During a Fox and Friends interview on September 15, 2020, Trump claimed that many nations, like Austria, had “forest cities” and had more “explosive” trees than the American West Coast, which was suffering from widespread forest fires.
Well look, Brian, you have forests all over the world. You don’t have fires like you do in California, you know. In Europe, they have forest cities. You look at — you look at countries — Austria. You look at so many countries, they live in the forest. They’re considered forest cities — so many of them.
And they don’t have fires like this and they have more explosive trees. They have trees that will catch easier. But they maintain their fire. They have an expression, they thin the fuel. The fuel is what’s on the ground — the leaves.
In response, an Austrian minister of agriculture made a statement correcting Trump, and emphasizing how the country lives “in a close, sustainable relationship with the natural environment.”
San Francisco’s red sky during the wildfires. Brittany Hosea-Small / AFP
Trump first voiced the unsound claim that vaccines cause autism during a 2007 interview with the Orlando Sun-Sentinal. Trump said his then-infant son Barron was being given vaccinations over a prolonged period of time, explaining, “When I was growing up, autism wasn’t really a factor. And now all of a sudden, it’s an epidemic. Everybody has their theory. My theory, and I study it because I have young children, my theory is the shots.”
In a 2009 Fox News segment, Trump called to say, “I think the vaccines can be very dangerous. And, obviously, you know, a lot of people are talking about vaccines with children with respect to autism.” He reiterated the claim again in a 2012 interview with Fox News on Autism Awareness Day.
Trump has also voiced this belief via Twitter.
Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism….
During the 2015 Republican Presidential Primaries, Trump said he was supportive of vaccines, but again stated his belief that the dosages should be smaller and administered over a longer period of time.
In an August 31, 2020 Fox News interview, Trump alleged a conspiracy about opponent Joe Biden, who had been a centrist Democrat for 47 years of public service.
INGRAHAM: Who do you think is pulling Biden’s strings. Is it former Obama people?
TRUMP: People that you’ve never heard of. People that are in the dark shadows. People that are-
INGRAHAM: What does that mean? That sounds like conspiracy theory. Dark shadows, what is that?
TRUMP: People that you haven’t heard of. There are people that are on the streets. There are people that are controlling the streets. We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend and in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that. They’re on a plane.
INGRAHAM: Where is-
TRUMP: I’ll tell you sometime, but it’s under investigation right now. But they came from a certain city, and this person was coming to the Republican National Convention. And there were like seven people on the plane like this person. And then a lot of people were on the plane to do big damage. They were coming-
INGRAHAM: Planning for Washington.
TRUMP: Yeah, this is all happening.
INGRAHAM: But the money is coming from somewhere. How can it be tracked?
TRUMP: Money is coming from some very stupid rich people, that have no idea that if their thing ever succeeded, which it won’t, they will be thrown to the wolves like you’ve never seen before.
Trump seemed to be vaguely referencing protesters, who he also alleged had kept the city of Portland burning for “decades.” In the same interview, Trump compared killings by police to choking at golf.
Trump made the remarks in an August 31, 2020 Fox News interview:
The police are under siege because of things – they can do 10,000 great acts, which is what they do, and one bad apple, or a choker – you know a choker, they choke, shooting the guy in the back many times. Couldn’t you have done something different? Couldn’t you have wrestled him? In the meantime, he might’ve been going for a weapon. And there’s a whole big thing there. But they choke. Just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot putt.
In a July 19 interview on Fox News, Trump shrugged off over 150,000 American deaths from COVID-19 by saying, “it is what it is.”
WALLACE: But I can tell you, the death chart is a thousand cases a day.
TRUMP: Excuse me, it’s all too much, it shouldn’t be one case. It came from China. They should’ve never let it escape. They should’ve never let it out. But it is what it is. Take a look at Europe, take a look at the numbers in Europe. And by the way, they’re having cases.
WALLACE: I can tell you cases are 6,000 in the whole European Union.
Trump went on to claim that the reason why cases were lower in the European Union was because they didn’t adequately test.
Trump repeated the remark in another interview with Axios on August 3 when asked about the daily deaths across the country.
TRUMP: Yeah. Under the circumstances right now, I think it’s under control. I’ll tell you what-
SWAN: How? 1,000 Americans are dying a day.
TRUMP: They are dying. That’s true. And it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.
During an interview with Chris Wallace, Trump claimed that Fox News polls showing him losing to Biden were fake, and declined to answer definitively if he would accept the 2020 election results if he lost.
I have to see. Look, you – I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say ‘yes.’
Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting despite the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, though he used mail-in voting himself. In the lead up to the 2016 campaign, Trump similarly declined to say whether he would accept the election results. Even though he ultimately won, he blamed the loss of the popular vote on mass voter fraud.
After taking the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, Trump claimed that his doctors were “very surprised” at the results of his test, which he said he “aced.” However, the White House has not released any details about the results of the exam.
In a July 19, 2020 Fox News interview with Chris Wallace, Trump also challenged Biden to take the exam. He said that the questions “get very hard,” and didn’t think Wallace would be able to answer them.
However, the creators of the exam have themselves described it as simple, intended only to test basic cognitive function rather than as any measure of intelligence. The one-page test can be easily found online.
In a Fox News interview with Harris Faulkner, Trump repeated past claims that he had done more for the black community than any other President. In doing so, he made a comment about “the end result.”
TRUMP: I think I’ve done more for the black community than any other President. And let’s take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good, although it’s always questionable, you know, the end result-
FAULKNER: Well we are free, Mr. President so I think he did pretty well. [laughter]
TRUMP: But we are free. You understand what I mean.
As with the first and second timelines, COVID-19 case numbers for this post are taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, and there may be a lag between Trump’s statements and the day’s reported numbers.
Apr. 20 – 808,540 US cases, 43,632 US deaths. 2.5 million cases and 173,000 deaths worldwide.
Now we’re going toward 50 – I’m hearing, or 60,000 people. One is too many. I always say it. One is too many, but we’re going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That’s at the lower – as you know the lower (end of the projections) was supposed to be 100,000 people.
Trump compares a testing swab to a Q-Tip.
This is what it’s about, right? Does it remind you of something? Reminds you of this, right? One’s a swab, one’s a Q-Tip. It’s actually different. It’s very sophisticated, actually.
I’ve had great “ratings” my whole life, there’s nothing unusual about that for me. The White House News Conference ratings are “through the roof”(Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale , @nytimes) but I don’t care about that. I care about going around the Fake News to the PEOPLE!
Apr. 22 – 866,683 cases, 48,790 deaths. Trump shuts down immigration via Executive Order.
I will be signing my Executive Order prohibiting immigration into our Country today. In the meantime, even without this order, our Southern Border, aided substantially by the 170 miles of new Border Wall & 27,000 Mexican soldiers, is very tight – including for human trafficking!
So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light… And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning
Apr. 24 – 934,555 cases, 53,183 deaths.
Trump says he made comments about UV light and injecting disinfectant “sarcastically.”
Our Country wants to move safely forward. There is a tremendous pent up demand. We will open big!
Getting VERY good reviews of the job the Federal Government is doing on CoronaVirus. Ventilators, building hospitals, beds and yes, Testing, have been handled incredibly well. Testing is getting exponentially better every day. Love seeing our Country safely opening up!
Was just informed that the Fake News from the Thursday White House Press Conference had me speaking & asking questions of Dr. Deborah Birx. Wrong, I was speaking to our Laboratory expert, not Deborah, about sunlight etc. & the CoronaVirus. The Lamestream Media is corrupt & sick!
I never said the pandemic was a Hoax! Who would say such a thing? I said that the Do Nothing Democrats, together with their Mainstream Media partners, are the Hoax. They have been called out & embarrassed on this, even admitting they were wrong, but continue to spread the lie!
Trump brushes off reports of people taking his former suggestions about using UV light and injecting disinfectant seriously.
I can’t imagine why [people are ingesting disinfectants].
Why should the people and taxpayers of America be bailing out poorly run states (like Illinois, as example) and cities, in all cases Democrat run and managed, when most of the other states are not looking for bailout help? I am open to discussing anything, but just asking?
There has never been, in the history of our Country, a more vicious or hostile Lamestream Media than there is right now, even in the midst of a National Emergency, the Invisible Enemy!
Apr. 28 – 1,044,752 cases, 60,406 deaths. COVID-19 deaths now surpass all US deaths from the Vietnam War.
We are doing far more, and better, Testing than any other country in the world, and yet the media does nothing but complain. No matter how good a job is done, the same as with the Ventilators, they will never say we are doing a great job, they will only viciously gripe!
I must admit that Lyin’ Brian Williams is, while dumber than hell, quite a bit smarter than Fake News @CNN “anchorman” Don Lemon, the “dumbest man on television”. Then you have Psycho Joe “What Ever Happened To Your Girlfriend?” Scarborough, another of the low I.Q. individuals!
We can’t let the Fake News, and their partner, the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, get away with stealing the Election. They tried that in 2016. How did that work out?
May 1 – 1,141,084 cases, 67,077 deaths. Trump replaces watchdog who identified critical medical shortages and threatens China with new tariffs as retaliation for COVID-19.
Hopefully we’re going to come in under that 100,000 lives lost.
The Democrats are just, as always, looking for trouble. They do nothing constructive, even in times of crisis. They don’t want to blame their cash cow, China, for the plague. China is blaming Europe. Dr. Fauci will be testifying before the Senate very soon! #DONOTHINGDEMOCRATShttps://t.co/fgHuYeiOQY
She was thrown off The View like a dog, Zero T.V. Personas. Now Wallace is a 3rd rate lapdog for Fake News MSDNC (Concast). Doesn’t have what it takes! https://t.co/F8azYEJHm5
….And then came a Plague, a great and powerful Plague, and the World was never to be the same again! But America rose from this death and destruction, always remembering its many lost souls, and the lost souls all over the World, and became greater than ever before!
.@PeteHegseth “Oh bye the way, I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during Impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside.” @foxandfriends He was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history!
“Concast” should open up a long overdue Florida Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough. I know him and Crazy Mika well, used them beautifully in the last Election, dumped them nicely, and will state on the record that he is “nuts”. Besides, bad ratings! #OPENJOECOLDCASE
May 5 – 1,247,549 cases, 73,733 deaths. Trump discusses shutting down the coronavirus response team.
Trump complains about aggressive reporters.
Paula Reid, she’s sitting there and I say, ‘How angry. I mean, What’s the purpose?’ They’re not even tough questions, but you see the attitude of these people, it’s like incredible.
Trump tours a mask facility without wearing a mask, while the song Live and Let Die plays over the loudspeakers.
I think it’s a mask facility, right? If it’s a mask facility, I will. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s a mask facility.
The Do Nothing Democrats and their leader, the Fake News Lamestream Media, are doing everything possible to hurt and disparage our Country. No matter what we do or say, no matter how big a win, they report that it was a loss, or not good enough. The Enemy of the People!
For the constant criticism from the Do Nothing Democrats and their Fake News partners, here is the newest chart on our great testing “miracle" compared to other countries. Dems and LameStream Media should be proud of the USA, instead of always ripping us down! pic.twitter.com/8AwnPCNchF
May 6 – 1,273,101 cases, 76,312 deaths. Signs Proclamation in Recognition of National Nurses Day.
Trump speaks on Dr. Bright, a vaccine expert who was fired for pushing back against the unproven drugs Trump promoted.
I never met Dr. Bright. I don’t know who he is. I didn’t hear good things about him. I did not hear good things about him at all. To me, he seems like a disgruntled employee that’s trying to help the Democrats.
Trump reversed prior remarks on dissolving the coronavirus response team.
I thought we could wind it down sooner. But I had no idea how popular the task force is until, actually, yesterday when I started talking about winding it down.
This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great. The tests are perfect, but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens and all of the sudden.
Trump: Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of the sudden today she tested positive… This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great pic.twitter.com/iM9Xo3jddU
Yesterday was a BIG day for Justice in the USA. Congratulations to General Flynn, and many others. I do believe there is MUCH more to come! Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians do not go well together!
So in California, the Democrats, who fought like crazy to get all mail in only ballots, and succeeded, have just opened a voting booth in the most Democrat area in the State. They are trying to steal another election. It’s all rigged out there. These votes must not count. SCAM!
Why is it that all of the political pundits & consultants that I beat so easily & badly, people that charged their clients far more than their services were worth, have become so totally “unhinged” when it come to your favorite President, me. These people are stone cold crazy!
May 11 – 1,397,037 cases, 83,948 deaths. Trump storms out of press conference.
May 15 – 1,498,606 cases, 91,154 deaths.
Joe has absolutely no idea what’s happening. AOC is a disaster. She wants all fossil fuel out. She wants everything out. She wants wind, which is expensive — kills all the birds. You know, I’m also an environmentalist. But wind is a disaster.
May 16 – 1,522,117 cases, 92,396 deaths.
We used to make our own product, would you believe it? We used to make our product, right. We don’t need 37 pencils, we can buy two pencils, and make them be better.
Michael Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer for over a decade. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations and tax evasion regarding a payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, with whom Trump had an affair.
Michael Cohen / Wikipedia
Expenditures in defense of a candidate’s political outcome can be considered campaign contributions, subject to laws that bar corporate donations and establish donation limits. After acting as an intermediary for the payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen filed fake invoices to Trump’s company.
As part of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Cohen’s home and office were raided in April 2018 by the FBI. In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to 8 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. He later pleaded guilty to an additional count of lying to a Senate and House Intelligence Committees regarding the proposed Trump Hotel Moscow.
In February 2019, Cohen asserted that all he had done was at Trump’s direction. While his testimony was colored by his previous lie to Congress, Cohen claimed that he then only sought to tell the truth as he was no longer working to defend the President.
Last fall I pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with Individual Number 1. And for the record, Individual Number 1 is President Donald J. Trump.
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, noted that Cohen had committed his felonies at the request of Trump to influence the election: “He stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
Trump said he never directed Cohen to do anything illegal.
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
Rudy Giuliani, who was added to Trump’s legal team, admitted in a Fox News interview that Trump repaid the money to Cohen. However, he defended it by saying it wasn’t campaign money, and so there was no campaign finance law violation on Trump’s behalf. He also indicated that Trump was aware of the payment from the beginning, though Trump had repeatedly denied any knowledge of Stormy Daniels or the $130,000 in hush money.
It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violations…[it was] funneled through a law firm, and the President repaid it.
…everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I wasn’t. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign. I said $130,000? You’re gonna do a couple checks for $130,000. When I heard Cohen’s retainer of $35,000, when he was doing no work for the President, I said that’s how he’s repaying, that’s how, how he’s repaying it. With a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes for Michael.
[Trump] didn’t know about the specifics of it.
For pleading guilty to the following counts, Cohen was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison, along with fines, asset forfeiture, and disbarment:
5 counts of tax evasion
1 count of making false statements to a financial institution
1 count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution
1 count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate or campaign
1 count of making false statements to a congressional committee
