A Compilation of President Trump's Lies, Hyperbole, and Misdirection [updated 12/14/2018]

I am sorry everyone, I can't keep up with reporting on the number of lies and falsehoods that come out of Donald Trump's mouth on the daily basis. For example, in a Fox News interview on 12/13/18, he uttered at least 29 lies and falsehoods - 29!!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/politics/donald-trump-harris-faulkner-michael-cohen/index.html

I refer to you the Washington Post for a complete list of over 6,000 he has told since his inauguration. Everyone of the documented. They PAY one or two people to keep up with the amazing volume and I have better unpaid things to do.

This was the title to Senator Al Franken's book about how various high profile conservatives mishandled the truth (to be fair, a similar book has probably been written about liberals as well). Data more than suggests that President Trump has taken this character weakness to a whole new art form. Even more disturbing, an amazing 20 to 25 percent of the electorate DOESN'T CARE if he behaves this way.

It doesn't appear that they think he is lying, they think the reports about it are Fake News. They think that main stream media is lying themselves when they report about Trump's lies, falsifications, exaggerations, and misdirection. Even cursory research shows this belief to be gross rationalization by Trump supporters.

Several outlets have tracked and reported on Trump's fantasy world. The Washington Post, for example, has documented an astounding 1,318 cases in Trump's first 263 days in office where President Trump has uttered false or misleading statements!^{1, 2} If you think Hillary Clinton lied a lot (she didn't) how do you justify that notorious record?

¹. Politico reports that Donald Trump's lies have been documented since the 1980s and appears to lie for the fun of it.

2. See similar article covering Donald Trump's campaign

This will end up being probably the longest hub I have ever written given the enormity of the material that will be produced in the four years of the Trump presidency. While the Washington Post database is the principal source for this hub,1 I will use other compilations as well, with appropriate attribution. I won't list 100% of the Post's contributions because I think some of them are not important enough to waste your time with, such as Trump's early claim that he will reduce regulations by 75%. I attribute that to "wishful thinking" rather than a deception of some sort. Instead, I want to focus on significant whoppers.

Having said that, please note that each of the following are Trump quotes and their refutations are publicly available with a little googling.

5/3/18 - Various sources have now documented over 3,000 partially false or totally false statements.

1/20/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “Even the media said the crowd was massive … that was all the way back down to the Washington Monument.” [Misleading: Quickly debunked with photos as a gratuitous lie and is an early indication that the lies from the campaign will not stop now that Trump is president]

1/20/17 - Repeated 4 Times - “We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.” [Misleading: This repeats the conservative mantra that all people receiving public assistance don't work. In fact, most people getting assistance DO work, including those in the military who receive food stamps]

1/20/17 - “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.” [Misleading: While as a generalization, this is factually incorrect, there are anecdotes, many of them Trump owned companies, where products and services have been outsourced]

1/20/17 - “One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.” [Hyperbole: Economists have determined that the main reason manufacturing jobs have been lost (although plants not closed) is Automation. While some plant closures and job loss can be attributed to trade deals, economists have found even more plant openings and job gains have resulted from the same trade deals.]

1/20/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “[We’ve] spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.” [False: America's decrepit state of infrastructure has nothing to do with what the government has spent overseas. Instead, it has everything to do with a Congress that won't fund it.]

1/21/17 - “We have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine. … I’ve been on it for 15 times this year.” [Gratuitous Lie: Trump's picture was simple not on Time magazine 15 times in 2017. Even if he meant "in the past", Nixon beats him at 55 times and depending on when you start counting, Hillary Clinton had her picture in Time between 22 and 31 times.]

1/21/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “I looked out, the field was — it looked like a million, million and a half people….The rest of the 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument, was packed.” [Exaggeration - No it wasn't, it was smaller than the Obama inauguration or the Million Woman's March the next day.]

1/21/17 - “I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.” [Misleading and False: The so-called "war" is one of his own making. If the media (presumably meaning mainstream reporting vs opinion) were as dishonest has he says, their ratings would be in the tank. The fact is they are not.]

1/22/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!” [Misdirection by Cherry-Picking: While true as far as it goes, Obama's 2012 ratings were lower, as is true for any 2nd term president, Obama beat Trump by 7 million in 2009.]

1/23/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “Between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused me to lose the popular vote.” [False - multiple studies looking at decades of elections have found minuscule examples of the kind of fraud Trump insists took place. He is now wasting millions of tax-payer dollars on a commission try to prove it; to date, they have found no evidence ... again.]

1/23/17 - “I’m a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment.” [False: This apparently alludes a statement in a former employee's book about an award from the New Jersey Audubon Society. Problem is they deny it.]

1/24/17 - Repeated 17 Times - “This is on the Keystone pipeline…A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs.” [Big Exaggeration: When supporting jobs are added in, the total is 16,000 n, most of which are not construction.]

1/25/17 - Repeated 52 Times - “Obamacare is a disaster. It's too expensive. It's horrible health care. It doesn't cover what you have to cover.” [Hyperbole: and in the third claim, a Lie: The facts are, ACA added 20+ million to the insurance rolls, that is not a disaster; the healthcare being delivered is better than what is was before ACA because at the very least, those with pre-existing conditions are now receiving medical care. Too Expensive? Not really. You see the average premium in 2016 was $409/month, but most receive a subsidy which lowers the average premium down to $113.00 (plus any help from the the cost sharing subsidies Trump just cancelled). No, not too expensive.]

1/25/17 - “No, no, you have to understand, I had a tremendous victory, one of the great victories ever. In terms of counties I think the most ever, or just about the most ever.” [Misleading and Lie: While he is correct about winning the most counties, he forgets to mention they didn't have very many people in them. When you total up the votes from all counties, Clinton beat Trump by about 3 million votes or 2.1%. As to "tremendous victory", while he did win the electoral college vote, the one that counts, he ranked only 46th out of 58 elector college results.]

1/25/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) said Obamacare 'is no longer affordable,' and Bill said ‘Obamacare is crazy.' ” [Misdirection and Misleading: Dayton was blaming Republicans for not fixing the law to make it more affordable (as opposed to repealing it) and Bill Clinton was referring to the GOP governors who refused to extend Medicaid to people who didn't qualify for ACA.]

1/25/17 - “You had millions of people that now aren’t insured anymore.”... speaking of the people whose policies did not meet the more inclusive requirements of ACA. [Hyperbole and a Lie: Because of ACA, 20 million people formerly without health insurance are now insured. The people Trump and the GOP wrongly allude to had their policies cancelled for many reasons, not the least of which is that they simply expired. There is no question many people had their policies cancelled because they were too skimpy but the vast majority of those got replacement insurance that met ACA standards,]

1/25/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “We should’ve taken the oil. And if we took the oil, you wouldn’t have ISIS. And we would have had wealth.” [Grandstanding: Among many reasons this claim is absurd is to do as Trump suggests would be to commit a war crime.]

1/25/17 - “When President Obama was there [Chicago] two weeks ago making a speech, very nice speech, two people were shot and killed during his speech.” [Lie: Nobody died from gunshot wounds that day in Chicago.]

1/25/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “They say I had the biggest crowd in the history of inaugural speeches…we had the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches.” [Lie: This has been debunked too many times to count.]

1/25/17 - “Then he’s groveling again. You know I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear.” ... this confusing statement is speaking about the author of a Pew report Trump claims to show voter fraud. [Deception: The author refutes Trumps claim his work proves voter fraud; he says he was very clear when he released it that it DID NOT show voter fraud occurred.]

1/25/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “We ended up winning by a massive amount, 306. I needed 270. We got 306.” [Hyperbole: Trump rank 46th out of 58 elector college results ... hardly "massive".]

1/25/17 - “I just signed two executive orders that w.ill save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars.” [Unfounded Hyperbole: These EOs may possibly save some lives, will cost jobs, and will cost a minimum of $25 billion.]

1/26/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “And the audience was standing ovation. They actually -- they were standing from the beginning. They didn't even sit down. It was one standing ovation.” [Deception: Trump never invited the audience to sit down ... so they kept standing.]

1/26/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “We’ve taken in tens of thousands of people. We know nothing about them. They can say they vet them. They didn’t vet them. They have no papers. How can you vet somebody when you don’t know anything about them and you have no papers?” [Lie: Trump knows very well it takes 2 or more years for a refugee to be vetted and that the process is very thorough.]

1/26/17 - “Here in Philadelphia, the murder rate has been steady — I mean just terribly increasing.” [Lie: Murders have fallen from 397 in 2007 to 277 in 2016. The rate has decreased as well.]

1/26/17 - Repeated 5 Times - “We want to get our people off of welfare and back to work. So important. It’s out of control. It’s out of control.” [Deception: The vast majority of people on "welfare" already work, they need higher pay.]

1/26/17 - “NAFTA has been a terrible deal, a total disaster for the United States from its inception, costing us as much as $60 billion a year with Mexico alone in trade deficits.” [False: Exhibits a total lack of understanding about the economics of trade. All a trade "deficit" means is, in this case, Mexico sells to the US $60 billion more in goods and services than it buys from the US. If the demand for Mexican goods in America was less, then the trade deficit would be less or maybe a surplus. Said another way, if Donald Trump wants to eliminate the deficit, have Americans buy $60 billion less from Mexico.]

1/27/17 - “You look at Israel – Israel has a wall and everyone said do not build a wall, walls do not work — 99.9 percent of people trying to come across that wall cannot get across and more. Bibi Netanyahu told me the wall works.” [Deception: Israel has 330 miles of "wall", only 33 of which is an actual wall like Trump wants to build; the rest is fence, much like what the U.S. border is already like.]

1/27/17 - “I have been given as President tremendous taxation powers for trade and for other reasons – far greater than anybody understands.” [False - Congress holds taxation powers, although it has delegated a few to the executive branch.]

1/27/17 - “I have been telling this to every group of 50,000 people or 25,000 people – because no one got people in their rallies as big as I did.” [Hyperbole: The largest crowd Trump had is estimated at 30,000, however Bernie Sanders had crowds as large or larger than Trump.]

1/27/17 - “I won with a large percentage of Hispanic voters.” [False: Trump received about 29% of the Hispanic vote (compared to Clinton's 65%). He did roughly as well as Romney but worse than McCain.]

1/27/17 - “I was voted on the basis that we are losing so much money to Mexico in terms of jobs, factories, and plants moving to Mexico.” [False: More jobs, factories, and plants have been lost to other states and automation than to Mexico.]

1/27/17 - “The Cuban Americans — I got 84 percent of that vote, and they voted in big numbers.” [Lie: He got 54% of that vote which normally votes Republican.]

1/28/17 - Repeated 13 Times - “The coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its..... ...dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST” [False: The NY Times did not apologize to its readers and both the TImes and Post have seen increases in subscribers. By and large the mainstream media fairly reports what Trump says and does; it is not their fault that what he says and does is so outrageous. Yes, on rare occasions the media gets a story wrong, to which they print a retraction (something Trump won't do) but their stories are almost always truthful.]

1/29/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror.” [Misleading: Congress named four of the countries in a bill that Obama signed. Obama then added the other three. President Obama, however, specifically rejected the citizenship-based approach used in Trump's EO and later found unconstitutional.]

1/29/17 - “My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months.” [False: Trump's policy varies significantly from President Obama's 2011 policy.]

1/30/17 - “If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the 'bad' would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad 'dudes' out there!” [Lie: At a minimum, it takes weeks to months for a normal person to get a tourist visa. It is much longer or impossible if there are red flags in the applicant's background which, presumably, these "bad dudes" would have.]

1/30/17 - Repeated 21 Times - “But we cut approximately $600 million off the F-35 fighter, and that only amounts to 90 planes out of close to 3,000 planes. And when you think about $600 million, it was announced by Marillyn, who's very talented, the head of Lockheed Martin.” [False Credit: President Trump had nothing to do with the reduction. It had already been negotiated and announced before Trump ever talked to "Marillyn".]

1/30/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,..... protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” [False: The Trump administration finally admitted the 109 number represented only those in-bound on flights at the time of the Muslim ban. 60,000 is a more realistic number that were affected.]

1/31/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “Every other country lives on devaluation.You look at what China's doing, you look at what Japan has done over the years. They -- they play the money market, they play the devaluation market, and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.” [Misleading: While once true, it has been years since it was.]

2/1/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!” [Gross Exaggeration: The actual number was 1,250 vice "thousands".]

2/1/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “If you remember, I wasn’t going to do well with the African American community, and after they heard me speaking and talking about the inner city and lots of other things, we ended up getting — I won’t go into details — but we ended up getting substantially more than other candidates who had run in the past years. And now we’re going to take that to new levels.” [Misleading: Granted Trump received a dismal 8% of the Black vote, compared to Romney's 6% and McCain's 4%. BUT, Romney and McCain were running against a black candidate. When compared to other White opponents, Trump did worse.]

2/1/17 - “Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!” [Deception: Trump has often called it a BAN. If fact, he frequently called it a Muslim Ban.]

2/2/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “Smart! ⬇️ 'Kuwait issues its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries | Al Bawaba'” [Fake News: This was posted on Trump's Facebook page. It turned out to be real fake news.]

2/2/17 - “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” [Self-Deception: First, U.C. Berkeley Does allow free speech and it DOES NOT practice violence. But beyond that, this is one of many examples that Trump has no idea how government works.]

2/3/17 - “The January employment report shows that the private sector added 237,000 jobs last month. A lot of that has to do with the spirit our country now has.” [Misleading: By implication, and other statements, Trump is saying he is responsible for that; if fact, the January numbers were the last from the Obama era. Only in February does Trump policy begin to be felt.]

2/3/17 - “We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses. They can't borrow money. They just can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.” [Disinformation: Trump's friends are all extremely rich and even under Dodd-Frank have no problem getting loans (in fact, loans to big business are at record levels). There is a smidgen of truth in his statement with regard to smaller businesses, however. To keep banks honest, regulations have gotten stricter and therefore made getting loans by the less well connected a little harder.]

2/3/17 - “Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” [False: Trump appears to be quoting a Sean Hannity monologue. See how Snopes.com debunked that claim.]

3/22/17 - “This just came out. This is a Politico story: Members of the Donald Trump Transition team possibly including Trump himself were under surveillance during the Obama administration following November’s election. House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes told reporters, wow. Nunes said, so that means I’m right, Nunes said the surveillance appears to have been … incidental collection, that does not appear to have been related to concerns over Russia.” [Deception: Rep. Nunes disputed that the information Nunes obtained vindicated Trump.]

4/28/17 - “We never, ever seem to have a surplus with countries. Every country takes advantage of the United States, and it's not going to happen anymore.” [Lie or Ignorance: America has a surplus with Hong Kong, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, and Brazil among many others. Also, a trade deficit can be a good sign for an economy when it reflects growing demand for imports. For example, for the six years where the trade deficit shrank as a percentage of GDP (got "better" in other words) from the previous year, economic growth averaged 2%. In the 11 years when the trade deficit "got worse", from Trump's perspective, GDP grew and average of 3.1%, the opposite of what Trump predicts.]

5/12/17 - Repeated 29 Times - “Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.” [Lie: It wasn't the Democrats who developed this story, it was Trump's own intelligence agencies ... all of them ... who found the idea of collusion credible.]

6/1/17 - “Even if the Paris Agreement were implemented in full, with total compliance from all nations, it is estimated it would only produce a two-tenths of one degree — think of that, this much — Celsius reduction in global temperature by the year 2100. Tiny, tiny amount.” [Very Misleading: Trump is referring to a 2015 MIT study whose author totally disagrees with Trump's assessment. First, .2 degree Celsius is not a "tiny, tiny amount" in global warming terms. Second, that was intended to show even more needs to be done. Third, the MIT study showed a halt in increasing temperature, the biggest deal of all.]

6/13/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “Americans were told that premiums would go down by $2,500 per year. And instead, their premiums went up to levels that nobody thought even possible.” [False: The fact is, according to Kaiser Foundation, the average family premium is almost $3,600 lower than if premium growth had kept pace with the rate in the decade before the law [ACA] was passed.]

6/13/17 - Repeated 13 Times - “In Alaska, they’ve gone up 207 percent on Obamacare. You know, I used to mention only Arizona because they were up 116 percent in Arizona. Now Arizona is like good by comparison to some of the numbers. But they’re way up in Arizona, also.” [Grossly Misleading: While technically correct for Alaska, it doesn't take into account tax credits and further, he compares it to 2013 data, before ACA was fully implemented. In reality, average increases before subsidies was 25% and after subsidies, many decreased.]

7/6/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “The transatlantic bond between the United States and Europe is as strong as ever and maybe, in many ways, even stronger.” [Self-Deception: Ever since Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord and criticism of NATO, most European leaders are distancing themselves from America.]

7/12/17 - “But I think we're going to have something [a health-care plan] that's really good and that people are going to like.'" [Self-Delusion: Multiple national polls have consistently shown a vast majority of Americans oppose what Trump and the GOP is trying to do.]

7/19/17 - “Premiums are so high that 6.5 million Americans chose to pay a fine to the IRS instead of buying insurance, the famous mandate.” [False: Trump used to claim 20 million but, for whatever reason he lowered the number considerably ... and it is still wrong. You see, even though the fine increased, the number of people willing to pay the fine dropped from 8 million in 2014 to 6.5 million in 2015.]

7/25/17 - “Look, our automobile industry has just left us and gone to Mexico – I mean, a big chunk of it. And it’s very unfair for them to take our companies, built their cars, and then sell the car back into our country with no tax. It’s very unfair. They fire all our people in Michigan and Ohio, and they take it, and they build a car. And now they sell the car back in with no tax. It’s not fair.” [Example of Lack of Understanding of How Things Work: NAFTA integrates automobile manufacturing across Mexico, Canada, and America with each country doing its piece of the whole to the benefit of all. Trump simply wants it all to the detriment of all.]

7/25/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “I was with President Xi, who I have a very good relationship with, I said: Do me a favor. Would you allow cattle, please, to come in? I was last night in West Virginia, and I had farmers coming up to me and hugging me and kissing me because of the cattle stuff.” [Misleading: In fact, President Obama negotiated this deal. All that was needed was to set a date and Trump did that.]

8/10/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “We are now an exporter, because of an incredible six months that I had -- an exporter of oil and gas. That's bad for Russia.” [Misleading, Self-Serving: In fact, America has been an net exporter of energy since 2015.]

8/10/17 - “There was no collusion between us and Russia. In fact, the opposite. Russia spent a lot of money on fighting me.” [False: While collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia is still being investigated, only Trump has asserted that Russia has worked against him.]

8/10/17 - Repeated 20 Times - “And I think that's why you see business enthusiasm is the highest it's been in 18 years; why unemployment is the lowest it's been in 18 years; and the unemployment rate just came out. It's the lowest it's been in 18 years.” [Flip-Flop: During the campaign Trump said the BLS unemployment figures are bogus and he didn't believe them.]

8/12/17 - Repeated 49 Times - “We have companies pouring into our country, Foxconn and car companies and so many others. They're coming back to our country.” [False Exaggeration, verging on a Lie: Even the one's Trump refers to had everything planned well before he became president; he gets no credit.]

8/22/17 - “Insurance companies are fleeing" Obamacare. [False: While some high-profile insurance companies have left the exchanges (they say because of Trump and the GOP) there is not, as of 10/29/17, any counties in the U.S. lacking subsidized coverage.]

8/27/17 - “Few, if any, Administrations have done more in just 7 months than the Trump A. Bills passed, regulations killed, border, military, ISIS, SC!” [Self-Deception: At this point in time most presidents have at least one major legislation passed, Trump has none. In terms of bills signed, Trump has 55 ... well behind President's Carter, H.W. Bush, and Clinton.]

9/1/17 - Repeated 35 Times - “Stock Market up 5 months in a row!” [Flip-Flop: During the campaign Trump put no stock in the stock market when he dismissed the stock-market performance under 8 years of Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble.']

9/3/17 - Repeated 3 TImes - “In 1986, President Ronald Reagan" cut the business tax rate to 34 percent and "it worked -- our economy boomed, the middle class thrived and median family income increased.” [Flip-Flop: Trump believed just the opposite; he was highly critical of the tax cut at the time, claiming that it devastated the real estate industry and led to a recession.]

9/3/17 - “The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.” [Dangerous Hyperbole: Stopping all trade with China, North Korean's biggest trading partner, would be devastating to both America and the world.]

9/19/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time.” [Lie: Job growth for the 1st six months of Trumps presidency has been slower than the the same period for the last 5 years.]

9/22/17 - “By the way, outside there are thousands of people that can’t in…thousands, yeah, thousands.” [Exaggeration: There were a few hundred who tried to watch on a big screen, but the audio didn't work so they left.]

9/24/17 - Graham-Cassidy bill: "It's also great for Maine; it's also great for Alaska. Every state you're talking about, it happens to be particularly good for. So I don't know what they're doing. But you know what? Eventually, we'll win, whether it's now or later.” [Lie: Assuming that you are speaking of the people of the State. CBO says prices will skyrocket and millions will lose their insurance ... how can that be great?]

9/24/17 - “Alaska, Arizona, Maine and Kentucky are big winners in the Healthcare proposal.” [Lie: All would have lost federal funding.]

9/28/17 - Repeated 14 Times - “I mean right now, we’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. “ [Lie: This is simply not true. According to Pew research, America's tax burden is below the average of 34 developed nations.]

9/28/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “GDP was revised upward to 3.1 for last quarter. Many people thought it would be years before that happened. We have just begun!” [Misleading: Not sure why he thought this, President Obama had several quarters that exceeded 3% and at least one that broke 4%.]

9/28/17 - Repeated 3 Times - “Puerto Rico is devastated. Phone system, electric grid many roads, gone. FEMA and First Responders are amazing. Governor said 'great job!'” [Narcissism: The governor made no such characterization, he said the federal government has "complied with our petitions in an expedited manner," however "we need to do a lot more in order for us to get out of the emergency."]

9/28/17 - Repeated 4 Times - “So we don’t have enough time [to pass ACA repeal), because we have one senator who’s a ‘yes’ vote, a great person, but he’s in the hospital. And he’s a ‘yes’ vote. So we can’t do it by Friday.” [Lie: Three Republican Senators voted NO and with the 48 Democrats who did likewise the result is 51 NOs. All the remaining Republican Senators could be in the hospital as well and the result wouldn't change.]

9/29/17 - Repeated 1 Time - “The point is this: [repeal of] health-care – we have it; we have the votes.” [Lie, Ignorance, or Dangerous Self-Deception: See comment to previous quote.]

9/29/17 - Repeated 21 Times - “I have a great Cabinet. And we save hundreds of millions of dollars through negotiation. I’ll give you an example. With the F-35 fighter plane – me, myself – I've saved hundreds of millions of dollars in negotiating.” [Lie: The Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive.]

10/7/17 - Repeated 2 Times - “They had 200 mile per hours winds. it just ripped the place apart.” [Unnecessarily False: What is in Trump's character that makes him exaggerate such a simple, provable fact on such a consistent basis? Top winds were a devastating 155 mph.]

10/8/17 - “Senator Bob Corker 'begged' me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said 'NO' and he dropped out (said he could not win without my endorsement).” [Lie: It was the other way around, Trump offered to support Sen Corker if he would reconsider retiring from the Senate.]

10/17/17 - Repeated 40+ Times - “I will tell you, it's the biggest reduction in taxes in the history of this country.” [Lie: Even under the best scenario, the current GOP tax plan is much smaller than Reagan's or Obama's. In fact, according to the Tax Policy Center analysis, one version of it has 50% of American's getting a tax increase by 2026.]

10/21/17 - Repeated Several Times - "Budget that just passed is a really big deal, especially in terms of what will be the biggest tax cut in U.S. history - MSM barely covered!" [Gross Exaggeration: While not much is known about the details of this tax cut, what is known will prove to be dwarfed by the Kennedy, Johnson, and Reagan tax cuts.]

10/21/17 - “Keep hearing about 'tiny' amount of money spent on Facebook ads. What about the billions of dollars of Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC & CBS?” [Deflection: The "free media" for Trump was more than that for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan, and Marco Rubio COMBINED!!]

11/1/17 - “With Mexico, as an example, we have a trade deficit of $71 billion. That's NAFTA.” [Exaggeration: The trade deficit was $55 billion in 2016. A deficit means little other than America has an economy strong enough to demand that much from Mexico. The best way to reduce a trade deficit is to weaken America's economy.]

11/3/17 - "ISIS just claimed the Degenerate Animal [Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov] who killed, and so badly wounded, the wonderful people on the West Side, was 'their soldier,'" Trump wrote on Twitter. "Based on that, the Military has hit ISIS 'much harder' over the last two days. " [Lie: The number of sorties against ISIS has not increased since the attack in New York.]

11/11/17 - "He said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Da Nang to Hanoi in Vietnam. "Every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that,' " Trump said. "And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it." [Self-Deception: The next day Trump said he believes his intelligence agencies (as currently led) findings that Putin DID meddle. Either he is calling Putin a liar or our intelligence agencies, but they both can't be telling the truth.]

11/24/17 - "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!" [Lie: TIME Magazine wrote "The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6." then later "Amazing. Not a speck of truth here—Trump tweets he 'took a pass' at being named TIME's person of the year " - UPDATE: While Trump was considered, he was passed over for the #MeToo movement about sexual harassment.]

12/4/2016 - "Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI." [LIE: The Director of the FBI told Congress that there is "no basis to conclude she [Clinton] lied to the FBI".]

12/20/2017 - "We have essentially repealed Obamacare" because the GOP tax bill contained a repeal of the individual mandate.[FALSE: Obamacare is far from being repealed. If fact, there is much debate on whether the mandate repeal will affect the exchanges or premiums or not. Insures correctly guessed this would happen, as well as the government reneging on its promise to repay insurers for subsidizing some low income insured, and built in the cost in their 2018 premiums.]

12/28/2017 - "While the Fake News loves to talk about my so-called low approval rating, @foxandfriends just showed that my rating on Dec. 28, 2017, was approximately the same as President Obama on Dec. 28, 2009, which was 47%...and this despite massive negative Trump coverage & Russia hoax!" [LIE: While the comment about all the reporting on Trump's negative activity and statements is true, his claim about having the same rating has President Obama is the hoax. The well respected Gallup Tracking polls weekly numbers tell a different story: For the week ending December 27, 2009, 51% approved of Obama, and for the week ending December 24, 2017, 37% approved of Trump.]

1/11/18 - "Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!" [LIE: It was the Bush administration which built the new embassy. BTW, Londoners were ecstatic Trump wasn't coming.]

1/12/18 - In response to reports saying he said to Senators in the Oval office ""Why do we want all these people from 'shithole countries' coming here?". He then tweeted "Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust! [LIE: People in the office are the source.]

1/26/18 - "The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now they’re setting records, so okay, they’re at a record level." [LIE: Science clearly shows the opposite is the TRUTH.]

1/30/18 - "We enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history." [LIE: At a minimum the tax cut acts of 1981, 2010, 2013 were larger. In terms of %GDP, six previous acts were bigger.]

1/30/18 - The immigration visa lottery "randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people." [FALSE: No it doesn't, the requirements for this "lottery" are very exacting.]

1/31/2018 - "A single immigrant can bring in unlimited numbers of distant relatives." [MOSTLY FALSE: According to U.S. law, the ability for one immigrant to bring another to the United States is EXTREMELY limited.]

2/1/18 - "Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history." [LIE: Once again Trump goes to the "mine is bigger than yours" mantra. In fact, Obama, Bush, and Clinton had more viewers.]

2/3/18 - "This [Nunes'] memo totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!" - [LIE: The Nunes' Memo 1) makes no claim as to Trump's guilt or innocence, 2) it is NOT a "witch hunt" given two Trump associates pleaded guilty and two more were indicted so far, 3) outside the investigators, nobody knows whether there is evidence of collusion and/or obstruction. So to say there "was no" is a lie at this point in time.]

2/5/2018 - Speaking at a rally, Trump said, referring to Democrats not applauding about his statement regarding Black unemployment - "At the State of the Union address, Democrats, "even on positive news … were like death and un-American. Un-American. Somebody said, ‘treasonous.’ I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Can we call that treason? Why not?" " [FALSE: Not clapping at a State of the Union does not qualify for treasonous or un-American activity.]

2/18/18 - "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election." [LIE: In Trumps own words to NBC's Lester Holt on May 27, 2017 - "... this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story." and later "It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should've won."]

2/28/18 - “You take Pulse nightclub, if you had one person in that room that could carry a gun and knew how to use it, it wouldn’t have happened, or certainly to the extent that it did.” [LIE: Adam Gruler, an off-duty police officer working in the nightclub, exchanged fire with the gunman.

2/22/18 - "I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to" - [LIE: Besides directly contradicting himself in the same tweet ("giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers"), as part of a larger argument for arming teachers he said the day before "If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly," (It needs to be pointed out he was clear that these teachers must be "adapt" in using guns)]

3/1/18 - “When I was in China, I said, 'Listen, President Xi' -- I have a lot of respect for President Xi. I said, 'I don't blame you.' If you're able to get away with making almost $500 billion a year off of our country, how could I blame you? Somebody agreed to these deals. And those people should be ashamed of themselves, what they've let happen.” [MISLEADING: It use to be $500 billion but not at the time Trump made the claim. In 2016 is was $310 billion in goods and in 2017 it was $375 billion. It is much lower, however, when you add in the SURPLUS in services. Also, countries do not "make money" off of trade deficits.]

3/1/18 - “The NAFTA deal was a disaster for our country. The WTO has been a disaster for this country, for our country. In fact, the rise of China, economically, was -- if you look at it -- directly equal to the date of the opening of the World Trade Organization.” [HYPERBOLE: Most economists think that overall, NAFTA was good for America. Yes, certain sectors lost a few jobs because of NAFTA, but many others gained jobs. Most jobs lost in American manufacturing came from automation and the conservative caused 2008 Great Recession. There is simply no validity regarding Trump's statement about the WTO.]

3/10/18 - At a rally in Pennsylvania Donald Trump claimed he got 51% of the female vote (LIE: He received 41% of the female vote; he was only counting white women.)

3/13/18 - "The state of California is begging us to build walls in certain areas. They don’t tell you that." [LIE: The governor and legislature has made it very clear they do not want a useless, expensive wall.]

3/29/18 - "I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" [LIE: Amazon charges tax in the 45 states that have a sales tax]

4/5/18 - "In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. They always like to say 'oh that's a conspiracy theory.' Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people." [LIE: Many, many, many studies have shown this is a case of a real Trump Fake News.]

4/19/18 - "James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION" [LIE: The Comey Memos made no such statement. Because Comey was fired so soon, he never had time to determine whether there was collusion (leading to the crime of conspiracy) or not. Since firing Comey was probably the first substantial incident of obstruction.]

4/28/18 - "There were 32,000 people. I finished speaking at 1:00 in the morning on Election Day. Thirty-two thousand people." [LIE: He is speaking of the rally in Grand Rapids, MI. There were 4,200 people, not 32,000.]

4/28/18 - "The Democrats don't care about our military. They don't. They don't care about our borders or crime." [HYPERBOLIC FALSEHOOD: All Democratic rhetoric shows they care very much about our military. As to the border crime, Obama cut that way back during his tenure and in any case, very little of it comes through where he wants to build his wall.]

4/28/18 - "They start something based on a document that was paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton." [LIE: Trump is talking about the Steele Dossier, a document produced as an outgrowth of Republican opposition research that was picked up by the DNC and Clinton after the GOP dropped it. The investigation he is referring to started months before the dossier was produced; it started it the loose lips of a Trump campaign analyst George Papadopoulos.]

4/28/18 - "They don't have sources. The sources don't exist in many cases. The sources in many cases don't exist." [FALSE: Speaking of mainstream news reporting. In fact, This is simply not true. Every mainstream media organization has a rigorous process to ensure not only that their sources exist but that the sources are in position to know of what they speak.]

4/28/18 - "What about the guy who took $700,000 for his wife's campaign. Nobody even talks about. Nobody even talks about it." [LIE: In referring to former FBI Director Andrew McCabe's wife who received that much in super PAC donations for a failed VA Senate bid. It is well known McCabe never "took" a dime of it.]

4/28/18 - "Chrysler is moving back to Michigan from Mexico." [LIE: No they are not.]

4/28/18 - "Cars are coming back to Michigan." [FALSE: Auto manufacturing employment numbers dropped in 2017.]

4/28/18 - "We have spent 7 trillion dollars in the Middle East." [FALSE: Nope!]

4/28/18 - "We are getting rid of Obamacare. Some people would say that we have essentially gotten rid of it." [FALSE: Last time I checked, Obamacare was alive and well with the insurers thriving. Even the individual mandate is still having some effect.)

4/28/18 - "And nobody knows what a community college is." [FALSE ON THE FACE OF IT]

5/3/18 - "Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair, despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction. [PARTLY FALSE: The part about it not being a campaign contribution - many legal scholars think it may very well be. But the interesting part is that every statement Trump has made denying knowledge or involvement over the last many, many months were instantly converted into a LIE.]

5/4/18 - "Chicago has the toughest gun laws in our country. They are so tough." [LIE: Seven states, including California and New York have tougher gun laws.]

5/4/18 - "I doubled my African-American poll numbers. We went from 11 to 22 in one week." [MOSTLY FALSE: The poll Trump used that had those percentages was for black men, for blacks in general, the numbers were 8.9% to 16.5%. The problem is, the sample size was so small, the margin of error was +/- 9%!! The pollster himself said the numbers for blacks were very unreliable and that there could have been no change at all in the underlying population.]

5/4/18 - "Now, Paul Manafort's a nice guy, but you know, he worked for me for a very short period of time — literally, for like, what? A couple of months? Little period of time." [MISLEADING: While it is true, Manafort's time with the Trump campaign was short-lived, he nevertheless was Trump's campaign manager for that period of time and therefore was very important in Trump's world.]

5/5/18 - Repeated 2 Times - A "catch and release" immigration policy "is a Democrat rule, Sherrod Brown, this is a Democrat rule." [FALSE: "The "catch and release" policy is decades old covering both Democratic and Republican administrations. It began with a 2001 Supreme Court (Rehnquist) decision during the Bush administration.]

5/8/18 - "At the heart of the Iran deal was a giant fiction, that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful nuclear energy program," [FALSE: Trump is saying here that the U.S, U.K, France, Germany, Russia, and China believed that. They didn't, that was the whole purpose of the deal - to STOP Iran's non-peaceful nuclear program and it worked.]

5/8/18 - "Today, we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie. Last week. Israel published intelligence documents, long-concealed by Iran, conclusively showing the Iranians' regime and its history of pursuing nuclear weapons," [MISLEADING: While true enough and known for a very long time, this is exactly why the deal was negotiated - to stop such development. And it did, until Trump violated the agreement opening the door for Iran to start up again.]

5/8/18 - Even if Iran complies, it can "be on the verge of a nuclear breakout in just a short period of time" [FALSE: The deal extended the "breakout time" from a few months to over a year if Iran started back up. Trump's action has effectively reduced that time again.]

5/818 - "the deal's inspection provisions lack adequate mechanisms to prevent, detect and punish cheating and don't even have the unqualified right to inspect many important locations, including military facilities." [FALSE: ALL US and foreign intelligence agencies (including Pompeo) said the inspection criteria was quite adequate and in fact Iran was complying with the deal.]

5/8/18 - The agreement "to address the regime's development of ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads." [MISLEADING: True, but then it wasn't supposed to. It was designed to prevent the greater threat, a nuclear Iran.]

5/8/18 - "Finally, the deal does nothing to constrain Iran's destabilizing activities, including its support for terrorism. Since the agreement, Iran's bloody ambitions have grown only more brazen," [MISLEADING: True, but then it wasn't supposed to. It was designed to prevent the greater threat, a nuclear Iran.]

5/9/18 - Trump says the 2018 defense authorization bill includes raises for the military "for the first time in 10 years." [LIE: The last time that service members [u]didn’t[/u] receive an annual pay increase was in 1983.]

5/10/18 - During Trump's meeting with released American prisoners from North Korea said that the New York Times lied about Secretary of State Pompeo has "gone missing". [FAKE NEWS: The NYTs actually said the European diplomats were "perplexed" that they couldn't reach Pompeo in the run-up to Trump's announcement on Iran.]

5/11/18 - "They put an order in front of my desk last week for $1 billion. I said, 'A billion? What's that for? We're going to build an embassy.' I said, 'We're not going to spend $1 billion.' We're actually doing it for about $250,000. So check that out," he said. [FALSE: The $250,000 is for temporary facilities. The real embassy will cost in excess of $1,000,000,000.]

5/15/18 - Says of MS-13 gang members, "We are getting them out of our country by the thousands." [LIKELY FALSE: While it is true Trump, like Obama, has deported thousands of gang members, no data is maintained by ICE about the gang affiliation/ So it is impossible to tell if the deportees was MS-13 or one of the hundreds of other gangs.]

5/26/18 - "The Failing @nytimes quotes 'a senior White House official,' who doesn't exist, as saying "even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed." WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources." [FALSE: At a White House sponsored "background briefing" with a roomful of reporters, a 'senior White House official' provided information on the status of the North Korean summit. They were told not to mention his name - so the reporters didn't. Because they didn't Trump went on a rampage claiming the 'senior White House official' was a figment of the reporters imagination.]

5/26/18 - "Why didn't the crooked highest levels of the FBI or 'Justice' contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?" "why didn't the crooked highest levels of the FBI or 'Justice' contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?" [BIG LIE: They did, many times!]

5/29/18 - "The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!" [MISLEADING. LIE, and FALSE: Trump has no idea if the lawyers, investigators, and support staff are ANGRY Democrats. While mostly correct in that the principal 17 lawyers working on the case (1 is a known Republican, appointed by a Republican hired by Trump, and another might be) are generally registered Democrats and some of those have donated to Democratic candidates (at least one of those also donated to Republican candidates. But, given that most of law enforcement, including the FBI, are conservative and Republican by nature (even the Democrats are mostly conservative Democrats) it would be reasonable to assume most of those working on the case ARE NOT Democrats. Further, if Mueller used political affiliation as one of the criteria to pick his team, as Trump seems to want him to do, he would be breaking the law - not likely given his stellar history as a straight-shooter. Finally, to say Republican Rosenstein and Republican Mueller are "meddling", on purpose, in the 2018 midterms while providing zero evidence or logic makes this #FakeNews.]

6/6/18 - Says that people "went out in their boats to watch" Hurricane Harvey. [LIE: It simply didn't happen according to local authorities.]

6/9/18 - "We've concluded a really tremendously successful G7." [LIE: The meeting wasn't over and he knew it because he was leaving early.]

6/9/18 - "I congratulate the leaders of other countries for so crazily being able to make these trade deals that were so good for their country and so bad for the United States." [FALSE: They weren't.]

6/9/18 - "And something happened a while ago, where Russia is no longer in." [OK, this is TRUE, just really, really stupid and embarrassing. The something was Russia invading Ukraine!]

6/9/18 - "Because the US press is very dishonest, much of it." [LIE: It isn't dishonest. The mainstream media is doing its job and Trump doesn't like it. WAH!]

6/12/18 - Says Bill Clinton "spent $3 billion and got nothing. And (North Korea) started making nuclear weapons a day later." [MOSTLY FALSE: Between 1995 and 2008, America spent about $1.3 billion on food and energy assistance. What did this get? North Korea suspended their plutonium enrichment program from 1994 to 2002. Isn't that 'something'?]

6/12/18 - "Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office ... There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." [LIE: His meeting with North Korea's murderous dictator produced only three things 1) the legitimacy of a brutal dictator on the world stage, 2) the suspension of military preparedness on the Korean mainland, and 3) a promise to talk more. North Korea is as much a nuclear threat to the world as it was the day before they met.)

6/15/18 - "You can’t (end the separation of families at the border) through an executive order." [FALSE: On 6/20/18, Trump signed an executive order ending separation of families.]

6/18/18 - "Crime in Germany is way up." [FALSE: Crime in Germany is at a 30-year LOW.]

6/26/18 - "We’ve already started (the border wall). We started it in San Diego." [MOSTLY FALSE: While some monies have been spent on fixing/replacing existing fences and in building prototypes, no NEW wall has been started.]

6/28/18 - Says Wisconsin "hadn’t been won by a Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1952. And I won Wisconsin. … Ronald Reagan, remember, Wisconsin was the state that Ronald Reagan did not win." [FALSE: Richard Nixon won three times and Ronald Reagan twice!]

6/30/18 - "I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold," [LIE: On 6/27/18 Trump tweeted "House Republicans should pass the strong but fair immigration bill, known as Goodlatte II, in their afternoon vote today, even though the Dems won't let it pass in the Senate,"]

6/30/18 - "I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13." [LIE: Trump could not have "watched" any such thing given there as never been a US town under the control of MS-13 or any other gang for that matter.]

7/2/18 - Sen. Kamala Harris is "supporting the animals of MS-13." [LIE: She doesn't and he offers zero evidence that his claim is true.]

7/11/18 - "Many countries (in NATO) owe us a tremendous amount of money for many years back, where they’re delinquent, as far as I’m concerned, because the United States has had to pay for them." [LIE: The President knows very well that there is no pot of NATO money each country contributes into. There is nothing there for a NATO country to "owe"us anything.]

7/12/18 - "The United States was paying for anywhere from 70 to 90 percent of (NATO), depending on the way you calculate." [FALSE: There is no requirement that member NATO nations spend a certain amount of money "on" NATO. Instead, the requirement is that NATO members devote at least 2% of their GDP on defense, in general. The source of Trump's 90% number is unknown. The 70% is from dividing US military spending world-wide by the sum of military spending by all NATO members.]

7/16/18 - "The Electoral College is much more advantageous for Democrats." [FALSE: If anything, studies show that the Electoral College favors Republicans.]

7/22/18 - Congratulations to @JudicialWatch and @TomFitton on being successful in getting the Carter Page FISA documents. As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of “Justice” and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam! 6:28 AM - Jul 22, 2018 [LIE: Even as redacted as it is, the warrant leaves no doubt the FBI's investigation is appropriate.]