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Thursday March 28, 2024

Trump made 3,251 false claims during his first 497 days in office

By Sabir Shah
June 02, 2018

LAHORE: After being disqualified as Pakistan's Prime Minister by the country's Apex Court on July 28, 2017 for lying about his assets during a corruption probe instigated by the "Panama Papers" leaks, Nawaz Sharif might deem himself a bit unlucky--along with some other ousted compatriot politicians-- because incumbent American head of state Donald Trump, heading the world's oldest democracy, has been accused of making 3,251 false or misleading claims in the 497 days since he took the oath of office. Nawaz denies all the charges.

Facts about Trump made false claims have been tracked by the Washington Post's "Fact Checker’s database," which analyzes and categorizes every suspect statement uttered by the United States' President.

Now, in Trump's case, that is an average of more than 6.5 false claims a day, which is surely a lot more than the misleading and fabricated statements aired by the Pakistani politicians! But this behaviour is totally unjusdtified and uncalled for because statements or claims of politicians anywhere in the world directly affect the masses who vote for them, and if a leader's credibility is damaged, nations certainly do not prosper due to mistrust between decision makers and those who are required to follow the decisions.

The Washington Post's "Fact Checker," known for grading politicians on the factual accuracy of their statements, was created in September 2007 specifically for the United States" Presidential campaign. Although this project had ceased operations on November 4, 2008, but it was relaunched with a broader focus in January 2011.

The "Washington Post" writes: "When we first started this project for the President's first 100 days, he averaged 4.9 claims a day. But the average number of claims per day keeps climbing as the president nears the 500-day mark of his presidency. In the month of May, the president made about eight claims a day — including an astonishing 35 claims in his rally in Nashville on May 29."

The prestigious American media house states: "But perhaps the president’s most astonishing claim in May came on the last day of the month, in the form of a tweet."

Trump's tweet of May 31:

"Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!"

The "Washington Post" maintains: "Initially, the White House had said FBI director James B. Comey was fired May 9, 2017, because of his handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation, on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.

But here’s what Trump himself said to NBC's Lester Holt just two days after the firing: "I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won."

Meanwhile, the "New York Times" has reported that Trump, in a meeting with Russian officials the day after the firing, said: "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off."