President Donald Trump made several false, misleading and exaggerated claims in press briefings he held Aug. 7 and 8 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
FactChecking Trump’s Weekend Press Briefings
Stories by Robert Farley
Deputy Managing Editor, FactCheck.org
Trump Wrongly Blames Protests, Mexico for COVID-19 Spread
Experts say there is no evidence that Black Lives Matter protests or Mexicans have caused the spike in coronavirus cases in pockets of the U.S., contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertions.
Trump Twists Biden’s Position on School Choice/Charter Schools
In a series of virtual tele-rallies, President Donald Trump repeatedly distorted Joe Biden’s position on education, claiming the former vice president wants to “end school choice” and “abolish charter schools.”
Trump’s Misguided Tweet Seeking Wallace Apology for Noose ‘Hoax’
President Donald Trump misdirected blame when he questioned why NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace had not “apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid … only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX.”
Giuliani’s Misleading Attack on de Blasio and Crime
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani misleadingly contrasted his mayoral record on crime with a recent spike in murders under Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, citing the uptick as evidence that Democratic mayors are “a danger to their people.”
Trump’s Shaky Warning About Counterfeit Mail-In Ballots
President Donald Trump has ramped up his rhetoric about voting fraud to include foreign interference — specifically making the unfounded claim that “MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES,” resulting in a “RIGGED” election.
Trump’s Absentee vs. Mail-In Ballot Spin
President Donald Trump continues to draw false distinctions between mail-in and absentee ballots, claiming the former are rife with voter fraud while the latter — which he has used as president — require a voter to go through “a very strict process, the equivalent of going to a voting machine, or maybe even sometimes better.”
Biden on Economic Growth and Trump’s Tax Cuts
Former Vice President Joe Biden wrongly says “most of the conservative think tanks,” including the Heritage Foundation, agree that the tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump “generated virtually no growth at all.”
Trump Tweets Baseless Claims About Injured Buffalo Protester
With no evidence, President Donald Trump promoted a conspiracy theory that Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old man who was hospitalized after being pushed by police during a June 4 protest in Buffalo, New York, was an “ANTIFA provocateur” who was trying to “black out” police equipment.
China Didn’t Stop Virus ‘Cold’ Outside Wuhan
In remarks about SARS-CoV-2, President Trump wrongly said China “stopped it cold” from spreading from Wuhan to other parts of China “but they didn’t stop it cold from coming to the United States … and the rest of the world.” It did spread in China beyond Wuhan, but China also took extreme measures to slow the spread of the disease that the U.S. did not.