‘Whole Lot of Lies!’ CNN Fact-Checker Bombards Trump Over 13 Whoppers From Cabinet Meeting

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale tore apart a whopping 13 false claims that President Donald Trump made during a marathon cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Trump held his final Cabinet meeting of the year, which was carried live on Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics. Anchor Dana Bash cut away from the proceedings as Trump made his way around the table for the characteristic praise-offs between agency chiefs.

As CNN awaited the Q&A, Bash brought Dale in to check what was said so far, and Dale assessed the president had dropped “A whole lot of lies on a whole lot of sunjets,” and ticked through five of them.

But after the meeting concluded, Dale dropped a more comprehensive list of 13 false claims on his X/Twitter account:

1. He claimed he’s secured more than $18 trillion in investment commitments since he returned to office. That fictional figure is nearly double the $9.6 trillion figure the White House uses on its website, and a detailed review shows even the smaller WH figure is wildly inflated
2. He claimed grocery prices are down. They’re up: 2.7% year-over-year as of September, 1.4% since January
3. He claimed he is cutting prescription drug prices by 500% to 900%. These numbers make no mathematical sense; they’d mean people would get paid to acquire their medications
4. He claimed every military attack on a (purported) drug-smuggling boat saves an average of 25,000 lives. Experts say this number also makes no sense, even aside from the fact the administration hasn’t publicly proven what was on the boats; the US had a reported total of 82,000 overdose deaths last year
5. He claimed he has “stopped inflation in its tracks” since January. The September year-over-year inflation rate, 3.0%, was the exact same as the rate in January (actually a tiny bit higher if you go to more decimal places) – and September was the fifth consecutive months the year-over-year rate had increased
6. He claimed he inherited the worst inflation of all time. He didn’t; he inherited 3% inflation, same as the most recent rate, and even the Biden-era peak, 9.1% in June 2022, wasn’t close to an all-time high
7. He claimed he ended eight wars. Among other issues, his list includes two supposed wars that did not actually exist during his presidency, Egypt-Ethiopia and Serbia-Kosovo, and a war in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has not actually ended
8. He claimed China “doesn’t have gasoline.” It’s true China doesn’t produce enough oil to meet domestic demand, but China has domestic oil and refines oil into gasoline
9. He claimed that, under Biden, “By 2030, everybody had to own an electric car.” Biden’s push for EVs did not include a requirement for anybody to buy an electric car or abandon their gas-powered car; Biden tailpipe rules sought to have EVs make up 56% of new passenger vehicles sold in 2032
10. He claimed the US gave $350 billion in wartime aid to Ukraine. Not even close. A US government inspector general says $187 billion was appropriated for the war response through June…including billions spent in the US and broader Europe
11. He claimed Washington, DC now has “no murders,” which wasn’t true even before the deadly attack on National Guard troops last week
12. He claimed the 2020 election was a fake election. It wasn’t, he lost, this is a lie
13. He claimed his big domestic policy bill included “no tax on Social Security.” It didn’t eliminate tax on Social Security; it temporarily increased the standard deduction for people age 65+, which means some people 65+ (and beneficiaries under 65) continue to pay tax on their benefits

Dale offered more details online here.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.