Trump has averaged nearly 14 false or misleading claims a day since the start of his presidency in January 2017, according to The Washington Post Fact Checker database. The database tracks, rates and categorizes false or misleading claims Trump has made.As of October 9, he had made a staggering 13,435 incorrect statements.
The database also showed that Trump has made more false statements than usual during the past 65 days. Instead of 14 false statements per day, he was averaging 22 lies every 24 hours.
The newspaper’s fact-checking team attributed the increase to the ongoing congressional probe into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and its president Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump reportedly has made at least 250 false statements about the matter since Sept. 19.
One of his most baseless and repeated claims, according to Post fact-checkers, refers to the original whistleblower complaint that spurred House Democrats to look into the issue was incorrect. The complaint spurred the launch of the impeachment inquiry by raising the question of whether Trump used the call to “advance his personal interests” by attempting to convince Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
Trump, the database shows, has falsely said at least 29 times that “the Whistleblower’s facts have been so incorrect about my ’no pressure’ conversation with the Ukrainian President.” But the whistleblower’s concerns were confirmed in the rough transcript of the call between Trump and Zelensky released by the White House, which showed the two leaders discussing the Bidens and Trump asking Zelenksy to do him a “favor.”
Trump has also continued to push a false allegation that Biden and his son, Hunter, were involved in corrupt business dealings in Ukraine and China. According to the Post, Trump has incorrectly said at least 14 times that the Bidens have “ripped off at least two countries for millions of dollars.”
While Hunter Biden served on the boards of foreign companies, no criminal wrongdoing has been found. There’s also no evidence that Biden has “made millions” from foreign nations. Still, Trump publicly encouraged Chinese President Xi Jinping to investigate them.
Amid the scandal, Hunter Biden announced this week that he would be stepping down from his position on the board of a Chinese investment company. He also said that he would not work with any foreign firms if his father is elected president in 2020.
Biden appears to be trying to make the situation work in his favor by taking some credit for the House Democrats’ decision to launch the Ukraine probe while speaking at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union presidential forum on Sunday.
“I may be the last guy that publicly called for impeachment, but I’m the only reason there is impeachment going on,” Biden said. “Our democracy is literally at stake. It’s not a joke. This is the most corrupt administration in modern American history.”
