2024-02-06 00:06:46
Former President Donald Trump repeated a series of previous false claims about the Middle East, rival Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other topics in an interview that aired Sunday morning on Fox News – including his years-long lie that he warned the US not to invade Iraq. Here is a non-exhaustive summary.
Invasion of Iraq
Trump revived a lie he has been uttering since his 2016 presidential campaign – the claim that he spoke publicly against the idea of invading Iraq. He said on Fox: “Going into Iraq was a stupid thing. Remember I used to say, ‘Don’t do it, but if you do, keep the oil.’”
Facts first: Trump’s claim that he said “Don’t do it” is false; the claim was debunked eight years ago. In fact, Trump did not publicly express his opposition to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq before it took place. In his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” Trump argued that a military attack on Iraq might be necessary; When radio host Howard Stern asked Trump in September 2002 if he was “in favor of invading Iraq,” Trump responded: “Yes, I think so. I wish the first time had been done correctly”; and Trump did not express a firm opinion about the impending war in a January 2003 Fox interview, saying that “you either attack or you don’t attack” and that then-president George W. Bush “either has to do something or he doesn’t have to.” of doing nothing, perhaps.”
Trump began criticizing the war in 2003, but after the invasion, and also said that year that American troops should not be withdrawn from Iraq. He became an outspoken opponent of the war in 2004. You can read more about his changing positions here.
A 2019 CNN poll found no examples of Trump saying anything before the war about keeping Iraq’s oil. The Trump Administration did not respond at the time to our request to provide such evidence.
Iran’s missiles
Trump repeated a claim he has made at several campaign events in recent months, saying Iran intentionally avoided hitting a base housing U.S. troops in Iraq when it launched missiles toward the base in January 2020 in retaliation for Trump’s ordered assassination of the general. Iranian Qasem Soleimani.
Trump claimed on Fox, as he has done before, that Iran “called me” to inform him of its plan to deliberately fail. He said, “We knew they weren’t going to get it right inside the fort,” although outside observers were left wondering, “How did they all miss?”
Facts first: Trump’s claims that all of Iran’s missiles missed the base are false. As The Washington Post noted in its own fact check late last year, 11 Iranian missiles struck the al-Asad base that Iran targeted in the retaliatory strike. The fact that the missiles hit the base was confirmed by satellite images, the Pentagon and a CNN visit to the base days after the attack. CNN reported from the scene: “Ten of the 11 missiles hit American positions at the sprawling Iraqi desert air base. One hit a remote location on the Iraqi military’s side.” According to CNN, “Iranian missiles, which used onboard guidance systems, managed to destroy sensitive US military sites, damaging a special forces complex and two hangars, in addition to the housing unit for US drone operators.”
Although no American soldiers died, more than 100 were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries. General Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, told reporters that he believed Iran’s intent was to kill; he praised “the defensive techniques that our forces used” for the lack of deaths.
Trump provided no justification for his claim that Iran called him to describe the attack and offer assurances. As The Post reported, the Iraqi prime minister said he had received a general warning from Iran that it was about to begin its response and target American troops.
New Hampshire primaries
Trump said the New Hampshire primary, which he won in January, was the only place Haley had a chance of winning – saying this was “because Democrats are stupidly allowed to vote in the Republican primaries, and independents too.” .
Facts first: Trump’s claim is false. Registered Democrats are not allowed to vote in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Only registered Republicans and independents can vote.
Some independents who lean Democratic almost certainly participated in the Republican primaries, in addition to some Democrats who changed their affiliation to independent before the deadline in early October. But Trump has asserted, without any qualifications, that Democrats are simply allowed to vote in New Hampshire. This is not true. (And it’s normal for states to allow people to change their affiliation by a certain date to participate in another party’s primaries).
Indiana primary candidacy
Trump said of Haley: “We have a situation where they forgot to apply, I think, for Indiana. Does not apply and does not apply to Indiana. It’s a great state.”
Facts first: this is false. Haley didn’t forget to apply to be in the Republican primary in Indiana. The deadline for submitting candidacies for the May 7, February 9 primaries has not yet passed. Trump has previously stated that Haley had not submitted enough signatures by the January 30 deadline to qualify for the ballot; Haley’s campaign told CNN and other media outlets that this was not true and that she had submitted more than enough signatures.
In any case, the campaign did not forget to apply.
“We will be on the ballot. We delivered more than twice the required signatures and they are now being verified as part of the process ahead of the Feb. 9 filing deadline,” Haley campaign spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said in an email. Email sent on Sunday.
In response to a similar statement from Trump, Haley wrote on social media on Friday: “Looks like he’s confused again…”
Mitch McConnell e o Green New Deal
In an excerpt from the interview that Fox aired on Friday, Trump stated that McConnell supported spending billions on “projects that are Green New Deal”. The Green New Deal is a broad congressional resolution, supported by some Democratic lawmakers, that calls for major investments in a wide variety of environmental, social and economic initiatives.
Mitch McConnell: “I mean, he agreed to millions and billions of dollars for projects that are Green New Deal – you know, I call it the Green New Scam – billions of dollars for the Green New Scam [no sentido de esquema],” Trump said.
Facts first: Trump’s claim that McConnell supported “billions” of dollars in spending on Green New Deal projects is false, even with Trump’s generous definition of what counts as a Green New Deal project. And, as in the past, Trump did not mention here that McConnell has been an outspoken opponent of the Congressional Green New Deal resolution as a whole – and that Congress never actually passed the resolution.
McConnell has repeatedly denounced the Green New Deal resolution, describing it, among other things, as “radical,” “socialist” and a “mess.”
So what is Trump talking about? Similar previous attacks from Trump were about how McConnell voted in 2021 for a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that contained spending that overlaps with some of the proposals in the broad Green New Deal resolution. For example, the 2021 infrastructure bill contained tens of billions in spending on cleaning up toxic waste sites, modernizing public transportation, increasing the country’s resilience against climate change, ensuring safe drinking water, and facilitating transition to zero and low emission vehicles.
But even if we counted all of this as “Green New Deal” spending — which would be misleading, given that the list includes priorities that both parties funded long before the Green New Deal was introduced in 2019 — the total would be in the hundreds of thousands. of millions, not “billions”.
McConnell opposed a major Democratic bill in 2022 that spent hundreds of billions more on climate initiatives.
border wall
When praising his performance on immigration policy, Trump stated, as he has done before, that he built “902 kilometers of punch”.
Facts first: Trump’s “902 kilometers” claim is false, a substantial exaggeration. An official report from US Customs and Border Protection, written two days after Trump left office and later obtained by CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, states that the number of walls built during Trump’s term was 737 kilometers (including as much walls built where no barriers existed, such as walls built to replace previous barriers).
Even in his campaign speeches at the end of last year, Trump sometimes put the number, more correctly, at “almost 804 kilometers”. You can read more here.
By CNN, Daniel Dale
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