President Donald Trump’s first Cupboard assembly Wednesday of his new administration was riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods, says CNN’s fact-checking reporter Daniel Dale, who delivered a boatload of receipts on “Inside Politics.”
Host Dana Bash kicked issues off with Trump’s declare that “60 Minutes” altered the solutions of former Vice President Kamala Harris throughout an interview final 12 months reasonably than merely modifying the footage. A full interview transcript has since confirmed that the video was solely edited.
Dale went on to fact-check an entire host of different claims Trump made in the course of the assembly, together with false claims about U.S. support to Ukraine, America’s training rating, mail-in voting, tariffs on China, fentanyl deaths — and Elon Musk’s controversial e-mail to federal employees.
“There was just so much in this Cabinet meeting,” stated Dale earlier than diving into the information.
“We heard this claim again from the president, he’s been saying it over and over in the past week, that the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $350 billion worth of aid, and that this is about three times what Europe collectively has provided,” he continued. “That is not true.”
“The $350 billion number is not true, nor is the idea that the U.S. has provided way more than Europe,” Dale confirmed. “According to a think tank in Germany that closely tracks this aid, it is Europe that has collectively provided more aid to Ukraine than the U.S. has.”
Trump additionally stated Wednesday the U.S. ranks fortieth out of 40 in numerous instructional rankings, which Dale stated he tried to inquire about with the White Home, who by no means provided clarification. His declare that the U.S. is the only real nation with mail-in voting can be false.
A latest report confirms 14 nations in Europe, as an example, present voters with the choice.
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Pictures
“He said the U.S. took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China in the tariffs he imposed in the first term,” Dale continued Wednesday. “In fact, Americans paid those tariffs.”
The president additionally claimed that 300,000 Individuals die yearly from fentanyl overdoses. Dale stated that quantity, whereas nonetheless tragic, is finally nearer to 60,000.
“He offered another alternate history of the European Union’s formation, saying it was formed to screw, take advantage of the U.S. In fact, it was formed with U.S. support, so not even close to correct,” he continued. “And so, I don’t even know where to go from here.”
Dale definitely did, nonetheless, and cited Musk’s e-mail Saturday from the Division of Authorities Effectivity giving federal staffers 48 hours to clarify what they’ve finished at work final week, which led Trump to say that the million individuals who didn’t reply don’t exist.
“I think it’s important to note that we had numerous agency heads … telling their employees not to respond,” Dale stated. “So the simpler explanation is that people were instructed not to do this, rather than them being, you know, fictional, nonexistent human beings.”
Watch Dale’s full evaluation right here:
