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.
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.
The national semantics exercise over “pepper balls” and “tear gas” has continued. Attorney General William Barr objected to the description of “pepper spray” as a “chemical irritant.”
In a Rose Garden address to comment on a surprisingly strong May jobs report, President Donald Trump continued to repeat false, misleading and exaggerated claims about the economy, the administration’s response to COVID-19, the border wall, veterans programs and trade with China.
Democratic politicians have criticized President Donald Trump for the use of “tear gas” to disperse protesters near the White House on June 1 before Trump walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church to pose for photos with a Bible. The president countered, “They didn’t use tear gas.”
Joe Biden claimed that farm bankruptcies increased last year “due largely to Trump’s unmitigated disaster of a tariff war.” International trade was a factor, but there were additional reasons that predate the trade war.
President Donald Trump has made false statements and implications about how three Democratic officials responded to violent protests that followed George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis.
As some nationwide protests have turned violent, President Donald Trump pointed to the anti-fascist movement antifa, claiming: “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” But there is no such official federal designation for domestic terrorism organizations.
Some social media posts have responded to Floyd’s death by pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories.
In a May 22 radio interview, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made a number of false, misleading or exaggerated claims.