Aside from the absolute theater of President Trump's performance Friday at the White House, his impromptu press conference on the North Lawn might be remembered most for the sheer numbers of mistruths, misleading statements and factual errors he uttered. It was remarkable. He seemed emboldened to say what he wanted, regardless whether it was true. Reporters were fact-checking him in real time, but he never backed down. He just repeated himself.
Aside from the absolute theater of President Trump's performance Friday at the White House, his impromptu press conference on the North Lawn might be remembered most for the sheer numbers of mistruths, misleading statements and factual errors he uttered. It was remarkable. He seemed emboldened to say what he wanted, regardless whether it was true. Reporters were fact-checking him in real time, but he never backed down. He just repeated himself.
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Here's what you need to know on this "Fact Check Friday."
(Note: All of these claims occurred when the president appeared on a "Fox and Friends" broadcast from the White House and then spoke to a gaggle of reporters right afterward.)
1. "Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign."
President Trump falsely claimed that Paul Manafort "has nothing to do with our [presidential] campaign." In fact, Manafort was his former campaign chairman. So there's not much else to explain here – the statement is an abject falsehood. Manafort had plenty to do with the campaign... he ran it for a time.