Tag: lies

Fact-checking the Trumpian spin on ‘surveillance of Trump’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website April 4, 2017:

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The Trump White House is determined to turn questions about Russian efforts to sway the presidential election into a probe about whether the Obama administration improperly spied on Trump campaign officials. This line of attack is consistent with President Trump’s March 4 tweets falsely claiming that President Barack Obama tapped his phones at the Trump Tower during the election.

On April 3, Trump seized on a three-day-old report recycled on Fox News — that a “very senior” intelligence official “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of people affiliated with the Trump team — to insist that should be the real focus on the Russia probe. This is entirely different from Trump’s original claim about phone taps during the election, but the White House often acts as if it is similar. Continue reading “Fact-checking the Trumpian spin on ‘surveillance of Trump’”

Why Trump lies

The following article by the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board was posted on their website April 3, 2017:

Donald Trump did not invent the lie and is not even its master. Lies have oozed out of the White House for more than two centuries and out of politicians’ mouths — out of all people’s mouths — likely as long as there has been human speech.

But amid all those lies, told to ourselves and to one another in order to amass power, woo lovers, hurt enemies and shield ourselves against the often glaring discomfort of reality, humanity has always had an abiding respect for truth. Continue reading “Why Trump lies”

Our Dishonest President

The following commentary from the Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Board was posted on their website April 2, 2017:

It was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters. The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking, and said his election would be a “catastrophe.”

Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck. Like millions of other Americans, we clung to a slim hope that the new president would turn out to be all noise and bluster, or that the people around him in the White House would act as a check on his worst instincts, or that he would be sobered and transformed by the awesome responsibilities of office. Continue reading “Our Dishonest President”

President Trump’s cascade of false claims in Time’s interview on his falsehoods

The following article by Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website March 23, 2017:

President Trump had a remarkable interview with Time magazine on March 22 about falsehoods, in which he repeated many false claims that have repeatedly been debunked. Here’s a round-up of his key misstatements. Continue reading “President Trump’s cascade of false claims in Time’s interview on his falsehoods”

Can President Trump Handle the Truth?

The following article by Michael Scherer was posted on the Time Magazine website March 23, 2017:

Generations of American children have learned the apocryphal tale of young George Washington, bravely admitting to his father that he chopped down the cherry tree. The story sprang from a culture that wanted even its fables to serve the ideal of truth. By that standard, the House Intelligence Committee hearing on March 20 should have been a massive humiliation for the President, who followed Washington 228 years later. It is rare for such hearings to be unclassified–and thus televised–but FBI Director James Comey found the largest possible audience for his rebuke of the sitting President.

He had given Donald Trump nearly three weeks to walk back his incendiary tweets accusing President Obama of “wire tapping” Trump Tower during the campaign. If such surveillance had been done through legal channels, the FBI would have known; if done illegally, it was a scandal of historic proportions and the FBI should be digging into it. Either way, Trump’s accusation implicated the integrity of Comey’s bureau, which is why the former prosecutor felt compelled to push back as the cameras rolled. “I have no information that supports those tweets,” Comey said. “We have looked carefully inside the FBI. The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same.” Continue reading “Can President Trump Handle the Truth?”

Trump’s Lies Are No Laughing Matter For The Press

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the National Memo website March 14, 2017:

Appearing at the annual Radio and Television News Correspondents Association dinner in March 2004, just as his reelection campaign was gearing up, President George W. Bush continued the black-tie evening’s tradition and set aside some moments in his address to poke fun at himself.

The punchline that year: Bush couldn’t find Saddam Hussein’s weapons of the mass destruction; the WMDs that had served as the rationale for launching the invasion of Iraq one year earlier.

As the lights at the Washington Hilton ballroom dimmed, Bush narrated a “White House Election-Year Album,” and photos flashed on the screen behind him. One slide showed Bush in the Oval Office, searching under a piece of furniture. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere,” he told the audience. The slideshow continued with him checking different parts of his office. “Nope, no weapons over there,” he said, “Maybe under here.” Continue reading “Trump’s Lies Are No Laughing Matter For The Press”

The Daily 202: Trump team taking more and more credit for Obama successes

The following article by James Hohmann was posted on the Washington Post website March 10, 2017:

President Trump greets FirstCapital Bank of Texas Chairman Kenneth Burgess, Jr., during a meeting with leaders from small community banks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House yesterday. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: While Donald Trump accuses his predecessor of wiretapping his office and prods Congress to eviscerate his signature domestic achievement, he also demands credit for Obama administration victories that he had nothing or little to do with.

— The Bureau for Labor Statistics announced this morning that the U.S. added 235,000 jobs in February, bringing the unemployment rate down to 4.7 percent and likely giving the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates next week. Continue reading “The Daily 202: Trump team taking more and more credit for Obama successes”

It’s Time For a Special Prosecutor

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website March 6, 2017:

Rather than diverting attention away from his connections with Russia, Donald Trump’s unfounded Twitter assertions on Saturday are bringing attention back around to persistent questions about both his taxes and his campaign staff’s connections with Russian intelligence agents during and after the campaign.

The Trump administration on Sunday and Monday doubled down (mostly) on the assertions. Here are the latest developments: Continue reading “It’s Time For a Special Prosecutor”

The Daily 202: Wiretapping allegations accomplished what Trump wanted – but may backfire bigly

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanna Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website March 6, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: It is easy to pooh-pooh Donald Trump’s predawn Saturday tweetstorm — accusing Barack Obama of the worst political crimes since Watergate while offering no evidence — as an undisciplined rant from someone who has long embraced conspiracy theories.

That neither gives the president enough credit nor reflects the gravity of his unfounded accusations. Continue reading “The Daily 202: Wiretapping allegations accomplished what Trump wanted – but may backfire bigly”