White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney engaged in some serious political spin when he tried to deny what he said in a televised press conference: that the White House withheld security aid to Ukraine, in part, because the administration wanted Ukraine to investigate Democrats and the 2016 election.
For more than an hour, President Donald Trump presided over a cabinet meeting, reeling off numerous false or misleading claims.
This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper takes a look at a claim that President Donald Trump made about subpoenas issued by the House committees for documents and testimony related to the impeachment inquiry.
The president distorted the facts on congressional subpoenas, trade, Syria and more during a busy day of public appearances.
In May 2018, three Democratic senators wrote to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, asking about a report that he had frozen four Ukrainian investigations involving Paul Manafort to avoid angering President Donald Trump. Republicans have called the letter a “threat” to withhold support for aid to Ukraine, saying it’s similar to what critics have charged Trump did.
An online story says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff “are both connected to a Ukrainian arms dealer” through a 2013 fundraiser. But the supposed “Ukrainian arms dealer” owns a California company that primarily develops airships, including for the U.S. government. He has donated to both parties — not just the Democrats.
With its candidate the subject of an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has gone on the offensive with a TV ad that claims to present the “facts” about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Ukraine. In fact, the ad relies on speculation and unsupported accusations to mislead viewers.
Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House intelligence committee, wrongly implied that his committee had no contact with the whistleblower before receiving the complaint. Schiff claimed, “We have not spoken directly with the whistleblower,” when the whistleblower had in fact reached out to a committee aide before filing a complaint.
In this fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper scrutinizes a false claim — made by President Donald Trump and Rep. Jim Jordan — that rules were recently changed to allow an intelligence community whistleblower to file the Aug. 12 complaint.
President Trump’s request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, has triggered an impeachment inquiry. Since then, the president has made a series of inaccurate claims about his phone call with Zelensky, which he calls “perfect.”