Category: Not Factual

Trump Retweets Claim the Media is Inflating Coronavirus Mortality Rates to ‘Steal the Election’

President Donald Trump kept up his tweeting overnight by including a claim that the media is exaggerating the lethality of the coronavirus in order to “steal the election.”

After Trump stormed over The New York Times, “Noble” Prizes, Fox News, people who don’t get his “sarcasm,” and everything else making him angry, he went on a binge of retweeting his supporters. One of the more interesting posts he decided to promote was this one from John Cardillo.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Trump repeatedly talked down the seriousness of the disease even as it continues to ravage the county. More than 50,000 Americans have been reported dead from the virus.

Trump also has an extensive history of attempts to delegitimize elections in case they don’t go his way.

[Mediaite]

Trump asks why taxpayers should help bail out blue states

President Trump on Monday questioned why the federal government should provide financial relief to states facing budgetary strains due to the coronavirus pandemic, portraying it as a partisan issue in states and cities with Democratic leaders.

It’s a signal Trump may be turning away from supporting funding for cash-strapped states and cities in a new coronavirus relief bill, though the president has sent conflicting signals on the issue already.

“Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help?” Trump tweeted. “I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?”

Trump tweeted last week that he hoped future coronavirus legislation would include “fiscal relief to State/Local governments for lost revenues from COVID 19.” 

But after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell(R-Ky.) floated the idea of allowing states to go bankrupt rather than sending federal money to them, Trump said his administration was looking into the idea.

“I’ve been talking to a lot of the different senators, but I don’t want to talk about it now,” Trump said Thursday. “That was a very interesting presentation.”

Governors in both parties have panned McConnell’s comments.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called it a “really dumb idea.”

“The suggestion was made, states should declare bankruptcy. … You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil? Do that,” Cuomo said.

[The Hill]

Reality

Fact: Blue high-tax states fund red low-tax states – in a big way.

Trump rips media, says ‘I work from early in the morning until late at night’

President Trump ripped into the media Sunday in response to a report about his work schedule, saying that he toils from morning until night in a series of tweets.

“The people that know me and know the history of our Country say that I am the hardest working President in history. I don’t know about that, but I am a hard worker and have probably gotten more done in the first 3 1/2 years than any President in history. The Fake News hates it!” the president said in the first of a string of Twitter messages.

“I work from early in the morning until late at night, haven’t left the White House in many months (except to launch Hospital Ship Comfort) in order to take care of Trade Deals, Military Rebuilding etc., and then I read a phony story in the failing @nytimes about my work schedule and eating habits, written by a third rate reporter who knows nothing about me,” he continued.

“I will often be in the Oval Office late into the night & read & see that I am angrily eating a hamburger & Diet Coke in my bedroom. People with me are always stunned. Anything to demean!” Trump said.

His ire appeared to be directed at a New York Times report published last Thursday that claimed the president has been isolated in the White House during the coronavirus pandemic and described him as a “sour president.”

Trump on Sunday also blasted “‘reporters’ who have received Noble Prizes for their work on Russia, Russia, Russia, only to have been proven totally wrong (and, in fact, it was the other side who committed the crimes),” possibly referring to the Pulitzer awards.

“I can give the Committee a very comprehensive list. When will the Noble Committee DEMAND the Prizes back, especially since they were gotten under fraud? The reporters and Lamestream Media knew the truth all along,” he said.

“Lawsuits should be brought against all, including the Fake News Organizations, to rectify this terrible injustice. For all of the great lawyers out there, do we have any takers? When will the Noble Committee Act? Better be fast!”

[New York Post]

Trump melts down demanding reporters return ‘Noble’ prizes he says they won for investigating him

President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that members of the news media are getting “Noble Prizes” for investigating his administration.

The president made the assertion in an afternoon rant on Twitter.

Commenters quickly pointed out that Trump not only spelled “Nobel” incorrectly, but he also was mostly likely referring to Pulitzer Prizes that were awarded to reporters at The New York Times and Washington Post for their investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

[Raw Story]

Trump suggests injecting Bleach as treatment

US President Donald Trump has been lambasted by the medical community after suggesting research into whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body.

He also appeared to propose irradiating patients’ bodies with UV light, an idea dismissed by a doctor at the briefing.

Another of his officials had moments earlier said sunlight and disinfectant were known to kill the infection.

Mr Trump’s own public health agencies warn against bleach as a medicine.

What did President Trump say?

During Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, an official presented the results of US government research that indicated coronavirus appeared to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight and heat.

The study also showed bleach could kill the virus in saliva or respiratory fluids within five minutes and isopropyl alcohol could kill it even more quickly.

William Bryan, acting head of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, outlined the findings at the news conference.

While noting the research should be treated with caution, Mr Trump suggested further research in that area.

“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous – whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light,” the president said, turning to Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response co-ordinator, “and I think you said that hasn’t been checked but you’re going to test it.

“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside of the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting,” the president continued.

“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?

“So it’d be interesting to check that.”

Pointing to his head, Mr Trump went on: “I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.”

He turned again to Dr Birx and asked if she had ever heard of using “the heat and the light” to treat coronavirus.

“Not as a treatment,” Dr Birx said. “I mean, certainly, fever is a good thing, when you have a fever it helps your body respond. But I’ve not seen heat or light.”

“I think it’s a great thing to look at,” Mr Trump said.

A journalist at the briefing questioned whether Mr Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks could spread dangerous disinformation to Americans.

What’s the reaction?

Doctors warned the president’s idea could have fatal results.

Pulmonologist Dr Vin Gupta told NBC News: “This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous.

“It’s a common method that people utilise when they want to kill themselves.”

Kashif Mahmood, a doctor in Charleston, West Virginia, tweeted: “As a physician, I can’t recommend injecting disinfectant into the lungs or using UV radiation inside the body to treat COVID-19.

“Don’t take medical advice from Trump.”

John Balmes, a pulmonologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, warned that even breathing fumes from bleach could cause severe health problems.

He told Bloomberg News: “Inhaling chlorine bleach would be absolutely the worst thing for the lungs. The airway and lungs are not made to be exposed to even an aerosol of disinfectant.

“Not even a low dilution of bleach or isopropyl alcohol is safe. It’s a totally ridiculous concept.”

Mr Trump has previously hyped a malaria medication, hydroxycloroquine, as a possible treatment for coronavirus, though he has stopped touting that drug recently.

This week a study of coronavirus patients in a US government-run hospital for military veterans found more deaths among those treated with hydroxychloroquine than those treated with standard care.

Reacting to the president’s remarks on Thursday evening, Joe Biden, his likely Democratic challenger in November’s White House election, tweeted: “UV light? Injecting disinfectant? Here’s an idea, Mr President: more tests. Now. And protective equipment for actual medical professionals.”

What’s the US government’s advice?

Only this week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to be careful with cleaning products as sales of household disinfectants soar amid the pandemic.

“Calls to poison centres increased sharply at the beginning of March 2020 for exposures to both cleaners and disinfectants,” found the agency’s weekly morbidity and mortality report.

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned against ingesting disinfectants, citing the sale of bogus miracle cures that contain bleach and purport to treat everything from autism to Aids and hepatitis.

The agency’s website says: “The FDA has received reports of consumers who have suffered from severe vomiting, severe diarrhoea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after drinking these products.”

[BBC]

Media

Trump claims he will temporarily suspend immigration into US due to coronavirus fears

President Donald Trump said late Monday night he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the United States as the nation battles the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” he tweeted.

It’s unclear what mechanism he will use to suspend immigration, how long such a suspension could last or what effect this will have on the operation of US border crossings and on those who already hold green cards.

The White House declined to provide further information on the executive order Monday evening.

The tweet comes as the administration seeks to reopen parts of the country from the coronavirus shutdown through a phased approach, but it’s also a continuation of the President’s 2016 campaign promise to slow immigration.

Trump has repeatedly touted his decision to halt travel from China and Europe as a means of blunting the spread of coronavirus in the United States.

The tweet also comes hours after Trump directed Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant Health and Human Services secretary for health, to provide an update on border wall construction after he briefed reporters on coronavirus testing.

[CNN]

Trump Claims He Never Left The White House In Feb and March (He Held Six Rallies)

President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media were relatively tame at the latest coronavirus press briefing. He even gave some praise to PBS NewsHour‘s Yamiche Alcindor, someone he has previously attacked for asking “nasty” questions.

But on Monday Alcindor pressed the president about someone she recently interviewed who said his family got sick and did not take precautions “mainly because the president wasn’t taking it seriously.”

“Are you concerned that downplaying the virus maybe got some people sick?” she asked.

Trump replied, “And a lot of people love Trump. A lot of people love me. You see them all the time. I guess I am here for a reason, and for the best of my knowledge I won. And I think we are going to win again. I think we are going to win in a landslide.”

He then referred to one of his primary defenses of the White House response — a “ban of China, when China can’t come in” back in late January. They actually were restrictions that did not entirely cut off the flow of travel from that country. He also said that before March, “we put on a ban on Europe, where Europe can’t come in.” But the European travel restrictions did not start until March 13, two days after they were announced.

That said, Trump defended the response, noting the China restrictions were put in place “before anyone in this country died.”

“So how can you say I was not taking it seriously?” Trump asked Alcindor.

Yet Alcindor then asked the president why, if he was not downplaying the threat of the virus, he continued to hold rallies in February and March where large numbers of people gathered.

Trump replied. “I don’t know about rallies…I know one thing. I haven’t left the White House in months except for a brief moment to give a ship the Comfort…”

“You held a rally in March,” Alcindor interjected.

“I don’t know? Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry. I hold a rally,” Trump said, a bit facetiously. “Let me tell you. In January, when I did this, there were virtually no cases and no deaths.”

While Trump defended the administration’s response at other points of the briefing, there was a great deal of discussion among members of the coronavirus task force of the issue of testing, which is front and center as governors try to determine whether to reopen their economies.

Vice President Mike Pence said that “we have enough testing capacity today for every state in America to go to phase one if they meet the other criteria of 14 days and sufficient hospital capacity to prepare for any eventuality that may occur.” The administration last week unveiled a set of “criteria” for states to meet if they are to begin the process of reopening their economies — even though Trump himself has been encouraging of anti-quarantine protests against governors in states that don’t yet meet that threshold.

That said, testing is still a big question mark. Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, told CNN on Sunday that the lack of testing was the “number one problem in America,” as they are a benchmark for determining the virus’ spread.

So on Monday, Hogan announced that his state had managed to secure 500,000 tests from South Korea.

At the briefing, though, Trump criticized Hogan for not realizing that there were some 5,000 labs the administration has identified to assist in testing capacity. He said that Hogan “could have saved a lot of money.”

But governors say that the testing capacity is only part of the story, as a problem has been the lack of swabs and reagents to perform tests. After Trump’s criticisms, Hogan said on CNN that he was not sure what the president was trying to say, but that one of his issues was access of federal lab facilities in his state.

[Deadline]

Trump attacks a Republican governor for following his coronavirus testing advice

Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) followed President Donald Trump’s advice and took coronavirus testing into his own hands. Trump attacked him anyway.

Trump began Monday’s White House coronavirus briefing by criticizing Hogan — chair of the National Governors Association — for turning to foreign source to buy coronavirus tests.

“The governor of Maryland didn’t really understand,” Trump said, describing a call that Vice President Mike Pence had with governors earlier in the day to encourage them to do more to increase coronavirus testing on their own. “He didn’t really understand what was going on.”

Trump was upset because Hogan and his wife — Yumi Hogan, a Korean immigrant — not only announced earlier Monday that they purchased 500,000 test kits from suppliers in South Korea, but also because Hogan indirectly criticized him during an interview with the New York Times.

“The No. 1 problem facing us is lack of testing,” Hogan told the Times. “We can’t open up our states without ramping up testing.”

“It should not have been this difficult,” he added.

CNN reported that Hogan’s wife, Yumi Hogan, “not only used her native language to help secure the tests but also helped negotiate the deal.”

“The administration made it clear over and over again they want the states to take the lead, and we have to go out and do it ourselves, and that’s exactly what we did,” Hogan said during a news conference on Monday.

Trump talks a big game about testing

Experts say the US needs to triple its testing capacity before it will be safe for businesses to reopen, but the number of tests completed daily has remained largely flat for the past month. Trump doesn’t seem to have an answer to this puzzle other than to turn the tables on governors.

For instance, on Monday Trump trolled governors by flipping through a packet of papers that he said contained information about how they can better utilize lab capacity in their states.

But during an interview on CNN that coincided with the briefing, Hogan dismissed the value of the information Trump is sharing with governors, saying, “most of the governors already knew where the lab facilities were in their states.”

Trump, however, refuses to acknowledge there’s more he could do. Later during Monday’s briefing, the president suggested that governors like Hogan who have urged him to ramp up national testing efforts are part of a political conspiracy to bring him down.

Trump’s line in recent days has been to claim without evidence that other countries are reaching out to the US for help because testing here is going so great. Hogan’s announcement suggested that talk is a bunch of nonsense — and Trump wasn’t pleased.

At another point during Monday’s briefing, CNN’s Kaitlin Collins asked White House officials why Hogan would need to turn to South Korea for testing kits if it’s true, as Trump claims, that states already have enough testing capacity to begin the process of reopening business and schools. Nobody had a good answer.

Later, Trump returned to the podium and said that Hogan should’ve just called Mike Pence.

“The governor of Maryland could’ve called Mike Pence and saved a lot of money,” Trump said. “I think he needed to get a little knowledge.”

But if it’s true that states have much more testing capacity than they’re currently utilizing, that hasn’t yet showed up in the daily testing numbers. And until it does, governors who don’t have connections in South Korea will likely find Trump’s bluster to be cold comfort.

[Vox]

Trump Says the Press Is ‘Fomenting Tremendous Anger’ at Briefing: I Get Very ‘Hostile’ Questions

President Donald Trump took a moment during Monday’s coronavirus press briefing to go off on the media again and the “hostile” questions he gets.

After a question from OANN about bipartisanship and his relationship with Democrats, the president said there has been bipartisanship in addressing the economic concerns of the coronavirus pandemic.

He swiped at Speaker Nancy Pelosi a bit and said she’s been “very nasty” and “wasted a lot of time on the impeachment hoax.”

The president also took some shots at the press and complained about getting “hostile” questions:

“The people are really coming together. I think you’re going to find that our country is much more unified. I do think that the press, the media, foments a lot of this, a lot of anger. I really believe it, foments tremendous anger. For instance, I’ll be asked a tremendously hostile question from somebody and then I’ll answer in a hostile way which is appropriate. Otherwise you look foolish. Otherwise it looks like just walk off the stage and bow your head. I can’t do that. You know, I just can’t do that. But a lot of these questions are asked from certain networks are so hostile and there’s no reason for it. There’s no reason for it.”

[Mediaite]

Donald Trump falsely claims Nancy Pelosi deleted video telling people to go to Chinatown

President Donald Trump joined conservative supporters in accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of covering up her visit to San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February.

“Crazy Nancy Pelosi deleted this from her Twitter account. She wanted everyone to pack into Chinatown long after I closed the BORDER TO CHINA. Based on her statement, she is responsible for many deaths. She’s an incompetent, third-rate politician!” Trump tweeted April 16.

But there’s no evidence Pelosi ever tweeted that video of herself in Chinatown. So she could not have deleted it, as Trump said.

The video Trump tweeted is 17 seconds long, a snippet of a Feb. 24 report by KPIX, a San Francisco Bay Area CBS affiliate. Pelosi in the KPIX report is shown walking through San Francisco’s Chinatown District and encouraging people to visit its shops and restaurants, which were seeing a decline in business since the coronavirus outbreak began in China.

At the time, KPIX reported, there were no active cases of coronavirus in San Francisco. There were 21 active cases in California, but they were in hospital isolation or in quarantine.

Pelosi says in the video: “You should come to Chinatown. Precautions have been taken by our city. We know that there is concern about tourism, traveling throughout the world, but we think it’s very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come.”

We wondered if Trump was right that Pelosi deleted that video from her Twitter account. PolitiFact’s fact-checking process includes asking a person who makes a claim for the evidence that supports their statement. So we asked the White House press office and Trump’s re-election campaign for the date of the original post, which account posted it, and when it was deleted. We did not get any information.

Pelosi’s office told PolitiFact that they never posted the video that Trump claimed was deleted.

We did our own digging and found no trace of the video posted from her account.

Politwoops, a project of ProPublica, tracks deleted tweets by elected officials. According to that tracker, @SpeakerPelosi’s latest five deleted tweets span from Feb. 22 to April 13. Not one is about going to Chinatown.

We also reviewed what Pelosi’s Twitter page looked liked since Feb. 24, based on the history saved by Wayback Machine, an initiative of the Internet Archive. The archived pages of Pelosi’s Twitter account do not show the video Trump tweeted. (Wayback Machine did not have archives of the page as they looked on Feb. 24-26, but any deletion of that video would presumably be more recent.)

Trump suggests that Pelosi is hiding her actions from Feb. 24. But a transcript of her comments that were captured in Trump’s video appear on both her House Speaker website and congressional website. As of April 16, the Chinatown visit was one of the featured photos in the homepage of her congressional website.

Pelosi’s Twitter page currently has a video of her Feb. 24 visit to Chinatown. It shows her making a fortune cookie. Text accompanying the video says: “It was a pleasure to try my hand at making fortune cookies at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (with a little guidance from owner Kevin Chan, of course). The message inside? ‘United We Stand.’”

On Feb. 25, she posted a series of tweets saying Americans needed a coordinated response to the coronavirus and that the House would advance a funding package “that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis.”

It’s worth noting that throughout January and most of February, U.S. officials said that the coronavirus risk to the American public was low and that they were not seeing community spread of the virus. By Feb. 25, there were 53 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States and no deaths, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization.

On Feb. 28, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor said it was possible that a reported case in California “could be the first instance of community spread — meaning the illness was acquired through an unknown exposure in the community.” But it could also be that the patient was exposed through contact to a traveler who was infected, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The immediate risk to the general American public remained low, she said.

The cancelling of mass gatherings was not yet common in the United States in February, the CDC noted in an April report.

Trump’s messaging around this time also did not suggest that people avoid large crowds. The same day of Pelosi’s trip to Chinatown, Trump tweeted: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”Our ruling

Trump tweeted that Pelosi deleted a video of her telling people to go to Chinatown.

Pelosi on Feb. 24 did encourage people to go to Chinatown in San Francisco. But we found no trace of her posting or deleting the video Trump shared.

At the time of Pelosi’s remark, U.S. health officials said the risk of the coronavirus was low to the American public since they had no reports of community spread. Trump during this time also said the virus was under control in the United States.

Neither the White House nor Trump’s re-election campaign provide evidence to support Trump’s claim. In the absence of evidence, we rate this claim False.

[Politifact]

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