Audit of Donald Trump in Wheeling, West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – For the second time in two months, President Donald Trump has traveled to friendly territory in West Virginia to hold one of his campaign rallies.

At the rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, Trump reinforced Patrick Morrisey's candidacy, which defies US Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat.

Trump repeated many of his favorite lines of applause at previous rallies, including praise for the state of the economy and plans on immigration policy, gun control fire and its tax legislation.

Here are some lines of his speech, verified.

"We open steel mills."

This is more accurate than Trump's earlier statements in which he repeatedly exaggerated the extent of US Steel's expansion. The company is restarting two closed factories, but it does not build several new factory complexes, as it has said in the past. As we have noted, between reboots, new plants and expansions, the steel industry has made significant investments this year.

Democrats believe in "open borders".

In the 2016 presidential election, Trump accused Democratic Hillary Clinton of favoring open borders. As we have pointed out, experts say that facilitating legal status for undocumented migrants is not the same as getting rid of law enforcement and opening up borders.

There is in fact a long history of opening borders. The United States has had it essentially for 85 years, said the Cato Libertarian Institute. "From 1790 to 1875, the institute says that any" immigrant from any country can legally enter, live and work in the United States ".

"There are no members of Congress who support" open borders "or anything that addresses them," said Alex Nowrasteh, an analyst at Cato.

Edward Alden, a senior official of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the 2008 book on measures taken by the federal government to tighten US borders after September 11, said it was "tough." a "pejorative term that does not have much analytic meaning, it's not even in the conversation in Washington", where since the 90s the emphasis is on strengthening border security.

In West Virginia, "they did a survey, just full support for (nominee of the Brett Supreme Court) Kavanaugh, 58%, in total against, 28%".

Trump is specific about the survey results, but it should be mentioned that the survey is not exactly neutral. It was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican firm, on behalf of the Judicial Crisis Network, a key group that promotes Kavanaugh's confirmation. (The name of the site on which it is posted is "confirmkavanaugh.com".) He interviewed 722 voters in West Virginia after the testimony of Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, on September 27. plus or minus 3.65 percentage points.

"We have already built a lot of walls, we have repaired a lot of walls."

It's an exaggeration.

Plans are underway to replace fences along the border in San Diego and further east in Calexico. These call for new, higher, terminal-type gates, which include a series of comb-shaped steel poles that border patrol officers can see through, some of which were planned long before Trump came forward. in the office.

Recent congressional appropriation of $ 1.6 billion is replacing the old fence, but not the construction of any concrete wall prototypes, as requested by Trump.

"First and foremost, it's not Trump's wall," Los Angeles Times spokesman Jonathan Pacheco told the Los Angeles Times in March 2018. He's a spokesman for the El Centro Border Patrol, which includes Calexico. "to bring … This new wall replacement has absolutely nothing to do with the prototypes presented in the San Diego area."

The plans for the Calexico project, which also includes a terminal-type structure, began in 2009 under the Obama administration and were funded in 2017 under Trump, according to the Times.

"When you see the" Democratic Party ", it's not correct, there is no name," Democratic Party. "

It's wrong. While critics, for the most part Republicans, have long insisted on the fact that the party was "the Democratic Party", the party's official organization is the "Democratic National Committee" and party members almost always use the word "democrat" unless you go unnoticed. the wording.

"The Democratic Party is radical socialism."

Socialism refers to the government that owns or at least controls the means of production. It's not in the Democratic platform or anything that any democrat takes in the country.

Referring to recent Republican accusations that US Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Would be a "socialist," Philip J. Williams, a professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, told PolitiFact His positions opposed to tax cuts and support for the expansion of Medicaid are dominant democratic positions. Even some Republican governors have supported the expansion of Medicaid. "

While some might qualify Medicare or Medicaid for socialism because the government provides health insurance to citizens, the health sector remains in the hands of the private sector, said Sean D. Ehrlich, professor of political science at Florida State University .

"The government does not control the production of health care," said Ehrlich. "They only regulate certain elements and reimburse providers and consumers for the costs of their health care."

"I will always fight to protect patients with pre-existing illnesses and always protect them … Some people think it's not a Republican task, it's even." All Republicans also hold this position Pre-existing conditions are safe. "

The Trump Justice Department has decided not to defend itself against a lawsuit filed by Republican attorneys general seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act. This places the Trump administration on the side of those whose trial would end the protection of the law for people with pre-existing conditions.

As we noted, the lawsuit argues that "in 2012, the Supreme Court confirmed the individual mandate of the law to buy health insurance stating that it was punishable by a tax penalty , but in 2017, Congress repealed the tax code mechanism.

With the tax penalty now over, the lawsuit argues that the individual mandate is no longer constitutional and that, therefore, the law should be either largely or entirely rejected.

Health policy experts say the lawsuit would end the pre-existing protections of the condition under the ACA law.

"There would be a lot more damage beyond the issue of coverage for people with health problems, but that would actually be a result," said Linda Blumberg, Urban Health Policy Analyst. Institute.

"We have released nearly 4 million Americans with food stamps."

It's a bit high, but it's in the stadium.

We've already checked a tweet from the Republican Party in West Virginia that said, "Thanks to President Trump and Republican leaders, the number of people collecting food stamps has gone down by more than two million."

We found that it was actually an undercoverage – the number of Americans collecting food coupons had decreased by 3.4 million. That being said, the decline began years before Trump took office. It is therefore an exaggeration to award exclusive credit to Trump or his policies.

"We have almost added – it will be soon – 600,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector."

It's too high. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States has added 348,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector since January 2017, when Trump took office. If you start counting from the time he was elected, the number goes up to 378,000. That's a significant increase, but it's not as important as Trump said.

We note that jobs in the manufacturing industry are only slowly recovering the ground lost since the 1980s and especially after the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009.

As manufacturing employment has increased, it has grown fairly steadily – albeit modestly – since 2010, including more than six years under President Barack Obama.

"Obama gave $ 150 billion to Iran and then sold $ 1.8 billion in cash."

Trump leaves out important details.

The 2015 nuclear deal with Iran released some Iranian assets that had been frozen under sanctions. (Iran has other assets that remain frozen.)

Some conservatives have estimated the amount released after the lifting of sanctions to $ 150 billion, which is the highest estimate to date. Another estimate by the Iranian Central Bank exceeded $ 29 billion in readily available funds, with $ 45 billion linked to Chinese investment projects and external assets of the Iranian Ministry of Oil.

After discussing with officials of the Central Bank of Iran, Nader Habibi, professor of Middle East economics at Brandeis University, estimates the total amount is between $ 25 and $ 50 billion.

In July 2015, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told lawmakers that Iran would earn $ 56 billion.

It is important to know that little of this money was under the control of the United States or any American bank. Habibi said most were in central and commercial banks abroad. In addition, it was Iran's money to start, not the payment of a government to buy Iran's cooperation.

With respect to the $ 1.8 billion, the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan analytical branch of Congress, reviewed this transfer of money in a 2018 report. It gave a total of $ 1.7 billion of dollars. This is the amount that American and Iranian negotiators have set to pay for an arms deal between the United States and Iran that preceded the Iranian revolution in 1979. Iran has paid for military equipment and has not has never been delivered.

In 1990, there was $ 400 million in this account. The negotiators agreed that accrued interest would add $ 1.3 billion to the amount, which is a lot of money, but 25 years is a very long period of time before the interest changes.

"Unemployment among Americans without a high school diploma – that's a big problem – has recently hit the lowest rate ever recorded."

Trump is correct.

Although it increased slightly in August 2018, the unemployment rate for this group in July 2018 was 5.1%, the lowest since the government started tracking the number in 1992. In 2010 As the country pulled out of the Great Recession, the rate for this group was three times higher.

During the rally, Trump entrusted the microphone to Patrick Morrisey, who challenges US Senator Joe Manchin, D -W.Va., this fall.

Morrisey said that Manchin "gave up your rights to guns, supporting Obama's radical gun control." He gave up your values ​​on life, supporting Planned Parenthood.He abandoned your paychecks he opposed the Trump wall. "

With respect to firearms, Manchin has already received strong support from the National Rifle Association, but not anymore. Manchin's relationship with the NRA deteriorated in 2013 after he and Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Proposed legislation that would have verified the history of some firearms purchases. Manchin and Toomey introduced the bill as a compromise, but the NRA saw it as the first step towards a slippery slope and opposed it. (It never became law.)

In an interview with CBS News in March 2018 – following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Fla. – Manchin defended its position of "no gun control." Manchin- Toomey, should be the basic bill on which they work. "He also voiced support for the ban on mogul stocks and raising the legal age for the purchase of rifles. ;assault. Manchin added that it would not support the ban of AR-15s.

Planned Parenthood, the national network of health and family planning clinics, has been a long-time target of anti-abortion groups because it provides abortion services. According to the law, federal funds can not be used to pay for abortion services, but federal funds are paid to Planned Parenthood for other purposes – something that bothered opponents of abortion , who say that money is fungible.

Manchin said he is personally anti-abortion, but supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood as long as the funding is consistent with existing federal law.

Regarding taxes, its biggest vote was in December 2017, when the Senate considered a bill backed by President Trump and the GOP-controlled chamber, which made major cuts. and other changes to the tax code. Manchin, like the other Democrats in the House, voted against the passage, but the bill received enough Republican support to become law.

Manchin's vote against the bill is not exactly a vote for "higher taxes" – it was a vote to maintain the status quo on taxes – but missed the opportunity to lower taxes many Americans.

Regarding immigration, Manchin has voted in favor of the 2013 Bill on the "Eight" would have paved the way for legal status and eventually citizenship. The bill was passed by the Senate, 68-32, with 14 Republicans joining 54 independent Democrat and Democrat Senators to vote in favor. (The bill was not heard in the House and was never passed).

But as we concluded in the past, the definition of amnesty is delicate.

Some see it as a general authorization allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States, while others see amnesty as a measure for all undocumented immigrants, even if it includes a list of measures strict to take. The Republicans who supported the legislation, as well as most Democrats, argued that the bill did not offer amnesty.

At the time, we concluded that the bill did not provide general legal residence to unauthorized immigrants. It imposed fines, background checks and waiting times, and was more stringent than a 1986 law more in line with the traditional definition of amnesty.

Since then, Manchin has sought a common ground in the Senate. However, faced with a difficult re-election campaign in a solidly pro-Trump state, he often highlighted its position on strengthening security at the border.

Manchin has offered various opinions on the merits of a border wall over time. However, in terms of votes, we found not one but three cases in which Manchin voted to allocate taxpayers' money to a wall. This included an immigration proposal that attracted only two other Democratic votes and that an important part of the Republican Senate conference deemed too conservative.

Morrisey also said at the rally:

"Joe Manchin supported Hillary Clinton even after making it clear that she wanted to remove our coal, our oil and our gas jobs."

We have already noted this Mainly True. Clinton said the remark well and Manchin remained in his camp during the elections. However, Morrisey left out a certain context – that Clinton had also expressed empathy for the economic challenges of the coal miners in her initial remark, that she had then clarified what she had wanted to say and that Manchin had been trying to convince Clinton why she had done it. been unacceptable.

Blahut, Britten, Martin and Soule were reported from Morgantown, West Virginia and Jacobson, from Washington.