This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines an exaggerated claim that Hillary Clinton made in a TV ad about “cutting Russia’s nuclear arms” through a treaty signed when she was secretary of state.
As we’ve written before, Clinton is overstating the impact of the 2011 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement, which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads, or nuclear weapons, that are on long-range (or strategic) launchers. The agreement does not require the U.S. or Russia to destroy nuclear warheads or reduce their nuclear stockpile. In addition, Russia was already below the treaty’s limit on deployed strategic nuclear warheads when the treaty took effect, and Russia has increased the number since then, according to the most recent data available.
The following video is a collaboration between CNN’s “State of the Union” and FactCheck.org. It is based on the article “Clinton Misrepresents Trump Quote,” which also looks at Clinton’s claim that “Donald Trump says he alone can fix the problems we face.”