/16]
NBC News: “Trump has adamantly opposed TPP since before his campaign began; there’s no indication that his remarks changed her mind.” “The facts: After Clinton walked back her support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership last October — saying the final deal wasn’t what she’d hoped for when she advocated for it during negotiations as Secretary of State– longer passages supporting the partnership were edited out of her book Hard Choice’s paperback edition. The cuts were part of 96 pages of cuts made to account for the paperback’s smaller size, according to a publisher’s note. But not all of them were cut: there’s still two pages praising the deal, or at least the idea of it. ‘It’s safe to say that the TPP won’t be perfect – no deal negotiated among a dozen countries ever will be – bit its higher standards, if implemented and enforced, should benefit American businesses and workers,’ she wrote. Trump has adamantly opposed TPP since before his campaign began; there’s no indication that his remarks changed her mind.” [NBC News, 6/22/16]
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims that China Devalues Their Currency
TRUMP LIE:
“You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product. They’re devaluing their currency and there’s nobody in our government to fight them.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Donald Trump’s claim that China devalues their currency is “way out of date.” “‘The devaluations of their currencies by China and Japan and many, many other countries, and we don’t do it because we don’t play the game.’ — Trump Trump is way out of date here. China has been spending hundreds of billions of dollars in recent months — $90 billion in January alone — to prop up the value of its currency as its economy slows. The Japanese yen is also very strong, and with brief exceptions, Japan has not intervened to devalue its currency since 2004.” [Washington Post, 3/11/16]
Fact Check: Donald Trump Falsely Claims that he Started Off With a “Small Loan” from His Father
TRUMP LIE: “For one thing, and before we start on that, my father gave me a very small loan in 1975, and I built it into a company that’s worth many, many billions of dollars with some of the greatest assets in the world.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Trump received loans tied to Fred Trump in excess of $70 million
Donald Trump received more than $74 million from loans tied to his father. “The ‘small loan’ was the $1 million from Trump’s father, Fred, to finance his Grand Hyatt hotel in 1978. (At this point, Donald was already president of his father’s real estate company.) But Fred Trump made out many other loans to Donald until his death in 1999, including a $70 million construction loan for the Grand Hyatt and a $3.5 million casino chip loan to bail out Trump’s struggling gaming empire, the Washington Post’s Fact-Checker reported.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
Donald Trump received what he characterized as “a small loan” of $1 million loan from his father. “Donald Trump on Monday said his climb to the top of the business world hasn’t been an easy one and depicted a $1 million loan from his father as ‘small.’ ‘My whole life really has been a ‘no’ and I fought through it,’ Trump said Monday at an NBC-sponsored town hall here. ‘It has not been easy for me, 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.’” [CNN, 10/26/15]
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Donald Trump’s “small loan” of $1 million would likely be worth around $6.8 million in 2016 dollars. “That small loan from Trump’s father was worth $1 million, probably given before Trump entered the Manhattan real estate market in the early 1970s. If Trump’s father made the loan in 1968, the year his son graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, that $1 million would be worth $6.8 million in today’s dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index inflation calculator.” [CNN, 6/22/16]
Donald Trump received an illegal $3.5 million casino chip loan from his father. “One of Donald Trump’s casinos has admitted that it broke the law and violated terms of its license when the developer’s father lent it $3.5 million by purchasing gaming chips when he had no plans to gamble, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement said yesterday. Through his attorney, Fred Trump bought 700 gray chips, each worth $5,000, in December so that Trump Castle Casino Resort would have enough cash to make an $18.4 million interest payment on its mortgage, the division said.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/9/91]
Donald Trump’s father was one of two guarantors of a $70 million loan for his Grand Hyatt Hotel, one of his first major projects. “Trump’s father, however, helped him throughout his career with millions in loans. As The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler explains, Fred Trump was one of two guarantors of a $70 million construction loan from the bank Manufacturers Hanover that financed one of Donald Trump’s first major projects, the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan, in 1978.” [Washington Post, 3/4/16]
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Donald Trump’s father assumed a 50 percent share in the Grand Hyatt loan and committed to complete the project if his son failed. “It was Fred and the Hyatt chain who jointly guaranteed the $70 million construction loan from Manufacturers Hanover, each assuming a 50 percent share of the obligation and each committing itself to complete the project should Donald be unable to finish it.” [Trump: The Deals and the Downfall, pg. 147, 1992]
Trump received $30 million in loans from his siblings.
Donald Trump received loans totaling $30 million from his siblings. “Given Fred Trump’s fortune, and his influence, his son Donald had advantages worth tens of millions of dollars more than the simple $1 million loan he mentioned in New Hampshire. However his father’s wealth provided him with even more direct benefit. In the early 1990s, as two of his casinos went bankrupt and his Trump Airlines failed, he went to his siblings for loans totaling $30 million.” [CNN, 10/26/15]
Trump received millions from his father’s inheritance
Donald Trump appeared to have inherited about $40 million from his father. “Trump appears to have inherited about $40 million. He also benefited from numerous loans and loan guarantees, as well as his father’s connections, to make the move into Manhattan. His father set up lucrative trusts to provide steady income. When Trump became overextended in the casino business, his father bailed him out with a shady casino-chip loan — and Trump also borrowed $9 million against his future inheritance.” [Washington Post, 6/23/16]
Trump’s “small loan” claim has been panned by independent fact checkers
FactCheck.org: “Donald Trump’s success wasn’t built just on a $1 million loan.” “Trump’s campaign told us that he borrowed $1 million from his father, but it did not tell us when or for what reason. Fred Trump’s obituary in the Times said that he ‘lent support — and a small amount of money — to his son Donald’s aspirations of becoming a developer.’ However, as O’Donnell’s book suggests, Donald Trump’s success wasn’t built just on a $1 million loan. Another Trump author, Gwenda Blair, who wrote ‘The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders,’ told us in an email that Donald Trump benefited from his father’s ‘considerable financial and political clout.’” [FactCheck.org, 3/4/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker gave Donald Trump’s claim that he built his success on a “small” $1 million loan from his father a rating of “Four Pinocchios.” “Trump protests too much when he says that Rubio’s $200-million figure is ‘wrong by a factor of hundreds.’ Trump likely did not inherit $200 million by himself, though perhaps that was the size of the father’s estate, before taxes. Moreover, Trump’s claim that he built a real-estate fortune out of a ‘small’ $1 million loan is simply not credible. He benefited from numerous loans and loan guarantees, as well as his father’s connections, to make the move into Manhattan. His father also set up lucrative trusts to provide steady income. When Donald Trump became overextended in the casino business, his father bailed him out with a shady casino-chip loan—and Trump also borrowed $9 million against his future inheritance. While Trump asserts ‘it has not been easy for me,’ he glosses over the fact that his father paved the way for his success — and that his father bailed him out when he got into trouble. For ignoring and playing down the substantial advantages his father’s wealth gave him, Trump earns Four Pinocchios.” [Washington Post, 3/3/16]
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Washington Post Fact Checker: Donald Trump “glosses over the fact that his father paved the way for his success — and that his father bailed him out when he got into trouble.” “While Trump often asserts ‘it has not been easy for me,’ he glosses over the fact that his father paved the way for his success — and that his father bailed him out when he got into trouble.” [Washington Post, 6/23/16]
New York Times: Donald Trump’s claim that he built his businesses with a small loan “substantially understates the financial assistance that Mr. Trump received from his father.” “Mr. 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.’ Fact Check: This substantially understates the financial assistance that Mr. Trump received from his father, Fred, a major real estate developer in New York City. The decades-old ‘loan’ was for $1 million, a handsome sum that is by no means ‘small.’ But the elder Mr. Trump did not stop there: He handed his son control of a large company with significant property holdings across the city, whose substantial value is difficult to quantify or overstate. Without this leg up, it’s unclear whether Mr. Trump could have built the business empire that he has.” [New York Times, 6/22/16]
Associated Press: “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.” “THE FACTS: 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. As for the value of Trump’s business, every independent appraisal has found his assets to be worth far less than he says; Forbes says Trump is worth less than half what he claims.” [Associated Press, 6/22/16]
CNN rated Donald Trump’s claim that he started off with a “small loan” as “False.” “Given that for almost all Americans, $1 million is hardly a small loan, especially back in 1968, we rate his claim that he started his business with a ‘small loan’ as false.” [CNN, 6/22/16]
Fact Check: Trump Lies About His Financial Disclosure Being Better than Tax Returns
TRUMP LIE: “You will learn more about Donald Trump by going down to the Federal Elections where I filed a 104 page, essentially financial statement of sorts, the forms that they have..” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH: PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that he had “‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return” as “False.” “Trump said that he has ‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return.’ Trump did release an extensive (and legally required) document detailing his personal financial holdings. However, experts consider that a red herring. Unlike all presidential nominees since 1980, Trump has not released his tax returns, which experts say would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets. Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
PolitiFact: “Experts say [Trump’s tax returns] would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets.” “Trump said that he has ‘released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics. … You don’t learn much in a tax return.’ Trump did release an extensive (and legally required) document detailing his personal financial holdings. However, experts consider that a red herring. Unlike all presidential nominees since 1980, Trump has not released his tax returns, which experts say would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets. Trump’s statement is inaccurate. We rate it False.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
PolitiFact: “The fact that Trump has not run for office before or served in government makes the scrutiny of his business dealings especially important for those who care about transparency.” “The fact that Trump has not run for office before or served in government makes the scrutiny of his business dealings especially important for those who care about transparency. Yet the fact that he runs a privately held company makes it hard for outsiders to get a handle on his personal finances as long as no public tax filing is available, experts said. ‘Because Trump’s business dealings are varied and extensive, there is a lot to look at, but the quality of information is often poor, so reporters spend a lot of time looking at information insufficient to draw accurate conclusions,’ said Dennis Caplan, an associate professor of accounting at the University at Albany.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims That Stop-And-Frisk Was Not Unconstitutional
When asked how he would heal the racial divide in America, Donald Trump lied about the constitutionality of stop-and-frisk and proposed reinstating the racial profiling policy of the past.
Fact Check: Trump Lies that Hillary Clinton Started The Birther Movement
Trump just doubled down on one of his most egregious lies—that the Trump campaign started the racist birther lies about President Obama. In reality, it is Donald Trump who started this deeply bigoted conspiracy theory and lied about it for years.
TRUMP LIE: “Well, it’s very simple to say. Sidney Blumenthal works for the campaign and a very close friend of secretary Clinton, and her campaign manager, Patty Doyle, went to—they were in the campaign, her campaign against President Obama, fought very hard, and you can go look it up and you can check it out, and if you look at CNN this past week, Patty Solis Doyle was on Wolf Blitzer saying that this happened. Blumenthal sent McClatchy, a highly respected reporter at McClatchy, to Kenya to find out about it, they were pressing it very hard, she failed to get the birth certificate. When I got involved, I didn’t fail, I got him to give the birth certificate.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Washington Post Fact Checker gave Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton “started” the birther movement a rating of “Four Pinocchios.” “There’s no evidence to support Trump’s repeated claim that Clinton ‘started’ the birther movement and was one of the first to question Obama’s birth certificate. He could blame the actions of Clinton’s supporters during the 2008 primary or say the rumor has some Democratic roots. But there’s no evidence that she or her campaign questioned his birth certificate or his citizenship. Further, the campaign denounced isolated instances of Clinton’s staffers questioning whether Obama was Muslim. Later in the in the same CNN interview, Wolf Blitzer asked Trump about his supporters’ anti-Semitic attacks and death threats against Julia Ioffe for her profile of Melania Trump in GQ. Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the actions of this group of supporters: ‘I don’t know anything about that. … I know nothing about it. … You’ll have to talk to them about it. … I don’t have a message to the fans.’ If Trump doesn’t believe in being held accountable for the actions of his supporters, perhaps he should consider the same standard for his political opponents. Glass houses, and all that. Four Pinocchios” [Washington Post, 5/6/16]
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The Washington Post found “no evidence” that Hillary Clinton or her campaign advanced conspiracy emails questioning Pres. Obama’s citizenship. “We found no evidence that Clinton or her campaign coordinated any of these email chains questioning Obama’s citizenship. Authors of the Politico story could not find any links to Clinton or her campaign, and neither could FactCheck.org or PolitiFact.” [Washington Post, 5/6/16]
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2008: Hillary Clinton on whether she believed Barack Obama was secretly Muslim: “Of course not. I mean, that’s… You know, there is no basis for that.” “Steve Kroft asked Clinton about the photo and such rumors on ‘60 Minutes’: Kroft: ‘You don’t believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim?’ Clinton: ‘Of course not. I mean, that’s… You know, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn’t any reason to doubt that.’ Kroft: ‘You said you’d take Senator Obama at his word that he’s not a Muslim.’ Clinton: ‘Right.’” [Washington Post, 5/6/16]
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement as “False.” “Trump said that Clinton started the birther movement and ‘was all in.’ It’s an interesting bit of history that the birther movement appears to have begun with Democrats supporting Clinton and opposing Obama. But Trump, and others who have made this claim, neglect to mention that there is no direct tie to Clinton or her 2008 campaign. The story appears to have started with supporters of Clinton, an important distinction. Trump goes on to completely distort the chain of events by claiming Clinton ‘was all in’ on the birther movement. Most of the talk started after Clinton suspended her presidential campaign. And the only thing she officially has ever done is deny any accusation of starting a whisper campaign. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 9/23/15]
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PolitiFact: “There is no record that Clinton herself or anyone within her campaign ever advanced the charge that Obama was not born in the United States.” “There is no record that Clinton herself or anyone within her campaign ever advanced the charge that Obama was not born in the United States. A review by our fellow fact-checkers at Factcheck.org reported that no journalist who investigated this ever found a connection to anyone in the Clinton organization. Clinton, herself, answered this very accusation after Trump’s tweet during an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon. Lemon asked Clinton if she started smear campaigns that Obama was born outside the United States. ‘That is – no. That is so ludicrous, Don. You know, honestly, I just believe that, first of all, it’s totally untrue, and secondly, you know, the president and I have never had any kind of confrontation like that,’ Clinton said. ‘You know, I have been blamed for nearly everything, that was a new one to me.’” [PolitiFact, 9/23/15]
FactCheck.org said that Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton started the birther movement was “false.” “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.” [FactCheck.org, 5/5/16]
PolitiFact: “Trump said of the birther controversy, ‘I finished it.’ In no credible sense is this true.” “Trump said of the birther controversy, ‘I finished it.’ In no credible sense is this true. Trump didn’t ‘finish’ fanning the flames of birther conspiracies once Obama released his long-form birth certificate in April 2011 — he kept tweeting about it for at least another three and a half years. And a core group of Americans hasn’t ‘finished’ expressing birther sentiments. As recently as a year ago, various polls have found that 13 percent of Americans supported the viewpoint. We rate Trump’s claim Pants on Fire.” [PolitiFact, 9/16/16]
Associated Press: “The public record over the past decade undermines his attempt to blame the Democratic nominee for the origins of a conspiracy Trump peddled for years.” “‘Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it.’ But Trump’s new allegation that it was all Clinton’s fault is as untrue as his original lie. The public record over the past decade undermines his attempt to blame the Democratic nominee for the origins of a conspiracy Trump peddled for years. People in Clinton’s orbit did discuss Obama’s background during their bitter primary struggle in 2008. But as nasty as that campaign got at times, it was not an anything-goes affair. And it appears that when Clinton got wind of smears about Obama’s roots or religion, she either shut down that line of argument or ignored it. There is no evidence that Clinton herself has ever said Obama wasn’t born in America.” [Associated Press, 9/21/16]
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims ISIS Is Selling Libyan Oil
TRUMP LIE: “Or as I’ve been saying for a long time, and I think you’ll agree because I said it to you once. Had we taken the oil – and we should have taken the oil — ISIS would not have been able to form either because the oil was their primary source of income. And now they have the oil all over the place including the oil, a lot of the oil in Libya, which was another one of her disasters..” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
PolitiFact gave Donald Trump’s claim that “ISIS is making millions of dollars a week selling Libyan oil” a rating of “False.” “Trump said, ‘ISIS is making millions of dollars a week selling Libyan oil.’ Experts and news reports say ISIS has attacked Libya’s oil fields in recent months, amid the country’s instability. But they roundly reject Trump’s claim that ISIS jihadists based in that country have been able to seize, refine and sell the oil for ‘millions of dollars a week.’ Instead, they say, the terrorist group is focused on disrupting oil markets and preventing rivals from getting the oil in Libya. We rate the claim False.” [PolitiFact, 4/27/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker gave Donald Trump’s claim that “ISIS is making a fortune now in Libya” off Libyan oil a rating of “Four Pinocchios.” “‘Right now, Libya, as you know, has fantastic oil, some of the finest oil in the world. Who has the oil? ISIS has the oil. Do we blockade it, do we bomb it, do we do anything? No. ISIS is making a fortune now in Libya.’ — Donald Trump, interview on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, April 21, 2016 […] Trump’s penchant for exaggeration continues unabated. The terror group’s activities have at times disrupted the flow of oil. But contrary to Trump’s claim on national television, the Islamic State does not control any oil fields and is not ‘making a fortune’ from Libyan oil. But what do you expect from a man who appears to have conveniently forgotten that he urged an intervention in Libya to topple the country’s leader? Four Pinocchios” [Washington Post, 4/25/16]\
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims Hillary Clinton Created ISIS
TRUMP LIE: “President Obama and Secretary Clinton created a vacuum the way they got out of Iraq, because they got out what they shouldn’t have been in. But once they got in, the way they got out was a disaster, and ISIS was formed.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Associated Press: Military intervention in Libya had “no connection” to the emergence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. “The U.S.-led military campaign in Libya created a security vacuum and political chaos. But it took three years before IS emerged in Iraq and Syria, and there is no connection between those developments. The group has its roots in a militant organization known as al-Qaida in Iraq, which found haven in Syria after being nearly decimated in Iraq in 2007-2009.” [PBS, 8/15/16]
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that “Hillary Clinton invented ISIS with her stupid policies. She is responsible for ISIS” as “False.” ”Trump said ‘Hillary Clinton invented ISIS with her stupid policies. She is responsible for ISIS.’ There were several factors that contributed to the growing power of ISIS, but it’s misleading to pin the responsibility solely on Clinton. For starters, the roots of ISIS trace back to 2004, when Bush was president and before Clinton was Obama’s secretary of state. She did vote to authorize force in Iraq in 2002 while a senator, but that was advocated by the Bush administration and the vast majority of senators. The intervention in Libya, which she supported, did give ISIS an opening, but Trump is overstating her role by saying she is responsible for ISIS. This claim is inaccurate. We rate it False.” [PolitiFact, 7/20/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker said Donald Trump’s claim that ISIS rose from Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s policies was “false and facile.” “‘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. The terrorist group is the direct result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, as we explored in our interview with Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book on the rise of the Islamic State. (Trump, of course, supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003.) At best, one could argue that actions that Obama failed to take (over Clinton’s opposition) helped contribute to the growth of ISIS.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]
Washington Post: ISIS gained power because of “a complex dynamic that both pre-dates and post-dates [Hillary Clinton’s] tenure as secretary of state.” ”This is a carefully phrased statement — note the use of the word ‘helped’ — that tries to pin the blame on Clinton for a complex dynamic that both pre-dates and post-dates her tenure as secretary of state. To a large extent, the Islamic State of today is simply an outgrowth of al-Qaeda of Iraq. It was established in April 2004 by longtime Sunni extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to the National Counterterrorism Center. Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2006, and afterward his successor announced the formation of the Islamic State — more than two years before George W. Bush left office. The Islamic State certainly gained strength and territory from the civil war in Syria, but Clinton as secretary of state had pressed to funnel arms to the rebels; she was rebuffed by the president.” [Washington Post Fact Checker, 7/20/16]
Fact Check: Trump Lies About Russia Hacking Into DNC
TRUMP LIE: “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She’s saying ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’. But I don’t – maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay. You don’t know who broke into DNC.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH: American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee. “American intelligence agencies have told the White House they now have ‘high confidence’ that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee, according to federal officials who have been briefed on the evidence. But intelligence officials have cautioned that they are uncertain whether the electronic break-in at the committee’s computer systems was intended as fairly routine cyberespionage — of the kind the United States also conducts around the world — or as part of an effort to manipulate the 2016 presidential election. The emails were released by WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, has made it clear that he hoped to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency. It is unclear how the documents made their way to the group. But a large sampling was published before the WikiLeaks release by several news organizations and someone who called himself ‘Guccifer 2.0,’ who investigators now believe was an agent of the G.R.U., Russia’s military intelligence service.” [New York Times, 7/26/16]
Fact Check: Trump Lies About Opposition to Iraq War
Tonight, Hillary Clinton called out one of Donald Trump’s most infamous lies.
CLINTON: “Donald supported the invasion of Iraq.”
TRUMP LIE: “Wrong.”
CLINTON: “That is absolutely…”
TRUMP LIE: “Wrong.”
CLINTON: “Proved over and over again.”
TRUMP LIE: “Wrong.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
On the record, Trump was initially supportive and later ambivalent
2002: Donald Trump on whether he supported the Iraq War: “Yeah, I guess so.” “For months, Donald Trump has claimed that he opposed the Iraq War before the invasion began — as an example of his great judgment on foreign policy issues. But in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, Donald Trump said he supported an Iraq invasion. In the interview, which took place on Sept. 11, 2002, Stern asked Trump directly if he was for invading Iraq. ‘Yeah, I guess so,’ Trump responded. ‘I wish the first time it was done correctly.’” [Buzzfeed, 2/18/16]
2003: Donald Trump on the Iraq War: “We have to – you know, it’s sort like either do it or don’t do it.” CAVUTO: “If you had to sort of breakdown for the president, if you were advising him, how much time do you commit to Iraq versus how much time you commit to the economy, what would you say?” TRUMP: “Well, I’m starting to think that people are much more focused now on the economy. They are getting a little bit tired of hearing, we’re going in, we’re not going in, the – you know, whatever happened to the days of the Douglas MacArthur. He would go and attack. He wouldn’t talk. We have to – you know, it’s sort like either do it or don’t do it.” [Fox Business, 1/28/03]
2003: Donald Trump: The Iraq War “looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint.” TRUMP: “Well, I think Wall Street’s waiting to see what happens, but even before the fact there, obviously taking a little bit for granted, and it looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint and I think this is really nothing compared to what you will going to see after the war is over.” [Fox Business, 3/21/03]
2003: Donald Trump: “It wasn’t a mistake to fight terrorism and fight it hard.” “Sept. 11, 2003: It wasn’t a mistake to fight terrorism and fight it hard, and I guess maybe if I had to do it, I would have fought terrorism but not necessarily Iraq.” [FactCheck.org, 2/19/16]
2003: “The question is whether or not we should have been in Iraq in the first place.” TRUMP: “I don’t think he is going to. He is a very committed guy, he’s committed to that whole situation and I don’t think he will really reconsider. I don’t think he probably can at this point. Other people will, and you are going to find out at the polls whether or not those other people are right. I mean, you see more and more doves, if you call them doves. The question is whether or not we should have been in Iraq in the first place. I don’t think that this president can do anything about that. He is really — he is on a course that has to stay.” [MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, 11/4/03]
2003: Donald Trump: “I mean, you have Mr. [Howard] Dean, that’s going to say we shouldn’t have been there regardless. And you have others that are saying, well, we are there and we have to do the best.” TRUMP: “Well, look, you have a lot of questions and a lot of people questioning the whole concept of going in, in the first place, Neil. But we are in, we went in, you had to find him. If he was alive, you had to find him. And you know, they fulfilled the pledge of finding Saddam Hussein.” CAVUTO: “If you are the president’s opponents, what do you do?” TRUMP: “Well, you have two mixed bags. I mean, you have Mr. [Howard] Dean, that’s going to say we shouldn’t have been there regardless. And you have others that are saying, well, we are there and we have to do the best. I mean, we are there, regardless of what should have been done. Some people agree and some people don’t agree, but we are there. And if we are there, you have to take down Saddam Hussein. And they have done that, and they did it maybe not as quickly as they thought in terms of finding him, but they found him. And that is a huge day for this country.” [Fox Business, 12/15/03]
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Associated Press: Donald Trump “stopped short of saying that he was among those opponents” of the Iraq War in December 2003. “As 2003 went on, Trump’s opinions started to shift slightly. That September, he said on MSNBC that he ‘would have fought terrorism, but not necessarily Iraq.’ In December, he told Fox News that ‘a lot of people (are) questioning the whole concept of going in in the first place.’ But he stopped short of saying that he was among those opponents.” [Associated Press, 9/10/16]
Fact checkers rejected Trump’s claim to have opposed the Iraq war
PolitiFact: “Trump said he was ‘totally against the war in Iraq.’ While he came to that position when the war became difficult, earlier on he was more accepting of military action.” “Trump said he was ‘totally against the war in Iraq.’ While he came to that position when the war became difficult, earlier on he was more accepting of military action. In 2002, asked if America should go to war, he said, ‘I guess so.’ Less than three months before the invasion, Trump said the president should be more focused on the economy, but he didn’t speak against launching an attack. Trump didn’t speak often about the Iraq War before it happened, but what he said did not add up to the sort of opposition he describes today. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 9/7/16]
PolitiFact gave Donald Trump’s claim that he “was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started” a rating of “False.” “On the Iraq War, Trump said, ‘I was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started.’ The record just doesn’t support this. We could only find one example of Trump commenting on the Iraq War before the invasion where he seemed apprehensive but not vehemently opposed to the operation. In another interview, Trump said he supported the invasion. This claim rates False.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
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PolitiFact: “We didn’t find any examples of Trump unequivocally denouncing the war until a year after the war began.” “Trump is correct that Clinton supported the war in Iraq. But Trump is wrong to suggest he opposed the war before it started. We searched newspaper articles and television transcripts from 2002 and 2003 amid the debate leading up to the Iraq War. We didn’t find any examples of Trump unequivocally denouncing the war until a year after the war began.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
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PolitiFact: “There’s no evidence…that he advocated against the war in the first place, or that he was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war.” “Clearly Trump opposed the Iraq War in its early years. There’s no evidence, though, that he advocated against the war in the first place, or that he was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war.” [PolitiFact, 6/22/16]
PolitiFact gave Donald Trump’s claim that he “was totally against the war in Iraq, saying for many years that it would destabilize the Middle East” a rating of “False.” “Trump said, ‘I was totally against the war in Iraq, saying for many years that it would destabilize the Middle East.’ The record shows at best some early reservations about the war that evolved into opposition about a year after the war began. However, we find no evidence of Trump warning about regional destabilization before or after the war started. We rate this statement False.” [PolitiFact, 4/27/16]
FactCheck.org: Donald Trump “has yet to provide any evidence” of his early opposition to the Iraq war, despite his claim that he could provide “25 different stories” proving it. “As we have said before, there is no evidence that Trump opposed the war before it started. We wrote a timeline of all Trump’s public comments that we could find in 2002 and 2003, and found no instances of Trump voicing his opposition before the war started on March 19, 2003. Trump has stated during primary debates that his opposition was ‘loud and clear’ and well covered by newspapers, claiming erroneously that he could provide ‘25 different stories’ to prove his opposition. He has yet to provide any evidence.” [FactCheck.org, 6/22/16]
Washington Post: “There is far more evidence that [Donald Trump] supported the invasion” of Iraq. “Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed he was against the Iraq war. There is no evidence that is the case. Instead, there is far more evidence that he supported the invasion. There is nothing in the public record that shows he opposed the war until more than a year after the war started — and the U.S. occupation started to run into trouble.” [Washington Post, 6/23/16]
CNN: “There’s no indication he said anything along the lines of ‘Do not attack Iraq’ before the invasion began.” “But these statements were made after the war began, mostly in 2004. There’s no indication he said anything along the lines of ‘Do not attack Iraq’ before the invasion began, as he has previously claimed.” [CNN, 6/22/16]
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that he “said it loud and clear” that the Iraq war would destabilize the Middle East “False.” “On the Iraq war, Trump said, ‘I said it loud and clear, ‘You’ll destabilize the Middle East.’ ‘ Maybe Trump felt this way privately, but he made no publicly reported comments in the lead-up to the Iraq War that reflect this sentiment. He certainly did not say it ‘loud and clear.’ We could only find one example of Trump commenting on the Iraq War before the invasion, and he seemed apprehensive but not vehemently opposed to the operation. He only started publicly denouncing the war after it started. Because he far overstated how loudly he declared his position on the Iraq War, we’re cranking the rating on this statement up to False.” [PolitiFact, 2/14/16]
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that he said the Iraq War would “destabilize the Middle East” before the invasion “Mostly False.” “Regarding the Iraq War, ‘I was the one that said, ‘Don’t go, don’t do it, you’re going to destabilize the Middle East.’ ‘ Maybe Trump felt this way privately, but he made no publicly reported comments in the lead up to the Iraq War that reflect this sentiment. We could only find one example of Trump commenting on the Iraq War before the invasion, and he seemed apprehensive but not vehemently opposed to the operation. He only started publicly denouncing the war after it started. Trump makes it sound like he stood on a railroad to try to stop the Iraq War train in its tracks. In reality, by the time he got around to forcefully criticizing the war, that train had already left the station. We rate his statement Mostly False.” [PolitiFact, 2/6/16]
The Washington Post Fact Checker said that “the evidence is slim” to back up Donald Trump’s claim that he warned against the war in Iraq. “‘I’m the only one up here, when the War in Iraq, I was the one who said, don’t go, don’t do it, you’re going to destabilize the Middle East. So I’m not the one with the trigger.’ –Donald Trump Trump continues to say he opposed the Iraq War ahead of the invasion. But the evidence is slim he warned against it prior to the invasion on March 20, 2003.” [Washington Post, 2/7/16]
Washington Post Fact Checker gave Donald Trump’s claim that the Bush Administration wanted to “silence” his criticism of the Iraq War a rating of “Four Pinocchios.” “‘We should have never gone into Iraq. I’ve said it loud and clear. I was visited by people from the White House asking me to sort of, could I be silenced because I seem to get a disproportionate amount of publicity. I mean, I was very strong, though: ‘You’re going to destabilize the Middle East.’’ — Businessman Donald Trump, interview on Fox News, Oct. 6, 2015 […] The burden of proof is on Trump, and he has not followed through. He earns Four Pinocchios.” [Washington Post, 10/21/15]
Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims His Comments Forced NATO To Expand its Counterterrorism Effort
TRUMP LIE: “I said and very strongly, NATO could be obsolete because — and I was very strong on this, and it was actually covered very accurately in the New York Times which is unusual for the New York Times, to be honest. But I said they do not focus on terror, and I was very strong. And I said it numerous times. And about four months ago, I read on the front page of the Wall Street Journal that NATO is opening up a major terror division, and I think that’s great.” [First Presidential Debate, 9/26/16]
THE TRUTH:
Politico HEADLINE: “NATO: Trump had nothing to do with intel post.” [Politico, 6/8/16]
PolitiFact rated Donald Trump’s claim that he influenced NATO to create a new senior counterterrorism post as “False.” “Trump said, ‘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.’ The change he’s apparently referring to — the creation of a new senior post and division for coordinating intelligence sharing — is just the most recent incremental change in how the alliance handles counter-terrorism, a topic it has addressed, in big ways and small, for more than 30 years. There is no evidence that the change was made in response to Trump’s complaints about the alliance. Experts said such changes typically require a longer gestation period so that all member nations can get on board. We rate Trump’s statement False.” [PolitiFact, 8/16/16]
PolitiFact said Trump’s claim on NATO was “wildly inaccurate and misleading.” “‘I’ve said NATO needs to change its focus and stop terrorism. …Since I’ve raised that criticism — and I’ve gotten no credit for it but these are minor details — NATO has since announced a new initiative — front page of the Wall Street Journal, four days again — focused on just that.’ This is wildly inaccurate and misleading. In a tweet in early June, Trump linked to a Wall Street Journal story on NATO creating a new intelligence chief post and said the alliance ‘made the change without giving me credit.’ But by the time Trump said NATO should be ‘readjusted to take care of terrorism’ in late March 2016, NATO had been engaged in counterrorism efforts for over a decade.” [PolitiFact, 6/17/16]
NATO official said a new position of assistant secretary general for intelligence was under consideration for some time and had no connection to the election. ”A NATO official told POLITICO last week that its plan to create the new position of assistant secretary general for intelligence had been under consideration for ‘some time’ and had ‘no connection to any national election campaign.’” [Politico, 6/13/16]