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And it was just as dishonest.
Trump repeated multiple false claims that have been debunked on numerous occasions. He also delivered some new claims that were false, misleading or lacking in context.
We’re not finished going through all of Trump’s claims in his letter, but here are some early fact checks.
Dealings with Ukraine
Trump decried “the so-called whistleblower who started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationship to the actual phone call that was made.”
Trump claimed the whistleblower “disappeared” because “they got caught, their report was a fraud.”
Facts First: There is no evidence the whistleblower has disappeared, let alone that they have vanished because they were shown to be inaccurate. Whistleblowers do not have an obligation to speak publicly after filing their anonymous complaints.
Trump wrote, “Ambassador Sondland testified that I told him: ‘No quid pro quo. I want nothing. I want nothing. I want President Zelensky to do the right thing, do what he ran on.'”
Trump wrote that the rough transcript of his call with Zelensky “was immediately made available.”
Facts First: The call occurred in July. Trump released the rough transcript in September, after the public learned of the existence of the whistleblower complaint about the call.
Trump wrote, “President Zelensky has repeatedly declared that I did nothing wrong, and that there was No Pressure. He further emphasized that it was a ‘good phone call,’ that ‘I don’t feel pressure,’ and explicitly stressed that ‘nobody pushed me.'”
Trump wrote, “I said to President Zelensky: ‘I would like you to do us a favor, though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.’ I said do us a favor, not me, and our country, not a campaign. I then mentioned the Attorney General of the United States.”
Joe Biden and Ukraine
Trump wrote that Biden “used his office and $1 billion dollars of U.S. aid money to coerce Ukraine into firing the prosecutor who was digging into the company paying his son millions of dollars.”
Trump wrote, “Biden openly stated: ‘I said, “I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars”… I looked at them and said: “I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.” Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.'” Even Joe Biden admitted just days ago in an interview with NPR that it ‘looked bad.'”
Trump wrote, “Now you are trying to impeach me by falsely accusing me of doing what Joe Biden has admitted he actually did.”
The impeachment process
Trump wrote, “I have been denied the most fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution, including the right to present evidence, to have my own counsel present, to confront accusers, and to call and cross-examine witnesses.”
Trump wrote, “More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”
Democrats
Trump wrote of Hillary Clinton: “Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227).”
Trump said Pelosi has a policy of “open borders.”
The Mueller investigation
Trump again claimed the cost of the Mueller investigation was “45 million dollars.”
Trump said that the world now knows that former FBI Director James Comey is “one of the dirtiest cops our Nation has ever seen.”
Supposed accomplishments
Trump claimed “a colossal reduction in illegal border crossings.”
Trump boasted of the US “becoming the world’s top energy producer.”
Trump claimed “a completely reformed VA with Choice and Accountability for our great veterans.”
Trump touted “the building of the Southern Border Wall.”
Facts First: As of December 6, the date of the latest official update from Customs and Border Protection, no miles of border wall had been constructed where barriers did not previously exist. (Construction had started on some new barriers, the government said.) Trump has argued that the replacement of old barriers with newer barriers should count as the building of his wall; as of December 6, 90 miles of replacement barriers had been erected.
Jamie Ehrlich contributed to this article.
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