Tag: fact check
How Trump Continues to Mislead the Public on the Mueller Investigation
Flie photo
President Trump continues to distort the truth about Robert Mueller's investigation, falsely claiming he was fully exonerated from a report that was drawn up by "highly conflicted" prosecutors.
The Associated Press examined recent claims by Trump to determine whether he was being truthful.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted, The Mueller Report … was written as nastily as possible by 13 (18) Angry Democrats who were true Trump Haters, including highly conflicted Bob Mueller himself."
Even Trump's own aides admit this isn't true. The president's assertions that Mueller is "highly conflicted" stem from Mueller interviewing for the FBI director position before he was appointed special counsel and Mueller's dispute over membership fees at a Trump golf course.
According to the special counsel's report, Trump's closest aides said the president's complaints don't represent "true conflicts."
Further, Mueller is a lifelong Republican appointed by a member of Trump's administration, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
On Saturday, Trump also tweeted that "The Mueller Report should not have been authorized in the first place."
That claim rests on the false assertion that the investigation was prompted by an anti-Trump dossier financed by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Truth is, as the Mueller report indicates, the FBI's investigation "began months before it received the dossier," the AP wrote.
"Within a week of the (WikiLeaks) release, a foreign government informed the FBI about its May 2016 interaction with Papadopoulos," the report stated. "On July 31, 2016, based on the foreign government reporting, the FBI opened an investigation into potential coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign."
On Thursday, Trump and several of his aides, including Vice President Mike Pence, claimed the report exonerated the president of any wrongdoing.
The report clearly stated the opposite.
"If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state," Mueller wrote. "Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment."
Further, the report cites 10 examples of possible obstruction by the president.
"The evidence does indicate that a thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would give rise to personal and political concerns," the report states.
Posted: April 22nd, 2019 under News Story.
Tags: donald trump, fact check, Robert Mueller, special counsel
No, a Shotgun-Toting Hillary Clinton Was Not Killed by the FBI
The website Daily World Update published an article Monday claiming that a shotgun-toting Hillary Clinton was killed during an FBI raid on her and Bill Clinton's home in New York.
According to the article, the FBI arrived at the Clinton's home in Chappaqua, N.Y., with "a warrant to search for hidden servers, Blackberries and other physical correspondence included in the case against her for emailing secrets about Benghazi and selling uranium to Russia."
The Daily World Update published a story claiming Hillary Clinton had been killed by the FBI.
The article continues, "Clinton, shouting 'get the hell out of my house or I'll kill you,' was brought down by more than 103 rounds from 17 agents on the ground."
While shouting, Clinton came at the agents with a shotgun, "when they had no choice but to put her down like a rabid dog."
Despite the outrageous details, the story made its rounds on social media, apparently fooling some people.
The fact-checking site, Snopes, reported – surprise, surprise – the story wasn't true. The FBI didn't raid the Clintons' home, and agents certainly didn't kill her.
As Snopes points out, the site's disclaimer notes that "Everything on this website if fiction."
Daily World Update "is part of a fake news network which engages in political trolling under the guise of offering 'satire.'"
Posted: May 1st, 2018 under News Story.
Tags: fact check, Fake news, FBI, Hillary Clinton
Fact-Checking Trump Jr.'s Shifting Statements on Meeting with Russian Lawyer
CNN's Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org released a fact-checking video in which they examined Donald Trump Jr.'s changing statements about a June 2o16 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.
President Trump's eldest son originally said the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya was a "short introductory meeting" where "we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government."
But the New York Times reported that Trump Jr. met with the attorney after being "promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton."
A day later, Trump Jr. acknowledged that the lawyer said she had "information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton."
But, he said, she provided no "supporting information" and that "her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense."
Other Stories of Interest
FBI Warns Parents of Privacy Risks Associated with Internet-Connected Toys
Cop Drank, Drowned in Bathtub Amid FBI Probe of Cop Husband's Death
Sex Offender Kidnapped, Raped Woman for Week in Michigan, FBI Says
The Long History Between Robert Mueller And James Comey
Justice Department Signals More Police Property Seizures Coming
Posted: July 18th, 2017 under News Story.
Tags: donald trump, donald trump jr., fact check, trump tower