Fact Check Friday: A week's worth of questionable comments and falsehoods
When false statements by or about the Trump administration pile up, ABC News will bring its viewers and readers the straightforward facts.
Last week was the first installment of ABC's "Fact Check Friday," and sure enough there were plenty of factual foul-ups worth tracking again this week.
ABC News counted at least five public statements made by and about President Donald Trump, his administration, and his legal team this week that simply are not true or not supported by any known evidence.
Here again, it's "Fact Check Friday."
1. "...he certainly didn't dictate" it
Our first fact check is a bit of a throwback because the statements in question were made months ago, only to be revealed as false just this week. On no fewer than four occasions, lawyers for president Donald Trump or his spokesperson said that the president either had no involvement in, or did not dictate, a misleading statement on behalf of his son Donald Trump Jr. that attempted to explain why he met with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton at Trump Tower in June 2016.
Last July, one of the president’s attorneys Jay Sekulow told ABC the president "did not sign off on anything," and NBC that “The president was not involved in the drafting of that statement.”
And in August, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: "he certainly didn't dictate, but he…weighed in, offered suggestion (sic) like any father would do.”
Those statements were misleading at best – or outright false - because we learned this week, from a 20-page memo sent in January from Trump's attorneys to special counsel Robert Mueller, that, in their own words, "the President dictated a short but accurate response."
That statement itself, by the way, isn't accurate either. The explanation Trump dictated suggested Trump Jr. met with the Russians to talk about possibly relaxing Kremlin policy that had barred adoptions to Americans in retaliation for U.S. sanctions, but omitted that the true premise of the meeting was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.
2. The Eagles "disagree" with Trump over the national anthem
When President Trump learned fewer than 10 players from the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles were going to the show up at the White House this week while the rest would boycott the visit – he disinvited the whole team. He explained in an official White House statement: "They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem."
But that statement is not supported by any facts. In reality, no Eagles players ever kneeled during the national anthem this past season as part of the wider player protests. Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said in response to the White House statement: “…The decision was made to lie, and paint the picture that these players are anti-America, anti-flag and anti-military.” Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was the first to kneel during the national anthem in protest of police violence against African-Americans. In fact, it was a U.S. military veteran who suggested to Kaepernick that he kneel rather than sit on the bench as he'd been doing before.
3. It's the Democrats' "fault" for separating immigrant families
Facing backlash over his enforcement of immigration policy that meant separating undocumented immigrant families at the border, President Donald Trump boldly and falsely tried to shift blame to his political rivals by tweeting that Democrats are to blame.
"Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats, President Trump tweeted Tuesday. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall."
Setting aside that Trump managed to squeeze in a second false claim that he has started the border wall (see last week's fact check), his claim that Democrats passed legislation to separate families is completely wrong. It was just about one month ago, on May 7, in Scottsdale, Ariz., that Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration would carry out "zero tolerance" enforcement of immigration laws that would mean children would be separated from undocumented parents caught crossing the border illegally. "If you're smuggling a child, then we're going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you, Sessions said. "If you don't want your child separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally." Early last month, the president's chief of staff John Kelly called the enforcement policy a "tough deterrent" against illegal immigration.
There is no law that says families crossing the border illegally must be separated, let alone one passed by the Democrats. What's really happening is that under the administration's strict "zero tolerance" enforcement, all parents are referred for prosecution and detained, effectively separating them from their children. The children are put in foster care or held in facilities managed by the government. Past administrations also prosecuted people, but they didn't always separate them from their children.
4. The U.S. "never" exported energy
During a cabinet meeting President Trump held at FEMA headquarters in Washington Wednesday, he lavished praise on his energy secretary, Rick Perry, by falsely claiming that under his leadership the United States is now exporting energy for the first time.
"And we're now the largest in the world in energy, Rick," Trump said. "The largest in the world. And we're now exporting energy for the first time. Never did it. Now we're exporting energy."
The New York Times was quick to check that statement, pointing out that not only has the United States exported coal, natural gas and electricity for decades, but also that the White House follow-on explanation – that the U.S. is expected to become a net energy exporter by 2022 – is neither happening "now" nor for the "first time."
5. And finally…
On Wednesday, CNN reported that in a phone call last month, Trump told Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau that U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum were justified as a matter of "national security."
As Trudeau questioned that, Trump then made an erroneous historical reference to the War of 1812, asking Trudeau: "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?"
Two Canadian officials confirmed the conversation to ABC News and, when asked if the president had asked the question in jest, they described the remark as a "throwaway comment."
Regardless - Canada did not exist as a country during the War of 1812 – and it was the British who burned down the White House.
