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60 false claims in 2 hours: Trump’s CPAC speech was by far his most-dishonest single event as president

Trump made 111 false claims in all last week, the ninth-worst week of his presidency so far.

By Daniel Dale, Washington Bureau Chief
Wed., March 6, 2019

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump made 60 false claims in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, shattering his old record for false claims in a single speech.

At 2 hours and 2 minutes, Trump’s speech to CPAC was also by far the longest of his presidency. If you’re counting false claims per minute, Star editor Ed Tubb notes, Trump made almost an identical amount to CPAC, 0.49 per minute, as he did in the Pennsylvania rally speech in August at which he set his old record of 36, 0.46 per minute.

But still: man, 60 false claims in a single speech.

Six of them were on the subject of his crowds. One of those was a lie he told even though hundreds of his supporters could see it was a lie.

When Trump seemed to be a couple minutes from finally reaching his conclusion, journalists including myself and hundreds of conference attendees watched dozens of people walk out of the room...

… after which, Trump said, “And, by the way, I’m watching those doors. Not one person has left, and I’ve been up here a long time…But not one person. So if you hear tomorrow, when they read ‘people left’ — nobody left early. There hasn’t been one person that’s left. But when you read it, you just say ‘fake news.’”

I’m skeptical of grand theories of Trump’s dishonesty; I think he often lies simply because that’s how his brain works. But there’s a school of thought that he tells extremely obvious lies as a demonstration of his power over people — to show that he can deny reality to people who know he is denying reality and still retain their fealty. It seemed like that might be what he was doing at CPAC.

Trump made 111 false claims in all last week, his ninth-worst week so far.

Donald Trump's false claims, by week

Trump is now up to 4,557 false claims for the first 773 days of his presidency, an average of 5.9 per day.

Now you can stay on top of Donald Trump’s lies and false claims like never before with Daniel Dale’s new Trumpcheck newsletter. Sign up here.

If Trump is a serial liar, why call this a list of “false claims,” not lies? You can read our detailed explanation here. The short answer is that we can’t be sure that each and every one was intentional. In some cases, he may have been confused or ignorant. What we know, objectively, is that he was not telling the truth.


The false things Trump said last week
Mar 3, 2019

"After more than two years of Presidential Harassment, the only things that have been proven is that Democrats and other broke the law. The hostile Cohen testimony, given by a liar to reduce his prison time, proved no Collusion! His just written book manuscript showed what he said was a total lie, but Fake Media won't show it."

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"

"I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start - And only because I won the Election!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: There is simply no evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia is illegal. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Republican appointed by Trump.
Mar 2, 2019

"And, by the way, I'm watching those doors. Not one person has left, and I've been up here a long time...But not one person. So if you hear tomorrow, when they read 'people left' -- nobody left early. There hasn't been one person that's left. But when you read it, you just say 'fake news.'"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: We were present at this speech, with a clear view of the doors, and dozens of people had left in the few minutes prior to Trump saying this. Journalist Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast saw the same thing: "Trump just started bragging that nobody had left early during his two hour speech at #CPAC2019 literally as a fairly long procession of people and students in the audience had been filing out very clearly. Attendees behind press area started laughing because they all could see."

"And we got them Accountability. You couldn't fire anybody in the VA. You had sadists. You had people that took advantage of our veterans. They've hit them. They were sadists. They were sick people. You couldn't fire them. You had thieves that were stealing -- openly stealing. You couldn't fire them. I got a bill passed: VA Accountability. Now you look at the guy, you say, "Get the hell out of here. You're fired. Get out."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: As FactCheck.org reported: "It was possible for VA employees to be fired before Trump signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act in June 2017. That law does make it easier for the VA secretary to remove employees by shortening the firing process and expediting the appeals process for senior executives, among other things. But the VA was already terminating about 2,300 employees (for performance and disciplinary reasons) each fiscal year on average before Trump's presidency going back to 2005."

"And we will never forget our military. We will never forget our veterans. We are taking care of our veterans like they've never been taken care of before. We just got them Choice, so now they can go see a doctor. Now they can go and see a doctor instead of waiting on line for weeks and weeks and weeks...And VA Choice, they thought -- for many, many decades they'd been trying to get VA Choice. You couldn't get it. Now, instead of waiting on line for two days, nine days, three weeks -- people were dying. People that weren't very sick would be dead by the time they saw a doctor, six weeks later. Now these great veterans, if there's a big wait, they go outside, they go to a local doctor. We pay the bills. They get better. Everybody is happy. And we actually save a lot of money, if you can believe it. And I got that approved after 44 years of being unable to get it approved -- for our veterans. We love our veterans."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The Veterans Choice health program was passed and created in 2014 under Obama. The law Trump signed in 2018, the VA MISSION Act, modified the Choice program.

"And then -- and then we had Florida, and many others. And we have a candidate, Ron DeSantis -- a friend. A friend of many of us in this room. But nobody knew he was running. He was running against, in the primary, somebody that was easily going to win. He was scheduled to be the next governor of Florida. But Ron has been great to me on the witch hunt. He's been a defender of me against these phoney charges of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia...But then we have Florida. So, Ron DeSantis is at three. Three. He calls up, 'Sir, can I have your endorsement?' I said, 'Ron, you're at three. Your opponent is, I guess, agriculture commissioner -- has $22 million in the bank. His poll numbers are very good. He's up in the 20s or 30s.' I said, 'Ron, don't make me do this, Ron.' 'Sir, I can win.' 'All right, Ron. Here we go.'...But I said, 'Ron, don't do it.' I said, 'All right, I'll do it.' He went from 3 to 60. To 60. And then he ran against a guy who had unbelievable support. He had every celebrity go into Florida. He had money all over the place. And Ron was in there pitching, and I was in there pitching with him. And we now have a great governor in the state of Florida."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: DeSantis was not at 3 per cent in the polls for Republican nominee for Florida governor at the time Trump tweeted his support in December 2017 (which was before DeSantis had not officially entered the race). In September 2017, DeSantis was at 7 per cent in a poll by St. Leo University. In August 2017, DeSantis was at 9 per cent in a poll by Florida Atlantic University. He was at 17 per cent in the most last poll before Trump made a second announcement, in which he offered a "full" endorsement.

"The Green New Deal, right? Green New Deal -- I encourage it. I think it's really something that they should promote. They should work hard on. It's something our country needs desperately. They have to go out and get it. But I'll take the other side of that argument only because I'm mandated to. I'm mandated.But they should stay with that argument. Never change. Never change. No planes. No energy. When the wind stops blowing, that's the end of your electric. Let's hurry up. 'Darling' -- 'Darling, is the wind blowing today? I'd like to watch television, darling.' No, but it's true."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The Green New Deal some Democrats have endorsed -- which at the time existed only in the form of a vague resolution -- did not say "no planes" or "no energy." As for planes, it merely called for "overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and high-speed rail." Trump did not make up this claim out of thin air: a "FAQ" page posted by a leading Green New Deal proponent, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for the government to "build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary." But other Democrats did not endorse the FAQ (which Ocasio-Ortez's office quickly deleted), just the official resolution. As for energy, the resolution calls for "meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources, including by dramatically expanding and upgrading renewable power sources; and by deploying new capacity." Trump was likely meaning to suggest the Green New Deal would mean no non-renewable energy, such as oil, gas and coal.

"The Green New Deal would completely abolish the American oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power industries."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The Green New Deal some Democrats have endorsed -- which at the time existed only in the form of a vague resolution -- did not say anything about nuclear power. It called for "meeting 100 per cent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources." Some Democrats believe nuclear power should be part of the mix in this future scenario, some do not. Trump was not simply making this claim up out of thin air: a "FAQ" page shared and then deleted by the office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading proponent of the Green New Deal, said, "A Green New Deal is a massive investment in renewable energy production and would not include creating new nuclear plants. It's unclear if we will be able to decommission every nuclear plant within 10 years, but the plan is to transition off of nuclear and all fossil fuels as soon as possible. No one has put the full 10-year plan together yet, and if it is possible to get to fully 100% renewable in 10 years, we will do that." But this statement has not been endorsed by Democrats broadly. The Washington Post reported: "Nuclear lobbyists applauded the noncommittal language in the Green New Deal resolution, while simultaneously pressing for pro-nuclear language in the actual legislation. 'We commend efforts to promote the adoption of clean and zero-emission sources of electricity to address climate change,' Nuclear Energy Institute president Maria Korsnick said. 'Any approach to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions requires all clean energy technologies, including nuclear, to work together to address that urgent problem.'"

"We had a rally at the airport (in Georgia), where 55,000 people showed up to the airport. It was one hangar. They had three other hangars that were full. They went so far back. The problem was they gave the press, like these guys -- they gave the press too good a location because the people behind them couldn't see properly. I was so angry. But we had 55,000 people show up. I said, 'You're going to win the election.' He won the election. He won it fairly easily, against their star. And now David Perdue is going to win for senator in 2020."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There were nowhere close to 55,000 people at Trump's November rally in Macon, Georgia for Republican governor candidate Brian Kemp. As the Washington Post reported: "Kemp's campaign estimated that 10,000 people attended in total, and the Bibb County Sheriff's Office estimated 12,500 inside and nearly 6,000 outside, according to a fact-check by WMAZ. The overflow crowd sandwiched between the airport and the corporate office numbered in the "hundreds," according to Atlanta magazine. The most generous tally, 18,500, is a far cry from the 55,000 Trump claimed." The Post added: "He previously claimed it was two hangars. But there was only one hangar. The crowd at this event was divided in three: people inside, people just outside the open hangar and a third group watching a TV screen on a different part of the premises, sandwiched between the airport and a corporate office."

"Then he (Brian Kemp) had a tough race against the new star of the Democrat Party -- not Democratic. It's Democrat. We have to do that. ...But then, he had an election against their star who followed me after the State of the Union Address. I didn't think she was great. But she's their star. And who showed up? Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, and President Obama. And they campaigned for her, and they worked so hard. And all our man had was Trump. And we kicked their ass. True."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Michelle Obama did not visit Georgia to campaign for Stacey Abrams. She did not campaign for Abrams at all, a spokesperson for Barack Obama said.

"Then we have Georgia -- the governor of Georgia. Great guy. Where's Georgia? Great guy. He was losing in the primary by 10. I got a call from David Perdue and Sonny Perdue -- two great guys. 'Could you endorse him?' I said, 'Let me check.' And I checked him. He was a Trumper before Trump was a Trumper. And I said, 'I love this guy.' He's down by 10. He won by 40. Can you believe that? I endorsed him, Mark. He won by 40."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump's endorsement of Brian Kemp in the Republican primary for Georgia governor indeed caused Kemp's numbers to skyrocket, but Kemp was not "down by 10" at the time of the endorsement. The most recent public poll before the endorsement had Kemp up three points. Trump himself has previously said Kemp was merely down five points before the endorsement, not ten: "The other day we endorsed a great gentleman from Georgia. He was probably five points down. He won the election by 40," he said at a rally on July 31.

"And two (senators) that we didn't like got out. They said, 'They retired.' They didn't retire. They were retired. They said, 'These two senators have decided to retire.' No, no, no. They retired because they had like very little support. Like how about five per cent? And eight per cent."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was clearly referring to Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, two of his most frequent Republican critics. Both of them left office in 2018 rather than face a difficult Republican primary. Trump's basic point was fair: he could reasonably argue that they were effectively forced out of office because of their unpopularity with Trump-loving Republican voters. His numbers, however, were exaggerated. In a 2018 poll reported by pro-Trump outlet Breitbart News, Corker trailed 48 per cent to 29 per cent in a hypothetical primary matchup against Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who ended up winning the seat. In a 2017 poll reported by the Tennessee Star, 41 per cent of Tennessee voters said Corker deserves re-election. Both of these results were poor for Corker, but they were not "five per cent" or "eight per cent." Similarly, a month before Flake announced in 2017 that he would retire, The Hill reported on a poll that had Flake trailing a possible primary opponent, Kelli Ward, 58 per cent to 31 per cent, with "only a 25 per cent favourability among Republican primary voters." Again: poor numbers, but not "five per cent" or "eight per cent."

"Then, in an act and a statement, the likes of which I don't think I've ever heard, in Virginia, the governor -- a Democrat -- stated that he would allow babies to be born, to be born outside. He would wrap them. He would take care of them. And then he'll talk to the mother and the father as to what to be done. And if they didn't want the child, who is now outside of the womb -- long outside of the womb -- they will execute the baby after birth. They will execute the baby after birth. And that's one many people have never even heard of or thought about."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam did not state that he would execute a baby after birth; his comments were far less clear. He told a radio station: "You know when we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician by the way. And it's done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that's nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labour, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother." The comments prompted an uproar from pro-life conservatives, who accused him of endorsing infanticide. Northam's spokesperson, however, said he was speaking only about the rare cases where a woman with a non-viable pregnancy goes into labour. Regardless, Northam clearly did not say he would execute a baby

"Sadly, on immigration and so many other issues, Democrat lawmakers have totally abandoned the American mainstream. But that's going to be good for us in 2020. They're embracing open borders, socialism, and extreme late-term abortion."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Democrats do not support "open borders." They endorse various border security measures, just not Trump's border wall. (Also, of course, only a small fraction of Democratic officeholders identify as socialists of any kind.)

"The Democrats in Congress don't want to touch any of it. Visa lottery -- that's where they put in the names; they put it in a lottery, and you pick, 'Oh, here's a wonderful person. Wonderful. You know, he killed four people.' 'Here's -- here's another wonderful.' And then they get in and we say, 'Gee, that person just came into our country. He just robbed a store and killed somebody.' How is that possible? Because they send us the people they don't want."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: This is, as usual, an inaccurate description of the Diversity Visa Lottery program. Contrary to Trump's claim that foreign countries "send us" less-than-fine people in the lottery in order to get rid of them, would-be immigrants sign up on their own, as individuals, of their own free will, because they want to immigrate.

"The Democrats in Congress don't want to touch any of it. Visa lottery -- that's where they put in the names; they put it in a lottery, and you pick, 'Oh, here's a wonderful person. Wonderful. You know, he killed four people.' 'Here's -- here's another wonderful.' And then they get in and we say, 'Gee, that person just came into our country. He just robbed a store and killed somebody.'"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was wrong to suggest that the U.S. is forced to take in lottery winners whom the government knows has committed crimes. Lottery winners are subjected to extensive vetting, including criminal background checks, and are regularly rejected for various reasons involving criminal pasts; contrary to Trump's suggestion, the U.S. is not forced to accept people with no questions asked after their names are selected.

"And we want to end catch-and-release. We catch them, we realize they're a criminal, and we have to release them. Think of this: they come onto our land, they put one foot on our land. We now have to take them through a massive court trial. Who does this? Other countries say, 'Get the hell out of here.' We have to take them through court. So we catch them. We talk to them. If they're criminals, or if they're not, we release them. We say, 'Come back for a hearing in front of a judge.' You know how many judges you need to do this? We have 900,000 people backlogged. That's the good news. The bad news? Nobody shows up. Three per cent of the people come back for a trial. It's insane."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: "Three per cent" is not even close to accurate. The Justice Department says 72 per cent of people showed up for their immigration court hearings in 2017. For asylum seekers in particular, it was 89 per cent. There is no group for which it was anywhere around 2 per cent. A 2017 report released by the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates a hard line on illegal immigration, concluded that 37 per cent of people who were free pending trial did not show up for hearings over the past two decades. The author of the report, a former immigration judge, said the number was 39 per cent in 2016. In other words, even according to vehement opponents of illegal immigration, most unauthorized immigrants are indeed showing up for court.

"And we want to end catch-and-release. We catch them, we realize they're a criminal, and we have to release them. Think of this: they come onto our land, they put one foot on our land. We now have to take them through a massive court trial. Who does this? Other countries say, 'Get the hell out of here.' We have to take them through court. So we catch them. We talk to them. If they're criminals, or if they're not, we release them. We say, 'Come back for a hearing in front of a judge.'"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Unauthorized immigrants to the U.S. do not get the right to a trial if they are caught after merely touching U.S. land; in cases where they are caught near the border, they are subject to rapid deportation, known as expedited removal, without seeing a judge. Also, the U.S. has no obligation to release criminals; even before Trump, people with serious criminal pasts were subjected to mandatory detention. If migrants declare that they are seeking asylum, they do have a right to a legal process -- but the U.S. is far from the only country to afford them this right. "This statement is patently false," James Hathaway, law professor and director of the refugee and asylum law program at the University of Michigan, said in an email in response to a previous version of Trump's claim. "It is completely routine in other countries that, like the U.S., have signed the UN refugee treaties for asylum-seekers to have access to the domestic legal system to make a protection claim (and to be allowed in while the claim is pending). If anything, the U.S. is aberrational in the opposite direction: U.S. domestic law falsely treats the granting of protection to refugees as a matter of discretion, whereas international law *requires* a grant of protection to anyone who meets the refugee definition. This doesn't mean that refugees have a right to stay in the U.S. or anywhere else forever -- but they *do* have a right to stay for the duration of the persecutory risk, unless another safe country that has also signed the refugee treaties agrees to take them in."

"I mean, what's going on is incredible. And when those caravans are formed, do you think those countries that we used to give a lot of money to -- I've cut it way back. I've cut it way back. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. Do you think they're giving us, as we say, their best and their finest? 'Oh, let's send our best people up to America. Let's have our best people go in the caravan so we can give America our greatest people.' No, no, no, no. They give us some very bad people. People with big, long crime records. People with tremendous violence in their past. Murderers, killers, drug dealers, human traffickers. They want to keep their good people because they're smart. It's so sad to see how stupid we've been."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There is no evidence for this conspiracy theory. (It is nearly identical to Trump's baseless conspiracy theory about the diversity visa lottery program: he has repeatedly and falsely claimed that foreign governments put their unwanted citizens into the lottery to dump them on the United States.) Migrants in Latin American caravans have decided on their own to leave their home countries. They have not been dumped into caravans by governments looking to get rid of them.

"These ruthless cartels terrorize innocent communities on both sides of the border and spread instability throughout our hemisphere. When I was there two weeks ago, 26 people were killed very close to where I was, on the Rio Grande. Sounds nice, right? The Rio Grande. Rough. Rough stuff. Twenty-six people were killed, and they were buried right near where I was standing. And the paper doesn't write about it. The news doesn't write about it."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was exaggerating. Nobody was buried "right near where I was standing." He appeared to be talking about the discovery of at least 24 bodies in an apparent shootout in Mexico. CNN reported "the remains were found about 56 miles west of McAllen, Texas," where Trump had visited. The CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas reported that the bodies were discovered "two hours from McAllen."

"The lawless chaos on our southern border provides a lucrative cash flow to some of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the planet. Deadly cartels constantly -- daily, hourly -- violate our borders to flood our cities with drugs that kill thousands and thousands of our citizens violently. What are these people talking about when they talk about the border? 'Keep it open.' Keep what open? Have you been there? Have you seen? I just got back. I've been there many times. I see what's happening. I don't like it."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Democrats do not support open borders and do not call for Trump to "keep it open." They oppose his border wall but support various other border security measures.

"The crazy female senator from the state of Ohio, the state of Hawaii. Right? She's like -- she's like a crazed person...And she didn't know too much about the plan because she's -- you know, she can't understand that plan. Which probably makes her smart, actually. Now, this is the senator from Hawaii, and they're saying to her, 'What do you think?' 'Well, I don't know how people are going to get to Hawaii, but I'm in favour of the plan.' I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. So she's in favour of the plan, but you won't be able to get to -- well, we can take boats, I guess. We'll go back to boats."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: When asked by a reporter, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono said that trying to eliminate air travel would be "pretty hard for Hawaii," then laughed; the Green New Deal resolution Hirono endorsed does not call for the elimination of air travel. Rather, it calls for "overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and high-speed rail." When Trump first made a version of this claim in February, Hirono told HawaiiNewsNow: "As usual, climate change denier Donald Trump makes things up and doesn't know what he's talking about. While the Green New Deal is an ambitious plan to combat climate change, it does not call for the elimination of air travel. I will continue to fight against this president's lies." Trump did not make up this claim out of thin air: a "FAQ" page posted by a leading Green New Deal proponent, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for the government to "build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary." But other Democrats did not endorse the FAQ, just the official resolution, and Ocasio-Cortez's office quickly deleted it.

"Their (Green New Deal) plan would remove every gas-powered car from American roads. Oh, that's not so bad. They want you to have one car instead of two, and it should be electric, okay? So tell people, no more cars. No more cars. I think the auto industry is not going to do too well under this plan."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The Green New Deal some Democrats have endorsed -- which at the time existed only in the form of a vague resolution -- would not remove every gas-powered car from American roads, and it certainly would not require "no more cars." The resolution said the government would overhaul "transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing." Nothing in the resolution suggested the forced removal of gas-powered cars from the roads, and the "as much as is technologically feasible" clause acknowledged that it might not be possible to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions in transportation.

"And we're trying to speed up pipelines in Texas, which would have taken 15 years. We think we're almost very close to getting them approved. When that happens, we'll go probably another 30 to 40 per cent. We need pipeline approval. We're going to have it very quickly. It would have taken -- it was going to be a 14- to 15-year process. We should have it done."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There is no evidence that this is a real case. When we asked John Stoody, vice-president of the Association of Oil Pipelines in Washington, if he was aware of any such case, he responded via email: "Not specifically, but we look forward to the President helping American consumers and workers harness the benefits of US energy production through timely federal approvals of pipeline projects." (The Texas Pipeline Association suggested we contact Stoody's organization.) We will amend this item if more information emerges.

"So what happened is I flew to Iraq...But I didn't have to go there. I didn't have to go there. Because I meet -- and I land in this airport, the most incredible thing. We must have spent $3 billion building it. It's one of the reasons I don't want to leave Iraq so fast. I said, 'Well, how do we leave this thing?'"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The base Trump went to in Iraq, Al Asad, was not built by the U.S. at all but by the Iraqi government in the 1980s. The U.S. upgraded it during the Iraq War, but experts say the U.S. did not spend anywhere close to $3 billion on it. " It was massive when we arrived in 2003, designed to operate under nuclear war conditions. It no doubt cost Iraq the equivalent of a billion dollars overall in its lifetime," said Michael Knights, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "We augmented it to the tune of some tens of millions of dollars, cleaning up battle damage and fixing the airstrip , installing life support facilities and perimeter lighting and air traffic control." In 2006, for example, $30 million was budgeted for new "observation/guard towers, the restoration of the air traffic control tower, pavement lighting, air navigation/traffic aids, and pavement markings," $9 million to "upgrade transformer and switch gear, and install a new/upgraded electrical distribution network," and $7 million to "construct a new identification badge issue building and to install pop-up bollards in all lanes in and out, automatic sliding gates, security fencing, guard tower, new inspection lanes with turn around at access control points, and other related infrastructure."In 2016, the U.S. government said it would install a new system to allow pilots to land at night or in bad weather.

"And I said, think of this: We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East and we can't land with the lights on -- 20 years later. How bad is it? No, seriously, how bad is it? How bad is it? Seven trillion dollars and we have to fly in with no lights."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There is no basis for the "$7 trillion" figure. During the 2016 campaign, Trump cited a $6 trillion estimate that appeared to be taken from a 2013 report from Brown University's Costs of War Project. (That report estimated $2 trillion in costs up to that point but said the total could rise an additional $4 trillion by 2053.) Trump, however, used the $6 trillion as if it was a current 2016 figure. He later explained that since additional time has elapsed since the campaign, he believes the total is now $7 trillion. That is incorrect. The latest Brown report, issued in November 2018, put the current total at $4.9 trillion, and the current total including estimated future health care obligations at $5.9 trillion.

"I told people, 'I'm in this mess' -- you know, people don't know how big the White House. First of all, it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's really -- I made a lot of money with luxury. This building is -- 1799 -- which, of course, when President Xi comes, I say '1799,' like it's old. To him, that's like a brand-new house in China. In China, they go back -- they go back 8,000 years. So that's -- that's like a new -- that's like a new residence."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Chinese officials claim that China has 5,000 years of history, not 8,000 years.

"And then I flew to Iraq; first time I left the White House -- because I stayed in the White House for months and months because I wanted the Democrats to get back from their vacations from Hawaii and these other places. And I figured it would look good if I stayed in the White House so that you people all love me and vote for me, okay? I figured it would look good. I figured it would look good. So I stayed in the White House...I stayed for Thanksgiving. I said -- I mean, I was in the White House for a long time. Months. Months. I had cabin fever in the White House. But if you've got to have cabin fever, that's the place to do it, okay? But I was there, I don't know, for a number of months, through Christmas." And: "But I sat in the White House for months and months, except I took a day off."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump did not remain in the White House for "months" before his trip to Iraq in December 2018, as CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, known for his meticulous record-keeping about presidential activities, confirmed in an email. Earlier in December, he gave a speech in Kansas City, Missouri and went to Philadelphia for the Army-Navy football game. He was in Argentina on November 30 and December 1 for a G20 summit in Argentina. Also in late November, he held two campaign rallies in Mississippi. Earlier in November, he spent nearly a week at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Just before that, he visited California in response to wildfires there. He traversed the country in October and early November to campaign in the midterm election.

"We want to bring our people back home. It's time. Been in these wars. We were going to be in Syria for four months. We ended up five years."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Steven Heydemann, director of the Middle East Studies program at Smith College, said Trump is "clearly wrong" that the U.S. military presence in Syria was originally supposed to last four months: "There has never been a timetable attached to the U.S. presence." While both the Obama and Trump administrations claimed the mission was limited in duration, tied to the defeat of ISIS, "it was never defined as limited to a period of a few months."

"That we've taken care of our military with -- $1.7 billion. Think of that. Think of what we did. Think of what we did with our military. Think of the numbers that we have for our military. We have numbers -- nobody has ever heard of these numbers before. And you know, part of the problem that we have -- because I'm a cost cutter. But -- and you are all cost cutters. But we have to take care of our military. We have to. Seven hundred billions dollars we spent. And that was the first year. And then the second year, $716 billion. Now, I have no choice."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: It is very much unclear how Trump added up $700 billion and $716 billion to get "$1.7 billion," but regardless, it is not true that "nobody has ever heard of these numbers before." Obama signed a $725 billion version of the annual defence spending bill in 2011, topping both of Trump's versions to date.

"That we've got the best economy maybe in our history. That we've got the best employment numbers and unemployment numbers in our history."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was mixing up two different kinds of statistics. He was correct, by one extremely basic measure, that the U.S. has its "best employment numbers": there were more Americans working than ever before, 157 million. But this raw employment number did not mean that the U.S. also had its best "unemployment numbers," since the population was also growing. The unemployment rate is a much better measure of unemployment than the total number of people working; the unemployment rate at the time Trump spoke was 4.0 per cent, well off the record 2.5 per cent in 1953.

"...Look, let's face it: Whether you like me or not -- if my name is Smith instead of Trump, and if you told him I put in over 100 federal judges -- it'll soon be 145 federal judges and 2 Supreme Court judges. And 17 appellate division judges."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Russell Wheeler, an expert on judicial appointments at the Brookings Institution who keeps track of appointments by president, said that, as of three business days prior, Trump had appointed 86 judges: 84 judges to courts of appeal and district courts, plus two Supreme Court justices. He added, "He's appointed 7 judges to executive branch courts -- 2 to the Tax Court, 4 to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and 1 the Court of Appeals for Armed Forces. (These are usually not considered "federal judges" in the normal context and anyway they don't total the 14 needed to close the gap between 86 and 100, much less 'over 100.')"

"You saw what I'm doing in California, right? They have a fast train. The fast train goes from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It's over budget by hundreds of billions of dollars."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: "Hundreds of billions of dollars" is an exaggeration, though the estimated price of the high-speed rail project had indeed spiked dramatically. Cost estimates had ballooned to more than $77 billion, with a high-end estimate of $98 billion. That was up from an initial estimate of $33 billion.

"And African-American income has reached an all-time high."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Median African-American household income was $40,258 in 2017, according to the Census Bureau, down slightly from $40,339 in 2016, the last year of the Obama era and well down from the 2000 peak of (an inflation-adjusted) $42,348, according to the Associated Press.

"And African-American -- and you've heard me say this many times -- Hispanic American, Asian-American unemployment rates are at their all-time historic lows."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The African-American unemployment rate remained at an all-time low, but the Hispanic and Asian unemployment rates did not. Hispanic American unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 4.4 per cent in October 2018 and December 2018. But the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 4.9 per cent, higher than the 4.8 per cent of December 2000. The Asian-American unemployment rate briefly dropped to a low, 2.0 per cent, in May 2018 -- a low, at least, since the government began issuing Asian-American data in 2000 -- but the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 3.2 per cent. This was higher than the rate in Obama's last full month in office, 2.6 per cent.

"The unemployment rate has reached the lowest in over 51 years."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The unemployment rate hit a 49-year low in September 2018, but then it rose. The rate for January 2019 was 4.0 per cent, lowest since 2000, or 18 years prior, if you don't count earlier periods of Trump's presidency.

"Since the election, we've created a number that if I would have said during the campaign, the fake news just back there would have said this is crazy. 5.3 million new jobs, including over, now, 600,000 beautiful, brand-new manufacturing jobs that were never going to come back to our country. These are jobs that were never coming back to our country. Remember? Not to talk badly about the other administration, but if that theory went forward with Crooked Hillary winning the election, instead of being up almost 50 per cent with the stock market, you would have been down 50 per cent. It was heading down. It was going to be a disaster."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There was no apparent basis for Trump's claim that a Clinton election would have resulted in a stock market crash, but we cannot fact-check a prediction. What is objectively false is his claim -- a vaguer claim than usual -- that the Obama administration put forward a theory that manufacturing jobs were never coming back to the country. The administration never did. Rather, at a televised PBS town hall in Elkhart, Indiana in 2016, Obama said that certain manufacturing jobs "are just not going to come back" -- but also boasted that some manufacturers are indeed "coming back to the United States." He also said that "we've seen more manufacturing jobs created since I've been president than any time since the 1990s," and that "we actually make more stuff, have a bigger manufacturing base today, than we've had in most of our history." Obama did mock Trump for Trump's campaign claims that he was going to bring back manufacturing jobs that had been outsourced to Mexico, saying: "And when somebody says -- like the person you just mentioned who I'm not going to advertise for -- that he's going to bring all these jobs back, well, how exactly are you going to do that? What are you going to do? There's no answer to it. He just says, 'Well, I'm going to negotiate a better deal.' Well, how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And usually the answer is he doesn't have an answer." But, again, Obama made clear that he was talking about a certain segment of manufacturing jobs, not all of them.

"Since the election, we've created a number that if I would have said during the campaign, the fake news just back there would have said this is crazy. 5.3 million new jobs, including over, now, 600,000 beautiful, brand-new manufacturing jobs that were never going to come back to our country."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The "600,000" figure is not correct even if you go back to Trump's election, which allows him to count jobs created in the final three months of Obama's term. There were 12,341,000 manufacturing jobs in November 2016, the month of the election, and 12,822,000 in January 2019, the most recent month for which there was data. That was a gain of 481,000.

"So I say, India is a very high-tariff nation. They charge us a lot. When we send a motorcycle to India, it's 100 per cent tariff. They charge 100 per cent. When India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing. So I want a reciprocal tax, or at least I want to charge a tax. It's called a mirror tax, but it's a reciprocal tax."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: In response to Trump's complaints, India lowered its motorcycle tariff to 50 per cent in 2018 -- and Trump had bragged about this in January 2019, less than two months before this "100 per cent" claim, saying, "Look at motorcycles, as an example. India -- 50 per cent. It was 100 per cent. I got them down to 50 per cent just by talking for about two minutes." The tariff was at 75 per cent, not 100 per cent, before the reduction.

"Last year, we lost eight hundred -- this for many years -- almost $800 billion on trade. It's not sustainable. You can't do that."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The U.S. trade deficit was $566 billion in 2017 and had never previously been $800 billion for a year. (Trump habitually ignores trade in services when he talks about trade deficits, choosing the number that refers only to trade in goods. The U.S. had a goods-trade deficit of $810 billion in 2017.)

"But -- and there will be some people in the room that don't like this. We're down to 3.7 per cent unemployment -- the lowest number in a long time."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The unemployment rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 4.0 per cent.

"Because, you know, if you're building a great country, you have the best employment and unemployment numbers we've ever had. More people are working today in the United States than ever before in the history of our country."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was mixing up two different kinds of statistics. He was correct that there were more Americans working than ever before, 157 million. But this raw employment number did not mean that the U.S. also had "the best unemployment numbers we've ever had," since the population was also growing. The unemployment rate is a much better measure of unemployment than the total number of people working; the unemployment rate at the time Trump spoke was 4.0 per cent, well off the record 2.5 per cent in 1953.

"You know, somebody said, 'Oh, the speech you made, sir, the State of the Union speech was incredible.' They said it was incredible. They said that was so great. And I said -- I said -- I did; I got great reviews, even from some of the really bad ones out there. Of course, by the following morning, they had to change because the head people called up, 'What are you doing?' A lot of it is not the people on television, you know. A lot of it is their bosses."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There is no evidence that any television "boss" demanded that any on-air personality change their assessment of Trump's State of the Union -- nor even that any personality actually changed their assessment the next morning; Trump did not name anyone. We will update this item if any evidence emerges.

"And the Washington Post had to do -- and this particular writer -- had to do a -- I thought he was going to get fired. I mean, if that were a conservative, he would've been fired on the spot. He would've been humiliated for what he did. Because it was fake news. Nobody was in the arena. There were thousands outside but they hadn't opened the gates yet. They did the same thing at our big inauguration speech. You take a look at those crowds. And I watched one of the evening shows that are ridiculous, how horrible they are, how mean -- how horrible. And I watched it by mistake. And they showed -- they showed from the White House all the way down. They showed from the Cap -- they showed -- there were people. Nobody has ever seen it. The Capitol down to the Washington Monument -- people. But I saw pictures that there were no people. Those pictures were taken hours before. Right?"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was trying to use a case in which a journalist actually made an error about the size of one of his crowds, at a rally in late 2017, to try to bolster his false claim that journalists' reports about the size of his inauguration crowd were incorrect. The inauguration crowd did not come close to reaching the Washington Monument even as Trump was delivering his speech.

"Of course, the Washington Post -- a guy named David Weigel -- he wrote an article, some arena -- no, listen to this. He wrote an article. He got there four hours early. He took pictures of an empty arena. He then put out a note -- something to the effect, 'Not very good crowd size, Mr. President.' And I never saw it because I don't follow the guy. But thousands of people that were in that arena that was packed, with 25,000 people outside that couldn't get in..."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There were not 25,000 people stuck outside Trump's Pensacola, Florida rally in December 2017. (Trump regularly makes wild claims about the number of people stuck outside.) Andy Marlette, an editorial cartoonist and columnist at the Pensacola News Journal, said in an email that he was one of the people stuck outside: "I actually waited in line to get into the event and was turned away when the Pensacola Bay Center filled up. I was about 10 people away from the entry when admissions were cut off. There were nowhere close to 25,000 people waiting outside at that point. My best estimate would be a few hundred people who were turned away, perhaps 1,000 at the very most." Marlette added: "In full disclosure, I am an editorial cartoonist who regularly illustrates opinions that are critical of the president. That being said, even a cartoonist would have a hard time exaggerating so absurdly as to claim 25,000 people had overflowed into the quaint streets of downtown Pensacola." He noted that an annual charity run in Pensacola, which reported 12,000 attendees last year, "shuts down nearby traffic for half a day and fills every inch of the surrounding roads with human bodies. The crowd outside the Trump rally was nothing close."

"Of course, the Washington Post -- a guy named David Weigel -- he wrote an article, some arena -- no, listen to this. He wrote an article. He got there four hours early. He took pictures of an empty arena. He then put out a note -- something to the effect, 'Not very good crowd size, Mr. President.' And I never saw it because I don't follow the guy. But thousands of people that were in that arena that was packed, with 25,000 people outside that couldn't get in -- he got there four or five hours early because he doesn't fly private...But he got there hours early. And, you know, the place hadn't started taking in people. They weren't going to take them in. So there were virtually nobody. And, you know, whatever it was -- 18,000 -- when you have nobody, it's a little scary-looking. So he took pictures. And you know who really got even? Our people. Because they were incensed. We had people sitting on the stairwells. We had people sitting in every seat. I don't think we've had an empty seat since we announced."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: This is an inaccurate account of Weigel's error. Weigel did not attend this 2017 rally in Pensacola, Florida, and he did not write an article. What happened: the day after the rally, Weigel tweeted someone else's photo that showed a sparse crowd, and he wrongly suggested that the photo disproved Trump's claim that the hall was "packed to the rafters." Weigel was then told that the photo was taken well before Trump began speaking, at which point he deleted the tweet and apologized. In short: Weigel did not get to the rally "four or five hours early," did not take or tweet his own early photos, and did not write anything published in the Post itself.

"When you're doing rallies with 25-, 30,000 people -- in Texas, we had 109,000 people sign up. We used the Houston Rockets arena; it holds 22,000. Tens of thousands were outside."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Houston's Toyota Center has a capacity of 19,000 for basketball games; Trump had a capacity crowd. There were not "tens of thousands" of people outside: Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said there were about 3,000 people watching the rally on nearby screens.

"And you know what? We never had an empty seat. We went out and helped Ted Cruz. We went out and helped so many people. And I'll tell you what: If we didn't do those 32 rallies -- and it wasn't easy. When you're doing rallies with 25-, 30,000 people -- in Texas, we had 109,000 people sign up. We used the Houston Rockets arena; it holds 22,000. Tens of thousands were outside. We were sending notices, 'Please don't come.' That's a little different. Usually, people are begging. 'Well, yeah, like can somebody come?' We never had an empty seat." And: "I don't think we've had an empty seat since we announced. And from the day we came down the escalator, I really don't believe we've had an empty seat at any arena, at any stadium."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There have been empty seats at multiple Trump rallies -- including at the October 2018 Ted Cruz rally Trump was specifically referring to here. The Dallas News reported then: "Many hundreds of seats were empty, including all of the boxes on both tiers of the mezzanine." When Trump had a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in April 2017, Philadelphia Inquirer journalist Jonathan Tamari tweeted a photo of rows of empty seats in the upper deck; he wrote, "Trump says 'we have a lot of ppl standing outside' and he 'broke the all time record' in this arena. There are rows of empty seats here." Reporting on Trump's May 2018 rally in Nashville, the Tennessean newspaper reported that Trump was "speaking to a crowd of thousands at Municipal Auditorium, which also had hundreds of empty seats." In April 2016, the Associated Press reported, "Donald Trump's final rally on the eve of Wisconsin's primary attracted a smaller than usual crowd, with several hundred seats still empty as he stepped on stage."

"So the Attorney General is weak and ineffective, and he doesn't do what he should've done. Somebody that never got a vote writes a powerful letter -- horrible -- about Comey. Every single Democrat said Comey should be fired, or worse, if possible. (Laughter.) Every Republican said -- everybody...So we fire Comey. And Schumer -- who called for his resignation many times -- Podesta, I believe that day -- because he still hasn't gotten over getting his ass kicked, okay? I believe that day called for his resignation. That day. Podesta, the great genius of campaigns. He called for the Comey resignation. Others -- almost every, I would say. Mark, would you say virtually every Democrat, virtually every -- I can't think of anybody that said he's doing a good job. So I said to Melania, 'Melania, the good news, this will be a popular thing.' And I fire a bad cop. I fire a dirty cop. And all of a sudden, the Democrats say, 'How dare he fire him. How dare he do this.' And that's where we are, folks. That's where we are. We're in this swamp of Washington, D.C."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta had not called for for Comey's resignation "that day" or at any other time. The day of the firing, before Trump made the announcement, Podesta tweeted out an article about Comey and added the words, "The American public is getting mildly nauseous listening to Jim Comey." That was all; he too did not say Comey should go. Podesta told Politico later in the month: "I've been highly critical of him, and I think that was criticism that was shared on a bipartisan basis. That's different, though, than taking the action that the president took, which was in the middle of an investigation that he was leading, to go ahead and fire him. I think that was inappropriate...I still think what Jim Comey did last fall was wrong, but he shouldn't have been fired, given the circumstances that he was leading this investigation."

"So the Attorney General is weak and ineffective, and he doesn't do what he should've done. Somebody that never got a vote writes a powerful letter -- horrible -- about Comey. Every single Democrat said Comey should be fired, or worse, if possible. (Laughter.) Every Republican said -- everybody...So we fire Comey. And Schumer -- who called for his resignation many times...Others -- almost every, I would say. Mark, would you say virtually every Democrat, virtually every -- I can't think of anybody that said he's doing a good job. So I said to Melania, 'Melania, the good news, this will be a popular thing.' And I fire a bad cop. I fire a dirty cop. And all of a sudden, the Democrats say, 'How dare he fire him. How dare he do this.' And that's where we are, folks. That's where we are. We're in this swamp of Washington, D.C."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: It is not true that "every single Democrat said Comey should be fired," and it is not true that Sen. Chuck Schumer called for Comey's resignation "that day." Before Trump's victory in 2016, Schumer expressed strong displeasure with Comey but stopped short of saying he should be dismissed: "I do not have confidence in him any longer...To restore my faith, I am going to have to sit down and talk to him and get an explanation for why he did this." He went no further after Trump took office.

"But we have conflicts. I had a nasty business transaction with Robert Mueller a number of years ago. I said, why isn't that mentioned? He wanted the job as FBI director. I mean, these are things that are out there; they know it. Why isn't that -- and I didn't give it to him. Why isn't that mentioned? Jim Comey -- Lyin' James Comey is his best friend. James Comey is his best friend. And those are a few of the conflicts."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: There is no evidence that the two former FBI directors are "best friends." Though they do know and like each other, and though it is fair for Trump to argue that it is inappropriate for Mueller to conduct an investigation involving Comey, nobody has produced any kind of proof that they were more than professional associates when both were at the FBI. Comey's lawyer has said: "Jim and Bob are friends in the sense that co-workers are friends. They don't really have a personal relationship. Jim has never been to Bob's house and Bob has never been to Jim's house." Also, Mueller has denied that he had a "nasty business transaction' with Trump, an apparent Trump reference to Mueller's departure from Trump's golf club in Virginia. "Mr. Mueller left the club in October 2011 without dispute," a Mueller spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

"But the person that appointed Robert Mueller never received a vote. Robert Mueller put 13 of the angriest Democrats in the history of our country on the commission. Now, how do you do that? These are angry, angry people. You take a look at them. One of them was involved with the Hillary Clinton Foundation, running it."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: One lawyer on Mueller's team, Jeannie Rhee, represented the Clinton Foundation, as an outside counsel, in its defence against a 2015 lawsuit. She was not involved in "running" the foundation. If Trump had simply said "one of them was involved with the Hillary Clinton Foundation," without adding "running it," his claim would have been accurate.

"And here's the beauty: We've lost so much money with China -- $500 billion a year. And on trade, it's such a disaster; it's $507 billion a year. China -- just one country. We lose with everybody, almost."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The U.S. does not have a trade deficit with "everybody." While the U.S. has a substantial overall trade deficit -- $566 billion in 2017 -- it had surpluses in 2017 with more than half of its trading partners, according to data from the U.S. government's own International Trade Commission, including Hong Kong, Brazil, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Chile, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Kuwait and dozens more countries and territories. And while Trump is free to claim his actions will eventually reduce deficits, they have not done so yet: the overall 2017 deficit was the largest for any year since 2008.

"And here's the beauty: We've lost so much money with China -- $500 billion a year. And on trade, it's such a disaster; it's $507 billion a year. China -- just one country. We lose with everybody, almost. But China is one country. $507 billion, for many years."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: The U.S. has never once had a $500 billion trade deficit with China, according to U.S. government data. The deficit was $337 billion in 2017, $375 billion if you only count trade in goods and exclude trade in services.

"Because with the fake news, if you tell a joke, if you're sarcastic, if you're having fun with the audience, if you're on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, 'Russia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton's emails. Please, Russia, please. Please get us the emails. Please!'" (Crowd chants "Lock her up!") "So everybody is having a good time. I'm laughin', we're all havin' fun. And then that fake CNN and others say, 'He asked Russia to go get the emails. Horrible.' I mean, I saw it -- like, two weeks ago, I'm watching and they're talking about one of the points. 'He asked Russia for the emails.' These people are sick. And I'm telling you, they know the game. They know the game, and they play it dirty, dirtier than anybody has ever played the game. Dirtier than it's ever been played."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump inaccurately described the 2016 event at which he asked for Russia's help obtaining Clinton emails. It was a press conference, not a rally with "25,000 people in an arena," and Trump was not laughing or giving any other indication that he was joking. He said of Vladimir Putin, to dead silence: "He doesn't respect our president. And if it is Russia -- which it's probably not, nobody knows who it is - but it if is Russia, it's really bad for a different reason. Because it shows how little respect they have for our country when they would hack into a major party and get everything. But it would be interesting to see -- I will tell you this: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. That'll be next."

"Democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism. They want to replace individual rights with total government domination."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: This is an obvious exaggeration. Some Democratic lawmakers and candidates are embracing policies that can best be described as social democratic or "democratic socialist." They are not proposing "total government domination."

"So the Great Tariff Debate of 1888 -- and then we had so much money we could do whatever we wanted. We built forces up that were incredible. Then, in 1913, they ended tariffs, okay? They ended tariffs. Somebody got stupid and they ended tariffs. They said, 'Oh, it's okay for other nations to come in.'"

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Tariffs were not "ended" in 1913. Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College expert on U.S. economic history and author of "Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy," among other books, said in an email: "Tariffs were reduced in 1913, but not 'ended,' although the income tax was also introduced so the share of revenue coming from the tariff fell quite a bit." The New York Times reported: "Tariffs still accounted for nearly one-third of federal revenue in 1915."

"But, you know, they had a debate in -- it was really a tough time in our country because we had so much money we didn't know what the hell to do with it. Tough, tough, tough. It was called the Great Tariff Debate. Mark Levin will look this up. And the problem is, with Mark, if I make a little mistake, he'll let us know on Sunday night. I got to be very careful when I talk about this. But it was the Great Tariff Debate of 1888. And the debate was: we didn't know what to do with all of the money we were making. We were so rich."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump was not quite right about the 1888 tariff debate. Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College expert on U.S. economic history and author of the Journal of Economic History paper "Higher Tariffs, Lower Revenues? Analyzing the Fiscal Aspects of 'The Great Tariff Debate of 1888,' explained that the debate was about how to deal with the big budget surplus, which was viewed as a problem. In the paper, he wrote, "The Democrats proposed lower tariffs to reduce customs revenue. The Republicans proposed higher tariffs to reduce imports and customs revenues." In other words, the debate was less about how to spend all the money coming into federal coffers than how to reduce the amount of money in the first place.

"But I found some very old laws from when our country was rich -- really rich. The old tariff laws -- we had to dust them off; you could hardly see, they were so dusty. But, fortunately, they weren't terminated. We started getting politically correct, even back then. But I said, when we were doing the great things, what happened to those laws? And I checked, and I found 301 and 382. I found one, 1938, where we can do what we have to do."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Trump has used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs on China, but he did not appear to be talking about any real legislative provision when he referred to "382" and "1938"; he has also used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. (There is a Section 382 of tax law he might have been thinking of here.) Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College expert on U.S. economic history and author of "Clashing over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy," among other books, said in an email, "Perhaps he was thinking 1934, the year of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, because nothing really happened in 1938."

"But now things are different. Now we're negotiating with China. They wouldn't negotiate with previous administrations."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: "We have been in trade negotiations with China effectively continuously since at least the Clinton Administration. His claim is laughable," said Marcus Noland, executive vice-president at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who has studied U.S. trade relations with China. Derek Scissors, an expert on U.S. economic relations with Asia at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, said, "Of course that's not correct"; he pointed to the official "economic dialogue" discussions conducted under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Scissors said, "What the President means is they wouldn't negotiate over the issues he is currently negotiating over, chiefly buying much more American goods."

"When they charge 40 per cent tariffs on our cars going into China, and we charge them nothing coming into our country; when they raise their tariff from 10 per cent to 25 per cent and then to 40 per cent -- and they said to me, 'We expected that somebody would call and say you can't do that. Nobody called, so we just left it.' And I don't blame them. We should've been doing the same thing to them. But we didn't. True. Right? Hard to believe. It's hard to believe."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: This anecdote is inaccurate in two ways, confirmed Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labour and economics at the Center for Automotive Research. First, the U.S. charges a 2.5 per cent tariff on the small number of cars imported from China, and 25 per cent on light trucks. Trump could have fairly said the tariff on cars was "close to nothing," but a flat "nothing" is wrong. Second, contrary to Trump's suggestion, previous administrations did not fail to challenge a 40 per cent Chinese tariffs on U.S. cars: the tariff was not 40 per cent until 2018. The tariff was 25 per cent under Obama; it was reduced to 15 per cent in early 2018; it was hiked 40 per cent in July in retaliation for Trump's own tariffs on imports of Chinese products.

"How many times did you hear, for months and months, 'There is no way to 270'? You know what that means, right? 'There is no way to 270.' They couldn't get me there. We might as well have just given up. But there wasn't any way to 270....We didn't get 270; we got 306 to 223. 223-306."

Source: Speech to Conservative Political Action Conference

in fact: Hillary Clinton earned 232 electoral votes, not 223. This was not a one-time slip: it was the 20th time Trump said "223" as president.

"The brand new manuscript for a new book by failed lawyer Michael Cohen shows his testimony was a total lie! Pundits should only use it."

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"

"Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It's a total new love letter to 'Trump' and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"
Mar 1, 2019

"Michael Cohen's book manuscript shows that he committed perjury on a scale not seen before. He must have forgotten about his book when he testified."

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"

"...it's time to stop this corrupt and illegally brought Witch Hunt."

Source: Twitter

in fact: There is simply no evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia is illegal. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Republican appointed by Trump.

"Oh' I see! Now that the 2 year Russian Collusion case has fallen apart, there was no Collusion except bye Crooked Hillary and the Democrats, they say, 'gee, I have an idea, let's look at Trump's finances and every deal he has ever done."

Source: Twitter

in fact: The claim that the Democrats colluded with Russia is simple nonsense; the word "collusion" -- in common language, a "secret agreement or co-operation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose" -- just does not apply to Democrats' Russia-related activities. The accusation is based on the fact that the British ex-spy who produced a research dossier on the Trump campaign's alleged links to Russia, which was funded in part by Clinton's campaign, used Russian sources in compiling his information. That does not come close to meeting the definition of "collusion."

"Congress must demand the transcript of Michael Cohen's new book, given to publishers a short time ago. Your heads will spin when you see the lies, misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony. Like a different person! He is totally discredited!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"
Mar 1, 0109

"Wow, just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote a 'love letter to Trump' manuscript for a new book that he was pushing. Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki, his phony reasons for going rogue. Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Cohen never submitted a manuscript for the Trump book he had been discussing in early 2018, which his initial proposal suggested would be at least mildly positive. Center Street, the conservative imprint that had initially planned to publish the book, told Politico: "We never saw a manuscript from Mr. Cohen," Center Street publisher Rolf Zettersten said. The Daily Beast reported in May 2018 that the book deal had been "called off amid Cohen's legal woes." Politico reported: "Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, added in a statement: 'Sometime in early 2018, Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump. Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed. In other words, POTUS has yet lied again.'"
Feb 28, 2019

"Asian unemployment -- lowest in history, history of our country."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: The Asian-American unemployment rate briefly dropped to a low, 2.0 per cent, in May 2018 -- a low, at least, since the government began issuing Asian-American data in 2000 -- but the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 3.2 per cent. This was higher than the rate in Obama's last full month in office, 2.6 per cent.

"Hispanic unemployment -- lowest levels in the history of our country. Lowest levels. Best they've ever been. Women -- lowest in 61 years. Sixty-one years."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: The women's unemployment rate in May 2018 and September 2018, 3.6 per cent, was the lowest since late 1953. By the time Trump spoke here, however, the rate had increased to 3.9 per cent, higher than the 3.8 per cent of December 2000, just 18 years prior.

"Hispanic unemployment -- lowest levels in the history of our country. Lowest levels. Best they've ever been."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: Hispanic unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 4.4 per cent in October 2018 and December 2018. But the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 4.9 per cent, higher than the 4.8 per cent of December 2000.

"When I got in here, you were having jet fighters that were so old -- you know, you heard the story -- the grandfather flew some of the planes -- some of the bombers. The grandfather, then the son, then the grandchild is here with us now. And I don't like that. I don't like that. So we've ordered massive numbers of new planes and new everything."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: Trump was correct that some planes, B-52 Stratofortress bombers, have been in service so long -- since the early 1960s -- that they could have been flown by both grandfather and grandson. But as the Washington Post reported, Trump is not replacing them with new planes. Obama approved the creation of the new B-21 bomber, but that plane will complement the B-52, not replace it. (The B-52 has been extensively modified since its debut.)

"We just took over -- you know, you kept hearing it was 90 per cent, 92 per cent -- the caliphate in Syria. Now it's 100 per cent. We just took over. A hundred per cent caliphate. That means the area of the land. We just have 100 per cent, so that's good. We did that in a much shorter period of time than it was supposed to be...And you saw what happened. Right? Everybody saw. We have the whole thing."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: The U.S. had not taken over 100 per cent of ISIS's former "caliphate" land at the time Trump spoke, the New York Times, CNN and others confirmed. Trump appeared to implicitly acknowledge two days later that he had been inaccurate, saying in a speech to a conservative conference: "And, by the way, as of probably today or tomorrow, we will actually have 100 per cent of the caliphate in Syria."The Times reported after his Thursday claim: "The battle was continuing on Thursday when officials with the Syrian Democratic Forces, an American-backed militia of Kurdish and Arab fighters, were told of Mr. Trump's announcement. 'It's 100 percent not true,' one senior official with the group said on Thursday afternoon. 'The fighting continues.' Separately, a second official said, 'The battle is still going, and there is no truth in that statement.' Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their commanders to talk to the press." CNN's Ben Wedeman tweeted: ""I've been in #Syria for the last 28 days covering the offensive and I can assure @realdonaldtrump that is NOT the case."

"They recently returned from the Brigade's third deployment to Afghanistan. And they've seen a lot. I've actually spoken to a couple, and I know how they feel. It's going on for 19 years. Made a lot of progress, but 19 years."

Source: Speech to troops at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

in fact: The war in Afghanistan had lasted 17 years and 5 months at the time Trump spoke.

Trump: "But if we had a wall, we wouldn't have to apprehend. People wouldn't come into our country. Drugs wouldn't come into our country. The human trafficking is incredible, the number of people brought into our country." Question: "Sex -- you have girls -- sex trafficking." Trump: "And they don't come through the points of entry. They come through in the middle of the desert where you have open space. So, I think that really, it's a very dangerous thing for people to be voting against border security -- for anybody, including Republicans."

Source: Interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity

in fact: Experts say many human trafficking victims do enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry, on visas, after being deceived into thinking they are coming to a good job or loving relationship in the U.S. "It is far easier to lure victims with false promises of a better life in the United States," said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center. "Why kidnap someone when you can convince them to travel willingly?" FactCheck.org reported: "The United Nations' International Organization on Migration has found that 'nearly 80% of international human trafficking journeys cross through official border points, such as airports and land border control points,' based on 10 years' worth of cases on which the IOM has assisted."

"It's so ridiculous (the Green New Deal). No planes, let's not fly anymore. It is crazy. But personally, they should go for it. I love it."

Source: Interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity

in fact: The Green New Deal, a Democratic resolution that proposes to combat climate change by making major changes to reduce carbon emissions, does not call for the elimination of air travel. Trump did not make up this claim out of thin air: a "FAQ" page posted and quickly deleted by a leading Green New Deal proponent, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for the government to "build out high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary." But the other Democrats who have endorsed the Green New Deal never endorsed the FAQ, just the official resolution, which calls only for "overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; clean, affordable, and accessible public transit; and high-speed rail."

"Well, you know, the military exercises, I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100 million every time we do it...But we would spend -- I mean, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on those exercises, and I hated to see it. I thought it was unfair." And: "But when they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on those exercises and we don't get reimbursed -- we're spending a tremendous amount of money on many countries, protecting countries that are very rich that can certainly afford to pay us and then some."

Source: Press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam after second summit with Kim Jong Un

in fact: A Pentagon analysis in 2018, which studied an exercise Trump cancelled that year, would have cost $14 million, the Wall Street Journal and other U.S. media outlets reported. There is no available evidence that suggests any U.S. exercise with South Korea would cost $100 million. We will update this item if more information comes available.

"But we've been losing anywhere from $300 to $500 billion a year with China for many, many years."

Source: Press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam after second summit with Kim Jong Un

in fact: The U.S. has never once had a $500 billion trade deficit with China, according to U.S. government data. The deficit was $337 billion in 2017, $375 billion if you only count trade in goods and exclude trade in services.

"And with China, they're having some difficulty, as you know. But I think that a lot of the difficulty is because of the tariffs that they're having. And in addition to that, we're putting a tremendous amount of money; you saw trade deficits went down last month. Everybody was trying to find out why. Well, we're taking in a lot of tariff money, and it's going right to the bottom line and it has reduced the trade deficits."

Source: Press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam after second summit with Kim Jong Un

in fact: Tariffs can result in a decline in imports, which decreases a trade deficit, but tariff revenue does not "go right to the bottom line" to reduce trade deficits; deficits are the value of imports minus the value of exports, and tariff revenue is not included in the calculation. Also, the U.S. trade deficit is not declining: it has increased in 2017 and 2018. Though it declined in one 2018 month Trump appeared to be referring to here, from October to November, that was a decline from a record high -- and it then jumped in December again, to a 10-year high."

"Our unemployment numbers are among the best we've ever had in our history. Individual groups like African-American, women -- you just take a look at any group; Hispanic, you saw that just came out -- the best in history."

Source: Press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam after second summit with Kim Jong Un

in fact: At the time Trump spoke, the U.S. had its best-ever unemployment rate for African-Americans. But it did not have its best-ever unemployment numbers overall, for women or for Hispanics. The overall rate for January 2019 was 4.0 per cent, well above the all-time low of 2.5 per cent in 1953. For women, the January 2019 rate was 3.9 per cent, higher than the 3.8 per cent of December 2000, just 18 years prior. For Hispanics, the was 4.9 per cent, higher than the 4.8 per cent of December 2000.

"But having it (Michael Cohen's testimony) during this very important summit is sort of incredible. And he lied a lot, but it was very interesting because he didn't lie about one thing. He said no collusion with the Russian hoax. And I said, 'I wonder why he didn't just lie about that, too, like he did about everything else?' I mean, he lied about so many different things, and I was actually impressed that he didn't say, 'Well, I think there was collusion for this reason or that.' He didn't say that. He said, 'No collusion.' And I was, you know, a little impressed by that, frankly. Could've -- he could've gone all out. He only went about 95 per cent instead of 100 per cent."

Source: Press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam after second summit with Kim Jong Un

in fact: Trump twisted Cohen's words. Cohen did not flatly declare that there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, as Trump strongly suggested. Cohen said in his opening statement to Congress: "The questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not, and I want to be clear. But I have my suspicions." He said later: "So, as I stated in my testimony, I wouldn't use the word 'colluding.' Was there something odd about the back-and-forth praise with President Putin? Yes, but I'm not really sure that I can answer that question in terms of collusion. I was not part of the campaign. I don't know the other conversations that Mr. Trump had with other individuals. There is just so many dots that all seem to lead to the same direction."
Feb 26, 2019

"I have now spent more time in Vietnam than Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, the third rate Senator from Connecticut (how is Connecticut doing?). His war stories of his heroism in Vietnam were a total fraud - he was never even there. We talked about it today with Vietnamese leaders!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Trump was correct that Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal lied about having served in Vietnam. But Trump was also lying: Blumenthal never told "war stories of his heroism in Vietnam." Rather, he simply to have served in Vietnam during the war when he actually served in the Marine Corps Reserve in the U.S.
Feb 25, 2019

"We're very proud of it. And we have tremendous potential when we fix these trade deals, because we're being ripped by everybody. We are just being ripped, because we lose $800 billion a year on trade. Think of it. It's incon- -- $800 billion."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The U.S. trade deficit was $566 billion in 2017 and had never previously been $800 billion for a year. (Trump habitually ignores trade in services when he talks about trade deficits, choosing the number that refers only to trade in goods. The U.S. had a goods-trade deficit of $810 billion in 2017.)

"And, by the way, we pay for their (the European Union's) military. Because we pay almost, getting close to 100 per cent for their military. I've gotten them to put up over $100 billion toward NATO, which has made a big impact. But -- so they have to treat us fairly. We want to have a great relationship. I have a great relationship with the leaders. But we have to be treated fairly."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: European countries pay for their own military spending. Trump was likely referring to the U.S. percentage of NATO expenditures, but even this number is not "close to 100 per cent." According to NATO's 2018 annual report, U.S. defence spending -- on everything, not just protecting Europe -- represented 72 per cent of alliance members' total defence spending in 2017. Of NATO's own organizational budget, the U.S. contributes a much smaller agreed-upon percentage: 22 per cent.

"But we lost last year with the European Union $151 billion. This has been going on for many years. Think of it -- $151 billion. We take their product; they don't take ours. We don't charge them tariffs; they charge us tariffs."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The U.S. has numerous tariffs on the European Union, with which it does not have a free trade agreement.

"But we lost last year with the European Union $151 billion. This has been going on for many years. Think of it -- $151 billion. We take their product; they don't take ours."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: It is not true that the European Union simply doesn't accept American products. According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. had exported $293 billion in goods to the EU from January 2018 through November 2018. Exports were $283 billion for the whole of 2017.

"But we lost last year with the European Union $151 billion. This has been going on for many years. Think of it -- $151 billion."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Including all kinds of trade, the U.S. had a $102 billion trade deficit with the European Union in 2017, according to U.S. government statistics. The $151 billion figure counts only trade in goods and ignores trade in services, in which the U.S. has a significant surplus.

"The European Union is very, very tough. Very, very tough...So we're taking care of it. I mean, we've informed them that, 'Look, if you don't -- if you're not going play ball...' President Obama, in eight years, couldn't do a thing. They wouldn't even meet with him. They said, 'We have no intention of meeting.' They wouldn't even meet with President Obama...EU is one of the toughest -- maybe the toughest. Maybe, in certain ways, tougher than China, just smaller, from our standpoint."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: It is false that the European Union refused to talk to Obama about trade. In fact, during the Obama presidency, the U.S. and European Union engaged in three years of extensive negotiations on a possible free trade agreement, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Talks stalled in late 2016, with the U.S. election approaching, amid opposition from factions in key European countries like France and Germany.

"The European Union is very, very tough. Very, very tough. They don't allow our products in. They don't allow our farming goods in. You people know. Many of you represent farm states. They won't -- you know that better than anybody. They won't allow our farm products in. They don't take any. They have these non-, you know, monetary barriers that are brutal. They're worse than the -- you know, than others."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: While U.S. farmers do face some trade barriers in selling into the European Union, it is a gross exaggeration to say the Europeans simply "don't allow our farming goods in." According to the website of Trump's own Department of Agriculture, the U.S. exported $11.6 billion in agricultural items to the European Union in 2016 and $11.5 billion in 2017. The EU ranked fourth for U.S. agricultural exports in 2016 and fifth in 2017.

"And in China, they have a very, very tough penalty for drugs. It's called the death penalty. And I said to President Xi, 'You don't have much of a drug problem. Do you have a drug problem?" 'No. No drug problem.' I said, 'So you have 1.4 billion people, and you don't have a drug problem?' 'That's right. No drug problem.' I said, 'What do you attribute that to?' 'Death penalty. Quick trial.' They don't have trials that last 19 years. At the end of a -- the judge dies. Everybody dies. The only one living is the one that did the damage. No, they have what's called a 'quick trial.' It goes quick. It doesn't take a lot of time. And if you're a drug dealer, you'll say, 'You know what -- maybe I'll just sort of stay out of China.' Singapore, the same thing."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: We could find no examples of a U.S. drug trial that lasted 19 years, or anywhere close. The sprawling trial of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, which concluded the same month Trump spoke, lasted three months. (Also, while we cannot know what Xi said to Trump, China does indeed have a drug addiction problem. As Time magazine reported: "A 2017 report from China's National Narcotics Control Commission said there were 2.51 million drug users in China as of late 2016, a year-over-year increase of nearly 7%. A report from the Brookings Institution also noted that the number of officially registered drug users in the country increased every year between 1998 and 2016." Time quoted Ann Fordham, executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, as saying: "It is incredibly disturbing that President Trump would claim there is not a drug problem in China because they use the death penalty. I don't know how it's possible to claim that. The administration should check its facts, especially when advocating use of the death penalty for drug offences." Fordham said the true number of drug users in China is probably "much higher" than the official figure.)

"And I said to President Xi -- I said, 'President, you have to do me a favor. As part of our trade deal...' -- it has nothing to do with trade, or certainly very little -- but we're having shipped over here, from China, fentanyl. It's killing 88,000 people a year, and probably more. That's just the ones we know about. It's deadly. A little tiny spoonful can wipe out a state, it's hard to believe. It can wipe out an entire state, a spoonful of this stuff."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: As the Associated Press noted, Trump was exaggerating; a "tiny spoonful" cannot "wipe out a state." The AP explained: "The Drug Enforcement Administration cited evidence in a case last year that 1 gram of fentanyl can kill 300 to 500 people. The case involved a Belleville, Illinois, man convicted in Texas of trafficking nearly 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of the drug, which the agency says is enough to kill up to 5.8 million people. A teaspoon generally holds 4 to 6 grams, depending on the dry substance, equating to a theoretical death toll from fentanyl of 1,200 to 3,000, far from Trump's claim that an amount that small can wipe out 'an entire state.'"

"And I said to President Xi -- I said, 'President, you have to do me a favor. As part of our trade deal...it has nothing to do with trade, or certainly very little -- but we're having shipped over here, from China, fentanyl. It's killing 88,000 people a year, and probably more. That's just the ones we know about."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Trump's "88,000" figure is a major exaggeration. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, fentanyl was involved in 18,335 overdose deaths in 2016, the highest on record. The numbers for 2017 and 2018 may well be higher, but they are nowhere near 80,000. The CDC issued a preliminary estimate of 72,000 total overdose deaths in 2017, and about 29,000 of them were estimated to be connected to synthetic opiates, including fentanyl.

"Now, China is paying us, right now, billions and billions of dollars of tariffs a month. Every month, billions of dollars. I love it. Personally, I love it. But they're paying billions of dollars. And it's hurting them; it's not good for them."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: We do not have exact figures on how much revenue Trump's tariffs on imported Chinese goods generate per month. Regardless, China does not pay the tariffs. While some Chinese manufacturers eat a portion of the cost, the U.S. importers pay the tariffs, and they often pass on a substantial portion of the cost to consumers in the form of higher prices.

"One of the things that Ambassador Lighthizer and Steve, and all of the people that are working with China -- the fentanyl is a tremendous problem. It seems to be made 100 per cent in China. A hundred per cent."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: It is not true that all fentanyl is made in China; some of it is made in Mexico, and some of it, intended for legal use, is made in the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Agency included detailed information on "Mexico-sourced fentanyl" in its 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment. It said in the report: "Clandestinely produced fentanyl is trafficked into the United States primarily from China and Mexico, and is responsible for the ongoing fentanyl epidemic. In contrast, the diversion of pharmaceutical fentanyl in the United States occurs on a small scale, with the diverted fentanyl products being intended for personal use and street sales."The report continued: "DEA and CBP reporting indicate the fentanyl shipped directly from China is typically seized in smaller quantities but with purities commonly testing above 90 per cent. By comparison, fentanyl trafficked overland into the United States from Mexico is typically seized in larger, bulk quantities but with much lower purity, with exhibits on average testing at less than 10 per cent pure."

"But these people, they have the traffickers. They're vicious, they're smart -- the coyotes. How about the name 'coyote'? They have people tied up, put in the back of trucks and vans. They can't go through checkpoints. They have to go through open areas. Can't walk through. You can't go through it. Because even if they don't do much of an inspection of your truck or your car, they do open the back door, or they do look through a window. You can't have women sitting there that are tied up.So when I hear the other side say -- and we have some of the other side here. But when I hear the other side say, 'Oh, no, everything goes through the checkpoint,' that's absolutely false. You have areas where you literally have roads that are carved in the sand that it's used so much."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Experts say many human trafficking victims do enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry, on visas, after being deceived into thinking they are coming to a good job or loving relationship in the U.S. "It is far easier to lure victims with false promises of a better life in the United States," said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center. "Why kidnap someone when you can convince them to travel willingly?" FactCheck.org reported: "The United Nations' International Organization on Migration has found that 'nearly 80% of international human trafficking journeys cross through official border points, such as airports and land border control points,' based on 10 years' worth of cases on which the IOM has assisted." Five experts told the Star that they have not encountered any cases in which women were transported to the U.S. in the bound-and-gagged manner Trump has regularly described, though they said it is possible this has happened on occasion. "Either he's watching action films or he's watching some other type of movie that involves handcuffs and tape over people's mouths. But in neither case is it based in any reality of what individuals helping trafficking victims see," said Lori Cohen, director of the Anti-Trafficking initiative at Sanctuary for Families, a New York advocate and service provider for sex trafficking victims. "His depiction of human trafficking is practically unrecognizable to those of us who have spent decades in the trenches combating these abuses," said Vandenberg.

"We just started a 47-mile patch. We have different patches. We bid it out tough. We have a much better prototype. It's actually a beautiful wall. It's a beautiful-looking -- actually -- you know, I've always said part of the wall was that previous administrations, when they did little walls, they built them so badly. So badly. It's so unattractive. So -- I wouldn't want them in my backyard. And the new one is incredible looking. It's a piece of art, in a sense. It's still -- and it's, by the way, more effective. I mean, it's more effective. So we are doing a job. We're getting it up. We have beautiful prototypes. We're working with the Army Corps of Engineers. We're total pros. And I don't know if you saw what I put on Twitter, but I put on Twitter a piece of it. That's not the new prototype; the new prototype has started in different locations. But we're going to be, pretty soon, having well over a couple of hundred miles of wall up."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Construction on Trump's border wall had not started. Construction on new wall in a segment in Texas's Rio Grande Valley was close to beginning, but it had not happened yet, and all that had been built on other parts of the border was replacement fencing, an image of which Trump had "put on Twitter." In addition, the funding deal passed by Congress and signed by Trump explicitly prohibited Trump from building any wall based on the new prototypes. All new barriers funded by the $1.4 billion in the 2019 bill must be based on pre-existing barrier designs.

"And I told Guatemala and I told Honduras, and I told El Salvador -- three places where they send us tremendous numbers of people -- and they're rough people. They're not sending us their finest. It doesn't make sense. Why would they send their finest? They're sending us some very -- as I would sometimes say -- rough hombres. These are rough, rough, tough people. Many criminal people."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: There is no evidence for this conspiracy theory. (It is nearly identical to Trump's baseless conspiracy theory about the diversity visa lottery program: he has repeatedly and falsely claimed that foreign governments put their unwanted citizens into the lottery to dump them on the United States.) Migrants in Latin American caravans have decided on their own to leave their home countries. They have not been dumped into caravans by governments looking to get rid of them.

"Ninety per cent of the drugs don't come through the port of entry. Ninety per cent of the drugs and the big stuff goes out to the desert, makes a left, and goes where you don't have any wall."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Trump was reversing the actual data. As USA Today noted: "According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics, 90 per cent of heroin seized along the border, 88 per cent of cocaine, 87 per cent of methamphetamine, and 80 per cent of fentanyl in the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year was caught trying to be smuggled in at legal crossing points." Trump's own Drug Enforcement Administration, which says that most drugs smuggled in from Mexico come through legal ports of entry. In its 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment, the DEA said only "a small percentage of all heroin seized by CBP (Customs and Border Protection) along the land border was between Ports of Entry."

"So, finally, to protect our communities, we must secure the border against human trafficking, drug smuggling, and crime of all types. The human trafficking is a tremendous problem where, mostly women, and they're tied up and they're taped up, and they're put in the back of cars, and the car does not come through the port of entry."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Experts say many human trafficking victims do enter the U.S. through legal ports of entry, on visas, after being deceived into thinking they are coming to a good job or loving relationship in the U.S. "It is far easier to lure victims with false promises of a better life in the United States," said Martina Vandenberg, president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center. "Why kidnap someone when you can convince them to travel willingly?" FactCheck.org reported: "The United Nations' International Organization on Migration has found that 'nearly 80% of international human trafficking journeys cross through official border points, such as airports and land border control points,' based on 10 years' worth of cases on which the IOM has assisted." Five experts told the Star that they have not encountered any cases in which women were transported to the U.S. in the bound-and-gagged manner Trump has regularly described, though they said it is possible this has happened on occasion. "Either he's watching action films or he's watching some other type of movie that involves handcuffs and tape over people's mouths. But in neither case is it based in any reality of what individuals helping trafficking victims see," said Lori Cohen, director of the Anti-Trafficking initiative at Sanctuary for Families, a New York advocate and service provider for sex trafficking victims. "His depiction of human trafficking is practically unrecognizable to those of us who have spent decades in the trenches combating these abuses," said Vandenberg.

"So America now has, really, the hottest economy on Earth."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Hottest is subjective, but there does not appear to be an objective basis for this hyperbole. The New York Times reported: "The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2018. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter."

"We're opening it up to farmers. We're opening Canada, as an example -- and Mexico -- to farmers. They were closed. It was a closed shop. They had all sorts of non-monetary trade barriers. And they had monetary trade barriers. They were charging, for certain agricultural products, an almost 300 per cent tariff. Nobody ever talked about it."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Canada and Mexico are not "closed" to U.S. farm exports under NAFTA. In fact, according to Trump's own Department of Agriculture, Canada was the number-one market for 2.S. agricultural exports in 2017, with $20.5 billion in purchases, and Mexico was third, with $18.6 billion. Though Canada does indeed have major trade barriers protecting its dairy and poultry industries from U.S. products, its "supply management" of those industries is not representative of how it treats agriculture as a whole. American farm groups were overwhelmingly supportive of NAFTA; the American Farm Bureau said on its website: "Implemented in 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement has removed barriers to agricultural trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Agricultural exports from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico have increased from $8.9 billion in 1993 to $38.1 billion in 2016."

"I also want to thank every governor here today who is supporting our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- the USMCA. I've long said that NAFTA is the worst trade deal that any country has ever signed. It emptied us out. We had a surplus with Mexico and Canada, and we went to $130 billion trade deficit with the combination of Mexico and Canada. And this deal will bring it back."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The U.S. did not have even close to a $130 billion combined trade deficit with Mexico and Canada. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. had a $69 billion deficit in goods and services trade with Mexico and a $2.8 billion surplus with Canada in 2017. (By another measure, used by the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. had a $63.6 billion deficit with Mexico and a $8.4 billion surplus with Canada and.)

"In a few moments, our first session on vocational training and workforce development will begin. We want every citizen to gain the cutting-edge skills they need to enjoy a rewarding, lifelong career. Many of the governors here today have identified this as a very top priority. My daughter, Ivanka, who is going to be speaking later, is -- she has been so much involved. So incredibly involved. Where is Ivanka? Ivanka, keep -- keep going. Created -- my daughter has created millions of jobs. I don't know if anyone knows that, but she's created millions of jobs...Last year, my administration created the Council for American Worker and launched the Pledge of America's Workers, where we've gained commitments from private sector leaders to hire and train more than 6.5 million Americans. Think of it: 6.5 million. And these are jobs that, for the most part, would not have happened."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: It is a wild exaggeration to say Ivanka Trump has "created millions of jobs." The "6.5 million" figure refers to 6.5 million training opportunities pledged by American companies over five years as part of the initiative Ivanka Trump helped to lead. They are not "jobs," and many of them are to be offered to current employees, not new hires. Further, many of them have not actually occurred yet, and some of them were in the companies' plans before the Trump administration announced the initiative.

"The unemployment rates for African Americans -- and you've heard this many times -- Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. And with women, it's now 64 years. Lowest in 64 years."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The women's unemployment rate in May 2018 and September 2018, 3.6 per cent, was the lowest since late 1953, 65 years prior. By the time Trump spoke here, however, the rate had increased to 3.9 per cent, higher than the 3.8 per cent of December 2000, just 18 years prior.

"The unemployment rates for African-Americans -- and you've heard this many times -- Hispanic Americans, and Asian-Americans have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The African-American unemployment rate remained at an all-time low, but the Hispanic and Asian unemployment rates did not. Hispanic American unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 4.4 per cent in October 2018 and December 2018. But the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 4.9 per cent, higher than the 4.8 per cent of December 2000. The Asian-American unemployment rate briefly dropped to a low, 2.0 per cent, in May 2018 -- a low, at least, since the government began issuing Asian-American data in 2000 -- but the most recent rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 3.2 per cent. This was higher than the rate in Obama's last full month in office, 2.6 per cent.

"We were just discussing -- our great new governor of Michigan -- last night, where you have some good news coming up very soon. And we have car companies opening up in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and so many other places. I was with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and he was saying it could be seven different plants in a very short period of time, not to mention all of the plants that have already opened."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: There are no automotive assembly plants in Pennsylvania at all. (Also, it was unclear if Trump's claim about Abe was true. He claimed in 2017 that a foreign leader he did not name said their country would build five U.S. auto plants, which has not happened yet; he then said in 2018 that Abe agreed to have "all" Japanese auto companies build in the U.S., which has not happened. Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labour and economics at the Center for Automotive Research, said on Twitter: "There might be need for 1-2 (North American assembly) plants from Japanese producers, but there's no way that happens 'in a very short period of time' if 'that' means actually building plants and producing vehicles."replies206 retweets465 likes

"And we have companies opening up in the United States that we thought we lost, that would never be back, and some are coming back and some are brand new and they're big. And they're coming in and they're moving in, which is one of the reasons we need people to come in. They have to come in through a legal process. But with a 3.7 [per cent] unemployment, we need to have people coming in."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: The most recent unemployment rate at the time Trump spoke, for January 2019, was 4.0 per cent.

"...(cut) more regulations than any other administration in history, and that's very important. And we still have regulation. But you don't have 10 of identical regulations that you have to get approved and wiped out from different departments. So we've really cut it down. A highway that would take 17 or 18 year of approval now takes probably two. And we're trying to get it down to one. And it may be rejected on various grounds, including environmental. But we have it down to two, and we think we can get it down further. So it will be -- that will be something. You know. You have many highways and many roadways, and they're tied up for many years. And that won't be happening too much anymore."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: While some controversial and complicated infrastructure projects may have taken 17 or 18 years to get approved, there is no basis for Trump's suggestion that this time frame was standard. The Treasury Department reported under Obama: "Studies conducted for the Federal Highway Administration concluded that the average time to complete a NEPA (environmental) study increased from 2.2 years in the 1970s, to 4.4 years in the 1980s, to 5.1 years in the 1995 to 2001 period, to 6.6 years in 2011." After a change of methodology, it was 3 years and 9 months in 2015, 3 years and 8 months in 2016. Further, there is no current evidence that Trump has already succeeded in reducing the standard approval time frame to two years, although he says this is his intention. His Department of Transportation reported a median approval time of 3 years, 10 months in 2017.

"Ambassador Lighthizer, Steve Mnuchin, a lot of folks in the room have been helping and that's been great. And I just see our great Secretary sitting there. On drug prices, first time in 54 years that drug prices have actually gone down this year. So, Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. That's a great, great deal." And: "Reducing the price of health-care and prescription drugs -- and we've made a lot of progress, as I said. First year in 54 years that prescription prices have gone down, which is a big statement. But we can get them a lot lower."

Source: Speech to governors

in fact: Prescription drug prices declined in 2018 for the first time in 46 years, according to the Consumer Price Index, not "54 years," as Politico health reporter Dan Diamond noted on Twitter.

"Former Senator Harry Reid (he got thrown out) is working hard to put a good spin on his failed career. He led through lies and deception, only to be replaced by another beauty, Cryin' Chuck Schumer. Some things just never change!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Reid retired from the Senate. He did not get "thrown out."

"I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats 'trap' of Open Borders and Crime!"

Source: Twitter

in fact: Democrats do not support "open borders." They endorse various border security measures, just not Trump's border wall.