Fact-checking President Trump’s February 16, 2017 Press Conference

Fact-checking President Trump’s press conference

Earlier this afternoon, President Trump held a free-wheeling press conference to defend his fledgling administration as competent and disciplined. 

“I turn on the T.V., open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos,” Trump said from the East Room of the White House. “Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my Cabinet approved.”

We wrote a full wrap-up of the conference, but here are findings from some of the specific topics Trump mentioned:

  • Trump touted his electoral college victory with these words: “I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.” That’s wrong; we rated a similar claim False
  • Trump criticized a court that ruled against an immigration ban he wanted to implement. He  said the 9th Circuit “has been overturned at a record number.” That’s not true and rates False.
  • In criticizing the media, he said the media has “a lower approval rate than Congress.” That’s Mostly False. The media is low, but Congress is still lower; see the numbers for yourself
  • Hillary Clinton did not give Russia 20 percent of U.S. uranium, as Trump claimed. That’s something he said during the campaign, and it rates Mostly False
  • He complained over and over again about leaks, even though he enjoyed leaks during the campaign. We reviewed his history on our Flip-O-Meter.
  • Trump said the stock market had reached record highs, and optimism was up. That rated Mostly True
  • We reviewed his progress on 10 of his campaign promises on our Trump-O-Meter

View the original email/post here.