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Friday, October 26, 2018

48 hours fact-checking Trump

As the midterm elections draw closer, President Donald Trump has increasingly relied on falsehoods and exaggerations to make his closing argument to the voters, who could deal a major blow to Republicans' lock on power in Washington.
So, for two full days this week, CNN tracked everything that the President said: the morning tweets, White House speeches, interviews and press availabilities, his campaign rally in Wisconsin and everything in between.
We didn't check every single word that Trump said. Instead, we focused on his most-repeated claims, his most surprising comments and superlative boasts about his record, regardless of whether they seemed true or false.
What's clear is that Trump is most accurate during prepared remarks and when touting his strong economic record. But he strays from the truth when improvising with reporters or attacking his opponents.
Some of his claims simply aren't supported by any evidence. Others are generally true, but wildly exaggerated for no apparent reason. Even with the facts on his side, the President still at times stretches the truth.
We set out to fact-check as much material as possible, reviewing dozens of statements over 48 hours. Here are the results.
Tweet on Tuesday at 9:53 a.m.

Campaign attacks about taxes

Trump weighed in on this northern New Jersey US House race, where Democrat Mikie Sherrill is favored to beat Webber and take a GOP-held seat. They disagree on Trump's tax overhaul, which has emerged as a key issue in the campaign. Sherrill opposed it, Webber supported it. But they both criticized the new limits on how much mortgage interest and state and local taxes New Jerseyans can deduct from their federal taxes. Sherrill has said the deduction caps amount to a tax hike.
Tweet on Tuesday at 11:24 a.m.

Puerto Rico disaster relief

It's not clear what the President is talking about here. CNN's Leyla Santiago, who has covered this story since Hurricane Maria hit last year, points out that to date, there is no evidence of efforts by the Puerto Rican government to use federal disaster relief funds to pay down its debt, which totals more than $70 billion. The island's government lacks the authority to redirect those funds anyway, because they were earmarked for relief by Congress, and Puerto Rico might not want to send the money to its creditors off the island. In response to Trump's comment, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello tweeted, "I agree with you Mr. President," though a source close to Rossello told CNN the governor was agreeing that disaster funds should never be used to pay old debts. (Separately, some of Trump's critics tweeted their view that his post made it sound like Puerto Rico was not part of the US. Anyone born on the island is an American citizen.)
Tweet on Tuesday at 12:43 p.m.

Trade deals and tariffs

It's true that billions of dollars are being collected and sent to the US Treasury Department, but that money isn't being paid by foreign companies or countries; it's being paid by US companies that import those foreign goods subject to tariffs. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated that the US will collect about $42 billion this year because of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods, steel and aluminum imports, and foreign washing machines. But tariffs can raise prices for American businesses and consumers. The Tax Foundation expects the tariffs to lower the GDP and wages, and cost American jobs, hitting lower- and middle-income households the hardest.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:26 p.m.

Unemployment rate

Following the passage of our massive tax cuts and regulation cuts, the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level in more than 50 years. 5-0.
Trump is right, though he is off by one year. (It's nearly 49 years.) The unemployment rate reached 3.7% in September, which is the lowest it's been since December 1969. CNN's senior economics writer Lydia DePillis points out that the figure has been declining consistently since 2010, President Barack Obama's second year in office. Trump mentions unemployment rate again the next day, see below.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:26 p.m.

Job creation

We've created more than 4.2 million new jobs.
It's not clear when Trump started counting. Since November 2016, when he became president-elect, non-farm payrolls have increased by 4.24 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But counting from January 2017, when Trump took office, the economy has added 3.8 million jobs. The rate of job creation has been ticking up, but it's not significantly higher than it was during Obama's second term. Trump uses the number 4.2 million at the rally next day, see below.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:26 p.m.

Food stamps

We've ... lifted over 4 million Americans off of food stamps.
This is close to true. There were about 38.9 million people on food stamps in July, compared with about 42.7 million in January 2017, when Trump took office. It's a drop of 3.76 million, not 4 million, in 18 months. Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the program's formal name, has fallen as the economy has improved and more states tighten their eligibility for the program. Enrollment hit a high of 47.8 million in 2013. From July 2015 to December 2016, Obama's last 18 months in office, just over 2.5 million stopped getting food stamps.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:26 p.m.

Wage increases

Median household income in 2017 was the highest level ever recorded.
This is partially true. Last year, median household income was $61,400, according to the latest US Census Bureau data. While that appears to be the highest ever recorded, Census officials said that the figure is statistically tied with where it was between 1998 and 2001, as well as from 2005 through 2007. The agency changed its methodology, so dollar figures prior to 2013 aren't comparable to current numbers.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:27 p.m.

Wage increases

Hispanic American household income reached an all-time high, historic level.
This is true, with the caveat that the data goes back only to 1972, when the Census Bureau started tracking this statistic. Last year, median income for Hispanics hit $50,486, up 3.7% from 2016.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:27 p.m.

Poverty among minorities

Hispanic American poverty and African-American poverty have reached an all-time low. The lowest levels ever.
Remembering that the data goes back only to 1972, it's correct that the US poverty rate for Hispanics is at an all-time low. Some 18.3% of Hispanics were in poverty in 2017, the lowest since the Census Bureau started tracking this statistic. But that's not the case for African-Americans. While the 2017 rate of 21.2% appears to be the lowest, it is not statistically different from the 2016 rate, according to the agency. Trump mentions poverty rates again at the rally next day, see below.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:27 p.m.

Minority unemployment

Hispanic American, African-American and Asian-American unemployment all recently achieved their lowest rates ever recorded in the history of our country.
Again, it's not possible to determine whether these rates are the lowest in history. That said, Trump is essentially right on all three counts, since all three measures are the lowest since they started being recorded. The Hispanic unemployment rate reached its lowest point on record in July, at 4.5%, where it remains today. The rate for African-Americans reached its lowest point on record in May, at 5.9%, and now stands at 6%. The rate for Asians also reached its lowest point in May, at 2.0%, and has since increased to 3.5%.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:32 p.m.

California wildfires

I thought (California) had a drought. They said we have so much water we don't know what to do with it. Then you have the forest fires burning. We have so much water they could actually water some of it.
CNN White House reporters Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak looked into this topic when Trump first brought it up over the summer, and the White House couldn't or wouldn't offer an explanation. During this summer's fire season, local officials made clear they did not have any difficulty accessing enough water to fight the fires. A FEMA official also told CNN there is no water shortage or problem with access to water hindering firefighting efforts in California.
Remarks on Tuesday at 2:38 p.m.

Crowd size at rallies

I was in Texas last night, where we had a seriously amazing crowd of people. We had over 100,000 people sign up to hear a speech.
There's no way to fact-check Trump on the claim, since his team is the only source of that figure. He did, however, ratchet back his rhetoric. After saying on Monday that 100,000 people were at his Houston rally, he was more careful Tuesday, saying merely that 100,000 people had signed up to attend. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said there were about 19,000 people inside the venue and 3,000 outside.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 4:47 p.m.

Saudi Arabia investments

Saudi Arabia's been a really great ally. They've been one of the biggest investors, maybe the biggest investor, in our country. They are doing hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of investments.
Trump is wrong about Saudi Arabia being among the biggest investors in the US. In 2017, its foreign direct investment position in the US was $14 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Foreign direct investment is defined as the ownership or control of more than 10% of a US business entity.) That puts Saudi Arabia not even in the top 20 foreign investors. For comparison, the United Kingdom had $615 billion invested in the US in 2017, and Japan had $477 billion.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 4:50 p.m.

NATO funding

I don't like it when Germany is paying 1% of GDP for NATO and we're paying 4.3%. I don't like that. That's not fair. I don't like it when, as an example, we're protecting Europe and we're paying for almost the entire cost of NATO.
This is a clear case of Trump misrepresenting numbers, and counting defense spending as NATO spending. While he's right that the US spends more on defense as a percent of its GDP than Germany, the US also has far greater military commitments. Not only that, but Trump's US number isn't accurate. According to NATO's most recent estimates, from July, while Germany is expected to spend about 1.2% of its GDP on defense this year; the US will spend about 3.5%. It's also incorrect to assert that the US pays for "almost the entire cost" of the decades-old alliance. The US pays about 67% of all NATO defense spending and about 22% of all direct NATO funding.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 4:51 p.m.

Trade with the European Union

With the European Union, as an example, last year on trade we lost $151 billion. On top of that we lost hundreds of billions of dollars on protection.
This isn't the full picture. The Trump administration has long chosen to look at trade only as the importing and exporting of goods, rather than the exchange of both goods and services. If only goods are considered, the US imported more goods than it exported to the European Union last year, resulting in a trade deficit of $151.4 billion, according to US Census figures. But the US is also a powerhouse in services, such as finance and technology. When both goods and services are considered, the 2017 deficit drops to $101.2 billion.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 4:55 p.m.

Apple investments in the US

Apple is an example. I was with them. They're going to be spending $350 billion on building new facilities in the United States, which is something, as you know from a long time ago, I've been saying it from the beginning.
It looks like Trump is conflating two figures. Apple said in January that it would invest $30 billion in US facilities over the next five years. The company also estimated that its new investments, plus existing projects in the US, would add $350 billion to the US economy over five years. Apple made this announcement shortly after Trump signed his signature tax cut law. Trump mentions Apple again the following day, see below.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 4:59 p.m.

Migrant caravan

Well, there could very well be (Middle Easterners in the caravan), yeah. There could very well be. And if you look at -- I have very good information. I have very good information.
Trump repeated his false claim that Middle Easterners have infiltrated a caravan of Central American migrants marching toward the US-Mexico border. The administration has put out a slew of statistics in response to questions raised about this assertion, but none of them proved Trump's claims. Of the more than 303,000 people who crossed the southern border last year, only 95 were Middle Eastern, according to statistics from US Customs and Border Protection. A senior US official also told CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider that there was no sign that Sunni terror groups have infiltrated the caravan.
Oval Office spray on Tuesday at 5:07 p.m.

US-Mexico border wall

We've been building the wall. We started the wall. San Diego's almost completed the whole area -- their whole area of California. But we want to do it quickly.
Trump is taking credit for a project that Customs and Border Protection has been requesting for years and is entirely separate from his well-known proposal to build a wall along the full length of the southern border. In San Diego, the federal government is replacing 14 miles of a 46-mile border fence with a stronger wall, but only about half has been replaced so far, according to a CBP spokesman. Regarding the President's proposal, only a fraction of the requested funds have been approved by Congress, and the money has mostly gone to repairs, not new construction. Trump mentions border security a day later, see below.
Pool spray on Tuesday at 6:44 p.m.

Defeating ISIS

We've made significant progress in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism. In Syria and Iraq our brave war-fighters have decimated ISIS.
Trump is correct about ISIS' status on the battlefield, but that doesn't tell the full story. As of August, the US military assessed that ISIS had lost 98% of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria. And as many as 70,000 ISIS militants have been killed during the US-led military campaign. But the US estimates there are still nearly 30,000 ISIS fighters in the region, and the group still inspires sympathizers all over the world through its online operations.
Wall Street Journal interview on Tuesday afternoon

Iran economy and riots

The Iran nuclear deal, to be specific—since I terminated the deal, they're not the same country. I see it in many different ways. Their economy has crashed. Their currency has crashed. They're having riots every week, big ones, in every city. They're not the same country.
Iran's currency, the rial, has dropped about 70% since May, when Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, according to Bloomberg. While Trump's policies have hurt Iran's economy, the currency decline is also partly due to poor decision-making in Tehran, including a failed attempt to stabilize the rial by pegging it at a set rate to the dollar. US sanctions will likely make things worse, particularly those aimed at Iran's oil sector, which go into effect in November. As for the riots, there have been sporadic protests since May, some lasting for days and some that turned deadly. But Trump is wrong when he says Iranians are rioting "every week" in "every city."
Wall Street Journal interview on Tuesday afternoon

Proposed tax cuts

We have a way. We're going to announce it at the time. But we think we can make it revenue-neutral based on certain things.
Trump is talking about a second round of tax cuts that he wants Congress to pass. But lawmakers haven't released the draft legislation yet, so it's impossible to know at this time if the bill will decrease government revenues or include offsetting spending cuts to ensure it doesn't raise the deficit. But the sweeping tax overhaul that Trump signed into law last year IS projected to increase deficits by $1.46 trillion over 10 years.
Wall Street Journal interview on Tuesday afternoon

Ex-attorney Michael Cohen's crimes

This wasn't me. This was having to do with the taxi industry or something. But he has—and financing, but nothing to do with me.
This is not true. Both court filings from federal prosecutors in New York and Cohen's sworn statements in court implicate Trump in the scheme to silence women who claimed sexual encounters with the then-presidential candidate, which Trump has denied. The President is correct that some of the eight charges against Cohen pertained to Cohen's taxi medallion business, which wasn't linked to his work for Trump. The US attorney's office is continuing to examine whether executives at the Trump Organization violated campaign finance laws, CNN has reported.
Trump tweet on Wednesday at 8:45 a.m.

Pre-existing conditions

There is not much truth to this. While some Republicans support coverage for pre-existing conditions, GOP policy has not. Protection for people with pre-existing conditions is one of the most popular aspects of the health care system, and is a key feature of Obamacare. Since Trump took office, Republicans have taken steps to weaken those protections, including a rule the President signed in August that expands the use of short-term insurance plans that aren't required to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Last year's failed effort by congressional Republicans to repeal Obamacare also would have allowed states to remove coverage protections for pre-existing conditions. Trump mentions pre-existing conditions again the following day, see below.
Remarks on Wednesday at 2:28 p.m.

Opioid crisis spending

We have secured $6 billion in new funding to combat opioids, the most money ever received in history.
He's right. Congress allotted a record $6 billion over two years to combat the opioid epidemic. Previously, the 21st Century Cures Act, which Obama signed in December 2016, directed $1 billion over two years to states to fight the nationwide opioid epidemic.
Remarks on Wednesday at 2:32 p.m.

Cracking down on opioids

Over the past 20 months, our Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services fraud strike force targeted a combined $3.3 billion in waste, fraud and abuse related to the unlawful distribution of opioids. That's by far the most ever.
This is misleading. In the past two years, the Department of Health and Human Services uncovered $3.3 billion in Medicare and Medicaid fraud but it wasn't all related to opioids. Some of the fraud related to illegal kickbacks and false bills for unnecessary medical procedures. That said, HHS did blacklist nearly 900 doctors and nurses "based on conduct related to opioid diversion and abuse," meaning they can't participate in federally funded health care programs.
Remarks on Wednesday at 2:33 p.m.

Opioid prescriptions

The total amount of opioids being prescribed has decreased by nearly 20% in a very short period of time. Very proud of that.
Reputable studies back this up, but it didn't happen under Trump's watch. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that there was an 18% drop between 2010 and 2015. And according to the American Medical Association there was a 22% drop between 2013 and 2017. These trends largely predate the Trump administration and much of the drop has been attributed to changes in prescribing regulations and guidelines.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:01 p.m.

Political rhetoric and civility

The language of moral condemnation and destructive routine, these are arguments and disagreements that have to stop. ... No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains.
These comments came after pipe bombs were sent to CNN's offices in New York and several prominent Democrats. The President isn't making any factual assertions here. But his call for civility obscures the reality that he himself has compared opponents to "historical villains" in the past, despite condemning that practice Wednesday night. He has likened US intelligence agencies to "Nazi Germany." He has said special counsel Robert Mueller was worse than Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the infamous Red Scare champion. A White House report released Tuesday said independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren were similar to Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:08 p.m.

Border security

Democrats oppose any effort to secure our border.
This is not true. Border security has been a cornerstone of Democratic immigration proposals for years. The Obama-backed comprehensive immigration bill in 2013, which passed with unanimous Democratic support, would have added up to 40,000 Border Patrol agents. (House Republicans refused to vote on the proposal.) Earlier this year, all but one Democratic senator supported a bipartisan bill to deploy new technologies to the border. While most Democrats object to Trump's border wall, that doesn't mean they "oppose any effort" to secure the border.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:08 p.m.

US-Mexico border wall

As you know, we started the wall, $1.6 billion, another $1.6 billion, and we have another, but we want to build it very quickly all at one time, and we'll get it done. But wait till you see what happens over the next couple of weeks. You're going to see a very secure border. You just watch.
Trump made a somewhat similar claim outside the Oval Office on Tuesday at 5:07 p.m. See above. While he's right that $1.6 billion was approved by Congress, this is only a fraction of the $25 billion in requested funds, and the money has mostly gone to repairs, not new construction.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:09 p.m.

Catch-and-release policies

Democrats believe in catch and release. You know what that is, right? That's you catch a person coming across our border illegally. 'What's your name?' 'My name is so and so.' 'Well, do me a favor, write it down. Would you show up in about three or four years for a court case?' 'Yes, I'll show up.' And we never see them again. We never see them.
By saying "we never see them again," Trump is giving the false impression that undocumented immigrants "never" show up for court proceedings after they're released from US custody. Through June of this year, 26% of deportation cases were decided in absentia, without the immigrants present, according to the latest statistics from the Justice Department. That means about three-quarters showed up for their hearings. Even the Trump-friendly Center for Immigration Studies noted that most immigrants showed up for court proceedings in 2017.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:10 p.m.

Sanctuary cities

(Democrats) strongly support sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement and release known gang members, predators, criminal aliens into our communities.
It's true that more Democratic politicians than Republicans tend to support so-called sanctuary cities, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Yet Trump uses that to make a blanket assertion that Democrats therefore support gang members and aliens charged with serious crimes, which is stretching the truth. Mayors of sanctuary cities say the policy makes their communities safer because immigrants won't be afraid to work with police. Nonetheless, despite Trump's heated rhetoric on the issue, authorities in sanctuary cities still police their communities and prosecute crimes. They work with federal law enforcement on gang raids and other stings -- something that's drawn some criticism from immigrant advocacy groups, who question authorities' motives.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:10 p.m.

Deporting MS-13 members

We're getting them out fast. MS-13, thousands and thousands of MS-13. They're out. We're getting them out fast because of ICE and other law enforcement.
The data on this is spotty. Since Trump became President, thousands of gang members have been deported. But they're not all MS-13, and there is no clear data on deportations by gang affiliation. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement did say it had arrested "796 MS-13 gang members and associates" in fiscal year 2017, and another 405 in the first quarter of 2018, according to data it provided to The New York Times; but it is not clear how many of those were later convicted of crimes and deported. There are an estimated 10,000 MS-13 members in the country, but some of them are US citizens, not foreign nationals.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:12 p.m.

Unemployment rate

The unemployment rate just fell to the lowest level in over 50 years. Five-oh years. Fifty.
This is a repeat, practically verbatim, of the claim he had made the previous day in the Oval Office. It's true, mostly. See above.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:12 p.m.

Manufacturing confidence

Manufacturing confidence has reached an all-time high in the history of our country. I think it's now 38 years old, this poll, think that's a long time. Could be longer, but I think it probably will also be -- in the history, confidence an all-time high.
The gist of this is true, but the President is stretching the facts and being bombastic when he doesn't have to be. He's right that this statistic reached an all-time high, but that figure has been tracked for only 20 years, not for the entire "history of our country." In its second quarter survey, the National Association of Manufacturers found that 95% of its 14,000 members had positive outlooks for their businesses, the highest reading in the survey's 20-year history, not 38-year. That number declined to 92.5% in the third quarter survey, released in early October.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:13 p.m.

Job creation

More people are working now than at any point in the history of the United States.
This is true, though it's been true for a while now. Employment has been growing steadily since the bottom of the recession in 2010, and now stands at 149.5 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' non-farm payrolls data. That's well above the pre-recession peak of 138.4 million from January 2008, which was regained in May 2014, when the number of working Americans hit 138.6 million, according to payroll data. As a percentage of the population, however, employment remains well below its all-time high in 2000.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:15 p.m.

Apple investments in the US

They're going to go wild. They're building a great campus. They're building places all over, $350 billion. I thought it was $350 million. That was -- sounded good. You can do a lot of good plants for three hundred -- they're doing $350 billion, Apple.
The President likes to brag on Apple these days, and the billions of dollars the company says it's planning to invest in new US facilities. While roughly true, Trump is again conflating the numbers here, as he did the previous day in the Oval Office. See reference above.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:32 p.m.

Tammy Baldwin's immigration record

Baldwin voted against Kate's Law, if you can believe that.
True. Trump spent a chunk of his Wisconsin rally attacking Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for re-election this year. While criticizing Baldwin's positions on immigration, Trump accurately pointed out that she opposed Kate's Law, a bill to increase penalties against undocumented immigrants who re-enter the US after they've been deported. She cast that vote in 2016. The bill died when the congressional session ended in 2017. Since Trump took office, the House approved the legislation, but the Senate has yet to take a vote.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:46 p.m.

Pre-existing conditions

And Republicans will always protect, as (GOP Senate candidate) Leah (Vukmir) said, Americans with pre-existing conditions, 100%. 100%.
The President, along with a few other Republicans, has been running hard recently on the notion that the GOP will do everything it can to make sure insurance companies cover people with pre-existing conditions. Given the party's track record of trying to dismantle Obamacare, it's hard to see how this is more than an eleventh-hour campaign promise. See reference above.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:49 p.m.

Early voting

Look, early voting looks extraordinarily good for the Republicans.
Trump's claims are shaky at best, because there is a very limited universe of available data. CNN's senior political analyst Harry Enten explains that as people vote early, states and counties release information about the number of ballots, where they were cast, and party registration breakdown, when applicable. But they never publicly reveal the results until the polls close on Election Day.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:51 p.m.

Cutting Medicare

The Democrats also want to raid Medicare to fund benefits for so many different things. But they want to fund them for illegal immigrants, so the illegal immigrants come in.
There is no evidence to support any of this. Democrats have offered no proposals to defund or "raid Medicare," let alone divert Medicare funds to benefit undocumented immigrants. In fact, most Democrats have campaigned on promises to protect the government-run health care program for seniors or expand it to all Americans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, recently floated the notion of having to overhaul Medicare and Social Security, warning of future cuts as a way to reduce the budget deficit.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:56 p.m.

Abolishing ICE

The Democrats want to terminate ICE. They want to get rid of them.
This is an oversimplification of the movement to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Certainly, some leading Democrats want to abolish the federal agency, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. But Democratic leaders in the House and Senate aren't there yet. And getting rid of ICE was not part of the most recent Democratic Party platform, which was approved in 2016.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:57 p.m.

Job creation and food stamps

In less than two years, we've created 4.2 million new jobs and lifted -- listen to this -- 4.2 million Americans off of food stamps.
Trump made both those claims the previous day as well. Both are essentially true, depending on when you start counting, either in November 2016, when he won the election, or in January 2017, when he took office. See above.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:58 p.m.

Poverty among minorities

African-American and Hispanic American poverty has reached an all-time low.
The President has made related claims before. See fact-check from Tuesday.
Rally on Wednesday at 8:59 p.m.

Minority unemployment

African-American, Hispanic American, Asian-American unemployment have all reached their lowest rates ever recorded.
This is a recent favorite of Trump's. He's repeated it frequently over the past few weeks, including on Tuesday from the Oval Office. Technically, it's true, see above.
Rally on Wednesday at 9:10 p.m.

US embassy in Israel

We went out and built the most beautiful building for $500,000.
The President said his administration spent $500,000 to establish the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, which opened in May. As Trump noted in his speech, an existing US consulate was renovated to become the new embassy. But he failed to mention that the building required a more expensive second phase of modifications. The State Department told CNN that the initial modifications cost under $400,000. The State Department later awarded a $21 million contract to design and build "compound security updates" as part of the second phase of renovations.

CNN's Donna Borak, Ryan Browne, Jamie Crawford, Lydia DePillis, Jeremy Diamond, Wayne Drash, Harry Enten, Sam Fossum, Annie Grayer, Nadia Kounang, Jason Kravarik, Kevin Liptak, Katie Lobosco, Tami Luhby, Sarah Mucha, Erica Orden, Leyla Santiago, Catherine Shoichet, Em Steck and Greg Wallace contributed to this project.

Design: Will Mullery and Joyce Tseng, CNN

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