Fact Checking Mike Pence at the Vice Presidential Debate

Fact Check: Pence Falsely Claims Government Regulation Is Driving The Coal Industry Out Of Business

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “By lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses, and family farms, ending the war on coal that is hurting jobs and hurting this economy even here in Virginia, repealing Obamacare, lock stock and barrel, and repealing all of the executive orders that Barack Obama has signed that are stifling economic growth.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

The boom in the natural gas industry has impacted the coal industry. “This boom in natural gas has hammered the coal industry, which hit all-time peak in profits in 2008 — before wide-scale use of fracking made it cheaper to generate electricity using natural gas. Many U.S. coal companies also spent big in the past decade, betting on increased demand in Asia. But they have been largely unable to sell as much as they need to overseas to recoup their investments, helping tip several into bankruptcy.” [Associated Press, 8/9/16]

Energy economist: “I don’t think you can make much of a case that this is due to government regulation… It’s due to market dynamics.” “In fact, advances in extraction driven by hydraulic fracturing has led so many energy companies to pull so much natural gas out of the ground that they have flooded the market, depressing the price of natural gas and making it harder for those companies to turn a profit. In that way, they’ve been a victim of their own success. ‘They are suffering from low prices,’ said Robert Godby, an energy economist at the University of Wyoming. ‘It is not an issue of regulation.’ […] ‘I don’t think you can make much of a case that this is due to government regulation,’ Godby said. ‘It’s due to market dynamics.’” [Associated Press, 8/9/16]

Fact Check: Pence Lies That Donald Trump is Going to Slash Taxes for Working Families

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “Donald Trump and I have a plan to get this economy moving again… and that is by lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses, and family farms…” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Tax Foundation: Under Donald Trump’s tax plan, the wealthiest taxpayers would see tax reductions of up to 16 percent, compared to reductions of between 0.8 percent and 1.9 percent for the bottom 80 percent. “Whether the tax cuts for middle-class families would be ‘massive’ is a matter of opinion, of course, but according to the Tax Foundation calculations under a static assumption, those in the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers would see an increase in after-tax income of between 0.8 percent and 1.9 percent. For a family making $50,000, a 1 percent increase in after-tax income would mean an extra $500, the Tax Foundation’s Alan Cole told us in an email. ‘Arguably that’s a lot. Arguably it’s not,’ he said. Gains for those in the upper-income categories would be more dramatic. Those in the top 20 percent of taxpayers would see an increase in after-tax income of between 4.4 percent and 6.5 percent (on a static basis), the Tax Foundation concluded. The largest gains — 10.2 percent to 16 percent — would come to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers.” [FactCheck.org, 9/28/16]

Tax expert: Donald Trump’s tax plan will raise federal income taxes on more than half of U.S. single parents and one fifth of families with children. “‘Under my plan I will be reducing taxes tremendously.’ —Trump Trump’s tax plan would raise federal income taxes on more than half of America’s single parents and one-fifth of families with children, according to an analysis by Lily Batchelder, a New York University expert on tax policy who formerly worked for Obama’s National Economic Council. While the Trump campaign called it ‘pure fiction,’ the right-leaning Tax Foundation has said the group was able to replicate her findings. Kyle Pomerleau, director of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, posted on Twitter that Batchelder’s results ‘seem reasonable to me.’” [Washington Post, 9/27/16]

Fact Check: Pence Lies, Says Clinton-Kaine Support Open Borders

PENCE’S LIE:

Mike Pence: “Senator, that’s nonsense. Look, what you just heard is they have a plan for open borders, amnesty, that’s…they call it comprehensive immigration reform on Capitol Hill, we all know the routine, it’s amnesty.” [VP Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

PolitiFact rated the claim that “Hillary Clinton is for open borders” as “False.” ”Giuliani said, ‘Hillary Clinton is for open borders.’ Clinton supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions in border security in addition to a path to citizenship. As a presidential candidate she has called for securing the border and targeting deportation to criminals and those who pose security threats. While her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, that’s not the same as allowing a free-for-all at the border and ending enforcement. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 7/18/16]

PolitiFact said Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton’s immigration plan would “create totally open borders” was “a huge distortion” and gave the claim a rating of “False.” “Trump said Clinton’s immigration platform would ‘create totally open borders.’ 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. Her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, but that’s not the same as ending all enforcement. We rate this claim False.” [PolitiFact, 6/23/16]

FactCheck.org called claims Hillary Clinton supports “open borders” wrong.”  “Giuliani and Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, both wrongly claimed that Hillary Clinton supports ‘open borders.’ As we wrote when Trump himself made a similar claim, Clinton supported a Senate immigration bill that would have created a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally, but it also would have included large investments in border security. […] On her campaign website, Clinton says she would ‘focus resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety.’ But the site also states that she will ‘uphold the rule of law’ and ‘protect our borders and national security.’ […] At a campaign stop in November, Clinton was even more explicit. ‘We need to secure our borders, I’m for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children,’ Clinton said in New Hampshire in November. ‘We can do more to secure our border and we should do more to deal with the 11 or 12 million people who are here, get them out of the shadows.’ That’s far short of advocating for open borders.”  [FactCheck.org, 7/19/16]

CNN’s Reality Check called it false that Hillary Clinton advocated for open borders. “‘Hillary Clinton is promising more of the same. Open borders, executive amnesty and the surge of Syrian refugees,’ said Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the Homeland Security Commission. Clinton’s platform on immigration incorporates a pathway to citizenship and enforcing immigration laws, including deporting people who ‘pose a violent threat to public safety.’ Clinton said in November that the US needs ‘to secure our borders. I’m for it, I voted for it, I believe in it, and we also need to deal with the families, the workers who are here, who have made contributions, and their children.’ She also said in March that the US has ‘done a really good job securing the border.’ Clinton’s proposed policies and past rhetoric do not reflect open borders. That’s false.” [CNN, 7/18/16]

Fact Check: Pence lamented that the U.S. removed all troops from Iraq despite Trump’s repeated call to pull out troops

Tonight, Gov. Mike Pence lamented that we removed all of our troops from Iraq, despite his own running mate’s call to pull troops out before President Obama finished the drawdown in Iraq.

PENCE LIE:

Pence lamented that “we removed all of our troops from Iraq.” PENCE: Hillary Clinton failed to renegotiate a status of forces agreement – KAINE: No, that is incorrect. PENCE: And so we removed all of our troops from Iraq and ISIS was able to be conjured up in that vacuum and overrun vast areas. KAINE: President Bush said we would leave Iraq at the end of 2011. And Elaine, Iraq didn’t want our troops to stay and they wouldn’t give up the protection for our troops. [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Donald Trump supported rapid withdrawal from Iraq as early as March 2007. “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.” [Washington Post, 8/16/16]

2006: Donald Trump: “What you have to do is get out of Iraq. You can do it nicely. You can do it slowly. You can do it radically.” “In a 2006 CNBC interview, Trump was asked to critique Bush’s performance in the White House. Trump immediately brought up the Iraq War: ‘I would like to see our president get us out of the war [in Iraq] because the war is a total catastrophe. I would like to see President Bush get us out of Iraq, which is a total mess, a total catastrophe, and it’s not going to get any better. It’s only going to get worse. It’s a mess.’ Trump was passionate and insistent. Bush had to get the hell out of Iraq right away: ‘What you have to do is get out of Iraq. You can do it nicely. You can do it slowly. You can do it radically.’ Trump fancied the do-it-fast approach. And he noted that a US withdrawal should proceed, even though it would precipitate more violence in the region and the worst and most violent forces would benefit.” [Mother Jones, 8/16/16]

Fact Check: Trump-Pence Economic Plan Not Likely to Bring Down National Debt

PENCE’S LIE:

“When we get back to 3.5% to 4% growth, with Donald Trump’s plan, we’ll do. Then we are going to have the resources to meet our nation’s needs at home and abroad, and the ability to bring down the national debt.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

CRFB blog: Donald Trump’s promise of 3.5 percent economic growth is “unrealistic” and “likely unachievable.” “Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump announced significant revisions to his tax plan that would reduce its cost by about half, a change CRFB president Maya MacGuineas described as ‘moving in the right direction.’ Unfortunately, to pay for his plan, Trump relies largely on unrealistic levels of economic growth, while ruling out changes to large portions of the budget to pay for his tax plan. Trump’s campaign estimates the new tax plan will cost $4.4 trillion, about half of the $9.25 trillion that we had estimated his old plan would cost. The new plan would be paid for in part with reductions in non-defense spending but mostly by increasing economic growth to 3.5 percent annually. This rate of economic growth is likely unachievable, and unfortunately Trump has taken many alternative offsets off the table that he could use to make up the difference.” [Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 9/16/16]

Fact Check: Mike Pence Lies about Donald Trump’s Deportation Force

PENCE’S LIE:

KAINE: These guys, and Donald Trump has said it, “Deportation Force”. They want to go house to house, school to school, business to business, and kick out 16 million people. And I cannot believe –  PENCE: That’s nonsense. That’s nonsense.  [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH: Donald Trump Strongly Supports Mass Deportation

Donald Trump: “You’re going to have a deportation force.” “You’re going to have a deportation force, and you’re going to do it humanely. And you’re going to bring the country – and frankly, the people, because you have some excellent wonderful people, some fantastic people that have been here for a long period of time.” [MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 11/11/15]

Donald Trump pushed for mass deportations. “And Mr. Trump’s plan for mass deportations — ‘They have to go,’ he said — which is supported by a sizable minority of Republican voters nationwide, has encouraged rivals to similarly push the edges on immigration.” [New York Times, 8/19/15]

Donald Trump on undocumented immigrants: “They have to go.” “Donald Trump would reverse President Obama’s executive orders on immigration and deport all undocumented immigrants from the U.S. as president, he said in an exclusive interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd. ‘We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go,’ he said in the interview, which aired in full on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ Sunday. Pressed on what he’d do if the immigrants in question had nowhere to return to, Trump reiterated: ‘They have to go.’ ‘We will work with them. They have to go. Chuck, we either have a country, or we don’t have a country,’ he said.” [NBC News, 8/16/15]

Fact Check: Pence lied about Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin

PENCE LIE:

KAINE: You gotta be tough on Russia, so let’s start with not praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader. Donald Trump and Mike Pence has said he is a great leader. PENCE: No, we haven’t. [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

Mike Pence: “I think it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country.” “Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday defended his running mate’s statement that Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader than President Barack Obama, calling it ‘inarguable.’ In a sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the GOP vice presidential nominee said Donald Trump was speaking ‘boldly’ as did the 40th president of the United States. ‘I think it’s inarguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leader in his country than Barack Obama has been in this country. And that’s going to change the day that Donald Trump becomes president,’ Pence said.” [CNN, 9/9/16]

Fact Check: Pence lies about the Clinton Foundation

PENCE LIE:

PENCE: “The Trump Foundation is a private family foundation, they give virtually every cent in the Trump Foundation to charitable causes. Less than 10 cents on the dollar in the Clinton Foundation has gone to charitable causes.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/4/16]

THE TRUTH:

FactCheck.org: Nearly all contributions to the Clinton Foundation are used for its charitable activities. “Fiorina and others are referring only to the amount donated by the Clinton Foundation to outside charities, ignoring the fact that most of the Clinton Foundation’s charitable work is performed in-house. One independent philanthropy watchdog did an analysis of Clinton Foundation funding and concluded that about 89 percent of its funding went to charity. Simply put, despite its name, the Clinton Foundation is not a private foundation — which typically acts as a pass-through for private donations to other charitable organizations. Rather, it is a public charity. It conducts most of its charitable activities directly.” [FactCheck.org, 6/19/15]

The Clinton Foundation earned an A rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy, which found that 89% of money raised goes directly to its charitable mission. “One group earned headlines by placing the foundation on a ‘watch list’ for potential donors, but in a new rating published Monday, the American Institute of Philanthropy’s Charity Watch gave the foundation an ‘A’ rating for financial performance. The group assessed that the foundation spent 89 percent of its 2013 expenses on charitable programs. The organization spent just 3 percent on costs associated with fundraising, Charity Watch found. Last year, the same group gave the foundation an A+. President Daniel Borochoff said the slip resulted because the foundation spent 90 percent of its expenses on programs in 2012.” [Washington Post, 4/27/15]