Reporters Call BS on Trump’s Claim ‘Everyone Wants to Work’ in His Administration: ‘Quite a Lie’

Trump: “Believe me. Everybody wants to work in the White House. They all want a piece of that Oval Office.” (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/aQlBiblNqa

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 6, 2018

Reporters were quick to live fact check President Donald Trump’s claim that “everybody wants to work in the White House,” as many pointed out the current administration has many unfilled positions and an unordinarily high turnover rate.

“The White House has tremendous energy. Tremendous spirit. It is a great place to be working,” said Trump during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. “Believe me. Everybody wants to work in the White House. They all want a piece of that Oval Office.”

However, according to a PBS NewsHour report, this is not exactly the case. “Of more than 600 key jobs filled by presidential nomination, more than half of them are currently vacant awaiting confirmation or have no nominee,” states the public news outlet.

The claim was met with immediate criticism from reporters covering the Trump administration — with many calling it a flat-out lie:

“They all want a piece of that Oval Office, they all want a piece of the West Wing,” Trump says, claiming falsely that they have tons of applicants for jobs.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 6, 2018

Trump with quite a lie on White House personnel: “I have a choice of anybody”…With any position, “I have a choice of the 10 top people.”

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 6, 2018

What the president is saying about his ability to have his pick of top people for any job is false. Several “top people” have declined to be interviewed.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 6, 2018

Trump: “So many people want to come in [to the White House]. I have a choice of anybody. I can take any position in the White House and I’ll have a choice of the 10 top people”

Reality: Hundreds of the top jobs are still empty https://t.co/2bJoj8rmAR

— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 6, 2018

34 percent record turnover so far according to Brookings study… https://t.co/f9tGYx7aBs

— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) March 6, 2018

Watch above, via ABC News.

[images via screengrab]

Follow the author on Twitter (@calebecarma).

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