Fox Anchor Presses Cabinet Secretary on Trump’s ‘Mathematically Impossible’ Claims

Fox News anchor John Roberts asked Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick what President Donald Trump actually meant during his speech last night on the cost of living, noting that some of Trump’s claims were “mathematically impossible.”

The exchange began with anchor Sandra Smith asking, “Consumer confidence has taken a pretty significant hit this year. It’s down about 16% since President Trump took office. What do you see as that disconnect? Why are things going so well in so many areas, but yet consumer confidence is taking such a hit?”

Lutnick replied, “Well, that’s why we’ve got to have people watch Fox so they actually get the truth rather than the fake news. I mean, you’ve got also—you’ve got the president fighting for drug prices to be lower, fighting for energy prices to be lower, fighting for interest rates to be lower. Those are the three big pushes. And then the other side of the coin is bringing in these trillions of dollars of investment that are going to drive jobs—high-paying jobs, great jobs—to get the earnings up. And you have the golden age coming. It’s got to be both sides. The one-two punch has got to be delivered, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

“Okay? So Sandra asked about the reality versus the perception. So I’m going to ask you about some of the things that the president said last night, because some of them were just mathematically impossible. Listen to what he said about bringing down the price of prescription drugs. Listen here,” noted Roberts before playing a clip from Trump:

I negotiated directly with the drug companies and foreign nations, which have been taking advantage of our country for many decades, to slash prices on drugs and pharmaceuticals by as much as 400, 500, and even 600%.

“Well, if you cut something by 100%, the cost goes down to zero. If you cut it by four or five or 600%, the drug companies are actually paying you to take their product. So it raises the question: how much of last night’s speech was hyperbole and how much was fact?” Roberts pressed.

“Now, what he’s saying is, if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, right, if you’re looking at it from $13, it’s down seven times,” Lutnick replied as Roberts made clear that is not a “600%” cut.

“Well, but it’s 700% higher price before, it’s down 700% now. $13 would have to go up 700% to get back to the old one. So it all depends on when you look at it. You could say it’s down 87%, or you could say it would have to go up 700% to be the same one,” Lutnick replied, adding:

So it just depends on what you look at it, but basically what he’s saying—and we all know what he is saying—is we are hammering the price of drugs down. That’s what’s happening. And he’s announcing it all the time. He’s got more announcements even between now and the end of the year. So we’re going to cut prices on drugs, and that’s going to—you know what that does? It’ll lower your price of insurance, right? Because drug prices are what drive up insurance costs. So it’s going to lower the price of insurance. The president is going after those key building blocks that cause prices to be higher, knocking them down one at a time. That brings the whole thing down.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.