What Trump Said
“We have incredible things going on in Pennsylvania, we just opened up a $10 billion plant. ... In Louisiana, an L.N.G. plant, $10 billion, could never have happened, could never have happened. Pennsylvania would’ve never happened. They wouldn’t have allowed them to frack.”
False.
Both facilities predate Donald J. Trump’s presidency, as does the resurgence of oil and natural gas production in the United States known as the “shale revolution.”
In Monaca, Pa., Royal Dutch Shell is building a chemical plant that will convert natural gas to plastic products. Shell announced the plant in
2012 and completed the decision in June 2016; it has not yet opened. Sempra Energy received approval for its liquefied natural gas plant in Louisiana in 2014.
The boom in natural gas and crude oil production began in the 2000s, “driven mainly by production from tight rock formations using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing,” according to the Energy Information Administration.
What Trump Said
“Earlier this month, the U.S. government officially labeled China for the first time ever a currency manipulator — another promise kept.”
False.
The Treasury Department did label China a currency manipulator in early August, but China also fell under the designation from 1992 to 1994. Sign Up for On Politics With Lisa Lerer
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As a candidate, Mr. Trump promised to affix the label to China on Day 1 of his administration, and the pledge was featured in his “100-day action plan.”
What Trump Said
“If he was a great president, how come he left me 138 judges to appoint when everybody said that’s the single most important thing a president of the United States has to do?”
This is misleading.
Though Mr. Trump inherited over 100 judicial vacancies when he took office, his suggestion that President Barack Obama shirked his responsibilities omits crucial context. The Senate, under Republican control, did not confirm most of Mr. Obama’s nominees.
During the last two years of his presidency, Mr. Obama made 70 nominations for circuit and district courts but the Senate confirmed just 20 for a rate of 28.6 percent. For context, Mr. Trump had nearly double that rate confirmed in his first two years in office at 53.5 percent.
Other Claims
Mr. Trump also repeated a number of inaccurate claims that The New York Times has previously fact-checked:
He falsely claimed China was “eating” the price of tariffs. (The cost of tariffs are largely passed onto American companies and consumers.)
He exaggerated his Electoral College victory as 306 to 223. (The initial count was 306 to 232; after deflections from electors, it was
304 to 227.)
He misleadingly claimed other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were “delinquent” on payments to the alliance. (Members do not owe NATO money.)
He falsely claimed his predecessor paid Iran “$150 billion” and “got nothing.” (The value of Iranian assets unfrozen by the Iran nuclear deal was about $100 billion and, in exchange, Iran agreed not to build a nuclear bomb.)
He misleadingly described an abortion procedure as a decision to “execute the baby” after birth. (Doctors do not kill babies who survive abortions.)
He misleadingly claimed efforts to pass “right to try” legislation, which allows access to experimental drugs, failed for “44 years.” (A federal program has existed for decades.)
He falsely claimed efforts to pass the Veterans Choice Program failed for “five decades.” (He signed updates to the health care program, which was created in 2014.)