Verification of the facts Friday: lie detectors



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At the end of the week, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul suggested that the White House carry out polygraph tests for senior administration officials. The idea was that the advisers of President Fois.

The author claims to be one of many senior administration officials – a "resistance" that protects the nation from President Trump's worst inclinations, as shown in Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House." ".

When questioned directly on Friday when he was using lie detectors, the president stated that "people have suggested it". But he does not seem likely to gain ground. Remember that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan launched the same idea during their presidency. According to John Dean, Nixon's former lawyer at the White House, his aides then told the president that they did not have enough lie detectors to check all the people he wanted to test.

Anyway, the machine is not always necessary. Welcome to Fact Check Friday.

I have never used the phrase "mental retardation"

President Trump has attempted to defend one of the most disgusting allegations in Woodward's new book – which he once described as "mental retardation" by Attorney General Jeff Sessions – by falsely claiming he never had used this term for anyone. He has … and it's on tape.

Woodward describes a scene in which President Trump talks about Sessions to his secretary of staff, Rob Porter, calling the attorney general a "traitor" and making fun of his southern accent. "This guy is mentally retarded, he's a fool from the south," Woodward said, citing the president. Woodward does not identify the source of this quote.

PHOTO: Fear: Trump at the White House, by Bob Woodward.Simon & Schuster via AP
"Fear: Trump in the White House", by Bob Woodward.

Trump took Twitter to deny it.

"The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and false sources, made me call Jeff Sessions" mentally retarded "and" an idiotic southerner, "he tweeted. a Southerner is an excellent thing. He invented that to divide! "

But his claim that he has never used the term to describe someone is simply false. He used the offensive phrase in an interview granted in 2004 to the radio personality, Howard Stern – to belittle an acquaintance that he identified as a "golf pro." Sitting in the studio with Stern, Trump described how he was surprised when the golfer gave him good financial advice because, in Trump 's words, he was "mentally retarded, as he did not know. was really not smart.

Nor is it the first time that Trump is accused of being insensitive to people with disabilities. In November 2015, during his presidential campaign, Trump seemed to scoff at a physically challenged New York Times veteran reporter. Trump has also denied this accusation, even if it's all on videotape.

Changing facts about reducing aid to Palestinians

When the Trump administration announced last week that it was going to reduce all US aid to the Palestinians, reversing a US policy of support to impoverished populations for decades, government officials said that they did so because the United Nations refused to share the financial burden.

That was until President Trump completely changed this reasoning just a week later.

Last Thursday, the audio of a phone call between President Trump and Jewish leaders was leaked to the Israeli press, and we heard the president give his own reason: he wanted to force the Palestinians to the table negotiations.

"And I would say that you will have money, but we do not pay you until we reach an agreement," Trump said during the call. "If we do not make an agreement, we do not pay."

Although he has been threatened in the past to cut funding if Palestinians do not show up at the table, this is not the reason his administration planned last week to cut funds. And despite all that has motivated the decision, many experts believe that the reduction in aid will only push Palestinians farther from the negotiating table and aggravate unrest in the region. Palestinian leaders have already said that the United States has lost its role as a peacemaker in the region.

Good job, Jeff

When President Trump suggested in a tweet earlier this week that his Attorney General should have delayed criminal proceedings against two Republican congressional members for re-election this fall, he unleashed a storm of use from the Department of Justice as a political tool. But he also had some really wrong facts.

PHOTO: Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivers remarks in Portland, Maine on July 13, 2018.AP
Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks in Portland, Maine on July 13, 2018.

First, he falsely suggested that the investigations of representatives Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins had started under the Obama administration. They did not – they started under Trump. In fact, Chris Collins, who is accused of insider trading, can be seen on videotape at the White House picnic the same day and, at the exact time, prosecutors say that he is not in trouble. He illegally telephoned his son to sell him shares. in an Australian biotechnology company.

The rest of the tweet is the really important part. And there is not much to check, except that we should not agree that a president should not tell his Attorney General to prosecute crimes based on his political biases. . It is a fact that the justice departments of the former administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have pursued high-profile cases against members of a president's own party.

Mueller's attorney cried for Clinton

On board the Air Force One on Friday, the president said that a senior prosecutor of the special council, Robert Mueller, had been crying the night Hillary Clinton had lost the election. He cited no evidence to support this claim.

"Why do not we have Republicans on [Mueller’s team]? Trump asked, attacking the credibility of the investigators. "All of these Democrats … the people who were at Hillary Clinton's – I call it Hillary Clinton's funeral, it was the night she had lost the election.C & # 39; was a funeral.It was a wake.The people who were Mueller's team were crying They were crying. "

It is true that Andrew Weissman, a long-standing Justice Department official and current Mueller Attorney, attended the Clinton Election Night in New York. And it is true that he is a democrat who gave money to the party. It is also true that people were seen crying that night.

But there is no evidence to support Trump's claims that Weissman was crying that night.

Also, to Trump's question about Republicans in the team: Mueller is a Republican nominated by Republicans.

Blame tester

When Montana Senator Democrat John Tester derailed President Trump's plan to appoint his White House doctor, Rear-Admiral Ronny Jackson, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump vowed revenge. And on Thursday night, at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana, he aimed, telling the crowd not to vote for the tester this fall because he had helped spread lies about Jackson.

"What Tester did to Admiral Jackson should never be allowed. Ronny Jackson is a great man. Ronny Jackson led a beautiful and beautiful life. And having lies about it, I would never repeat what they are … they are terrible, "Trump said.

While it is true that the tester has published numerous anonymous complaints about the mistakes made by the doctor, including the fact that he had dispensed prescription drugs, there is no evidence that the allegations were lies. In fact, the allegations were so serious that the Pentagon launched an internal investigation in June that is still ongoing. It is also important to note that a major complaint about Jackson would have come directly from a medical office vice president Mike Pence.

Jackson continued to deny all allegations of wrongdoing when he removed his name from the list in April.

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