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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has inflated the profits of an arms deal with the Saudis in defending his wait-and-see attitude towards Saudi complicity in the disappearance of a journalist whose murder has caused the "death toll". indignation of the world.
With regard to the application of immigration, the president said unfounded that migrants were paid to pay their mass at the border and disturbed in one way or another the November 6 elections in the United States. Trump also demonstrated credulity by boasting of his performance among Hispanic voters at a rally and distorting facts about climate change and the investigation of Russia in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
A few words over the past week:
HISPANIC VOTE
ASSET: "We are doing very well with Hispanic Americans. We are doing very good. Because what do you know? They want security at the border. They want good jobs. Remember, the last election, well, "it will not do very well with the Hispanic vote". Did we do well or what? "- Rally in Arizona on Friday.
FACTS: More "what" than "good".
Among the Hispanics, Democrat Hillary Clinton beat Trump comfortably in 2016, 66% to 28%, according to polls at the end of the polls. This level of Hispanic support for a Democratic candidate was similar to that of 2008 when Barack Obama won 67% of Hispanic votes, compared to 31% for Republican John McCain.
At the same time, Clinton's performance among Hispanics was lower than his support for Obama in 2012, when he won 71% of the vote, compared with 27% for Republican Mitt Romney.
In 2016, Trump had strongly campaigned on a platform to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, calling for massive deportations and calling some Mexicans rapists. Given this track record, it is fair to claim that he has surpassed the expectations of Hispanic voters, but he did worse or at least not better than McCain in 2008.
MIGRANTS
TRUMP, on a caravan of Central American migrants trying to reach the United States: "A lot of money has gone through people to get in and try to get to the border on polling day, because they think this is a disadvantage for us." – Rally in Montana, Thursday.
TRUMP on the caravan: "Can you believe that, and what the Democrats are allowing our country to be done?" – tweet Thursday.
FACTS: Matt Gaetz, representative of the R-Fl., Alleged that Trump was paid in Honduras to join the caravan and to "storm the border at election time," Gaetz commented.
Gaetz tweeted a video Wednesday, men who were distributing money to people queuing, without it being proven that this illustrated his words. Asked about the origin of the video, Gaetz posted a correction on Twitter, saying, "This video was provided by a Honduran government official. So, I thought it came from Honduras.
UPDATE: Because a Honduran government official sent me this video, I thought I thought she was from Honduras. https://t.co/Jhh2231TNL
– Representative Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 18, 2018
None of the two men has provided evidence that migrants are paid to come to the border.
According to the Mexican government, migrants with the required documents can enter Mexico and those who are not required to apply for refugee status or face deportation.
SAUDI ARMS DEAL
ASSET: "Frankly, they have an extraordinary order – $ 110 billion. Every country in the world wanted a piece of this order. We have everything. And what are we going to do? Again, senators and members of Congress said, "Well, you know, sir, I think we should do, is that we should not follow that order." I said, "Who are we suffering -we? It's 500,000 jobs. & # 39; "- Fox Business News Wednesday interview.
TRUMP, on a possible action against Saudi Arabia: "I'm going to work with Congress. … But I would prefer that we not use as compensation the cancellation of 110 billion dollars of work, 600 000 jobs. … I went there to get this order. "- noted Friday a defense event in Arizona.
FACTS: Trump is wrong to suggest that he received $ 110 billion worth of military orders from Saudi Arabia. A much lower amount of sales has been signed. His State Department also estimated that the number of jobs in the United States was well below that of Trump, which was between 500,000 and 600,000.
The details of the $ 110 billion weapons package, partially negotiated under the Obama administration and agreed in May 2017, were sketchy. At the time, the Trump administration provided only a general description of the defense equipment that would be sold. There was no public breakdown of what was offered for sale and at what price.
The Congressional Research Service described the package as a combination of sales proposed by Obama and discussed with Congress and new sales under development.
The Pentagon said this month that Saudi Arabia had signed "letters of offer and acceptance" for a turnover of $ 14.5 billion, including helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons and training. These letters, issued after the approval of the project of sale by the American government, specify the terms.
With regard to the economic impact, Trump's claim of about 500,000 jobs – which he later raised to 600,000 – is debatable given the tenuous nature of the orders. A State Department fact sheet on the proposed $ 110 billion deal, dated May 20, 2017, estimated that "it could result in" a potential support for dozens of thousands of new jobs in the United States. "
Trump's repeated claims that he signed $ 110 billion worth of new arms sales in Riyadh are "just not true," said Bruce Riedel, principal investigator at the Brookings Institution and former head of the US Department of Justice. Defense and the CIA. "Very few have changed hands."
Trump promised a "severe punishment" unspecified if the United States were to determine Saudi involvement in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had written articles criticizing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But Trump said he did not want to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia as this would hurt US manufacturers. Saudi Arabia is indeed an important ally of the United States and a major consumer of arms.
On Friday, Trump said Saudi Arabia announced that Khashoggi's death suspects were in police custody as a "good first step." Saudi Arabia claimed that Khashoggi was killed in a "hand-to-hand combat" at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Trump said that before deciding what to do, he wanted to talk to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
SENATE RACE MONTANA
TRUMP, speaking of the failure of the appointment of Ronny Jackson, White House doctor, to the post of veterans secretary: "Since his vicious and utterly false statements about Admiral Ron Jackson, the highly respected White House doctor for Obama, Bush and me, Senator John Tester seems to have big problems in the Grand State of Montana! He behaved worse than the Democratic group with Judge K! – tweet Wednesday.
FACTS: Trump was misleading as he tried to blame Jackson's candidacy for testing, the most Democratic of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. It is also unclear whether the late allegations against Jackson are "totally false" because the Pentagon Inspector General continues to examine some of them.
Jackson, a Rear Admiral of the Navy, withdrew his candidacy in April, after Tester published the results of his interviews with military personnel in a committee that raised questions about military practices. Jackson's prescription and leadership abilities. The interviews were conducted with the knowledge and support of Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Chair of the Jackson Nomination Committee.
The period covered Jackson's mandate as a 2006 White House doctor and concerned his current and former colleagues who served in the Republican and Democratic administrations.
Jackson, who had largely denied the charges of misbehavior, had already faced tough questions from several committee members, namely, he had the experience necessary to handle the huge VA.
The allegations were forwarded to the Pentagon Inspector General for evaluation. After an initial assessment and review, the Office of the Inspector General in June decided that a formal investigation was warranted. This investigation continues, according to the office.
CLEANER AIR
ASSET: "I want the purest air on the planet and our air is now cleaner than it ever was." – AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: According to his own administration, he is wrong to say that the air is the purest of all time. Although the air has generally become purer since the 1970s, the downward trend in pollution has slightly turned around since Trump came into office.
His environmental protection agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, has released data showing that traditional air pollution – soot and smog – had risen in 2017 and that the air was no longer harmful. was not the purest that it had ever been.
The days with an unhealthy number of small particles of pollution, often called soot and related to heart and lung problems as well as deaths, have jumped from 2016 to 2017 in 35 major metropolitan areas. In 2017, there were 179 days of unhealthy soot, up 85% from 97 in 2016. Last year, the most unhealthy soot days had been recorded since 2011.
The number of days with unhealthy smog levels was down from 2016 but higher than 2015, 2014 and 2013.
The number of days the air quality index was unhealthy was 729 in 2017. The number of days is more than one year because the unhealthy reading of each city is a day and many cities involved. Last year's level was the highest since 2012 and represented a 21% increase over the purest air in 2014.
CLIMATE CHANGE
TRUMP, asked about a US report on climate change released this month that said that dangerous warming has already taken place and that with each degree, the many damage done to the Earth will become even more treacherous: "No, no. Some say that and some say differently, I mean you have scientists on both sides. – AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: He is wrong to suggest that the scientific community is highly divided. Scientists from around the world have written this report, which has been unanimously accepted by representatives of governments around the world, including the United States, said Cornell University climatologist Natalie Mahowald. one of the main authors of the report.
The Trump administration last year also released the National Climate Assessment, which painted a similar picture.
The climatologist at the University of Illinois, Donald Wuebbles, one of the lead authors of this national report, said by e-mail that "there was no at all about debate in the scientific community.
"Trump could just as well say that there are scientists on both sides of the debate about gravity," Michael Mann, a scientist in climatology at Pennsylvania State University, said in an email. "The dangerous impacts of climate change are already evident. Of course, there are uncertainties. There are always some. There are uncertainties in the science of gravity (we have never measured a graviton, the fundamental unit of gravity). This does not make sure to jump off a cliff. "
IMMIGRATION
ASSET: "We have the worst laws in the history of the world on immigration and we change them one by one. We have made a lot of progress in recent weeks, but we are changing them one by one. – AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: In fact, he has failed to change the immigration laws. All of the immigration-related changes advocated by his administration were made by decree, without legislation or by policy changes such as the zero tolerance policy whereby any person illegally arrested at the border and prosecuted by criminal separation had been prosecuted. The administration has also resorted to regulations to tighten the rules on how immigrants can benefit from public benefits. Immigration legislation failed despite Republican control of the White House and both houses of Congress.
TRUMP, on the separation of children from their parents at the border: "Now, President Obama had the same law. He did the same thing. "- AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: Obama did not do the same thing in politics. It's true that the underlying laws were the same. But the Trump administration has imposed on anyone arrested to illegally cross the border to be the subject of criminal prosecution. Under this policy, adults were brought to court for criminal prosecution and their children were separated and transferred to the Department of Health and Social Services, which is responsible for caring for unaccompanied migrant children. The zero tolerance policy remains in force, but Trump signs a decree on June 20 that ends separations.
Obama's US Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, told NPR that children removed from their parents may have met unusual or urgent circumstances, but that this policy did not exist.
ASSET: "And in fact, the picture of the children living in cages taken in 2014 was a picture of the administration of President Obama and the way they treated the children. They had children living in cages. They thought it was our administration and they used it, then without their knowledge and with the false news they found out, "Oh my God, this is a terrible situation." It was during the administration Obama. – AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: He is right. The images that circulated online at the height of the controversy surrounding Trump's family separations date back to 2014 under the Obama administration. But the situation of some children has not changed. In June, an Associated Press reporter was part of a group that visited a US Border Patrol detention center, where hundreds of children were waiting in a series of cages created by metal fences. One of the cages welcomed 20 children. Bottles of water, bags of potato chips and large sheets of aluminum used as blankets were scattered. The cages of each wing opened in common areas to use portable toilets.
Children in 2014 and 2018 were temporarily separated from their parents on premises, placed in areas classified by age and gender for security reasons.
INQUIRY ON RUSSIA
TRUMP, about the investigation of the special advocate Robert Mueller in Russia: "It's a huge waste of time for the President of the United States. Saying that I would even think about using Russia to help me win Idaho, we use Russia to help me win the great state of Iowa or wherever is the thing the more absurd and most embarrassing. "- AP interview.
FACTS: Trump may be right in saying that he did not need a boost in Idaho and Iowa, says he won in 2016 with a comfortable margin of 31 percentage points and by 9 percentage points, respectively. But the notion of activities supported by Russia on its behalf "anywhere" in the United States is not far-fetched, according to an indictment in February from Mueller.
The indictment accuses 13 Russians and three Russian entities of trying to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton by organizing a hidden campaign on social networks and mobilizing supporters at rallies while posing as American political activists in "violent states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida". . "According to the indictment, the clandestine campaign was organized by Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm funded by companies controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with links to President Vladimir Putin.
According to the indictment, the defendants generally referred to more divided "purple states" after being notified by a local organization based in Texas in June 2016 to focus their efforts in this region.
The indictment details contacts with three unidentified leaders in the Trump campaign in Florida. In each case, the Russians used fake American personalities to contact officials. The indictment does not say if any of them responded.
Trump lost nearly 2.9 million votes in the popular vote against Clinton, but he captured the necessary votes from the constituency to win the presidency after defeating in politically divided states, including Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
TRUMP, on his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen: "By the way, he had no problems for what he did for me. he was in trouble for what he did for himself. You know? About loans, mortgages, taxis and other things, if you read the newspaper. "- AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: Cohen was definitely in trouble for what he had done for Trump. He declared in open court that Trump had ordered him to arrange the payment of hidden money to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to prevent damage to Trump's candidacy. to the White House.
Cohen said that a payment had been made "in a coordinated manner and under the direction of a candidate to a federal office", while the other had been carried out "under the direction of the same candidate" .
It is true that Cohen did not identify Trump, but there was no ambiguity in the court documents or in his statement.
Cohen's extraordinary statement at the August plea hearing was the first time a Trump partner in a public hearing implicated the president himself in a crime.
Trump is, however, right in saying that the other charges that Cohen admitted did not concern either the candidate or the campaign and were intended to mislead the tax.
ASSET: "Do you know those Russian hackers you mentioned in Moscow? They have nothing to do with me. … they were hackers from Moscow. Some of them supported Hillary Clinton. "- AP interview Tuesday.
FACTS: The Mueller indictment provides no evidence or reason to believe that the Russian effort was aimed at helping to elect Clinton – quite the opposite. Some anti-Trump anti-Russian messages have been broadcast online, but investigators believe the motive was to cause confusion and discord in the campaign, not to elect it.
The Trump efforts identified in the indictment were strategic, on the ground in key states and online, and included attempts to reach out to Trump campaigners. Russian President Vladimir Putin, while denying any interference from Russia, said he hoped for Trump's victory.
Associate press editors Matthew Pennington, Seth Borenstein, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long contributed to this report.
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