After Special Counsel Robert Mueller gave a press conference on Wednesday that debunked all claims that his report “totally exonerated” the president, Trump went on a two-day Twitter rant, to the surprise of absolutely no one. CNN’s Jim Acosta appeared on The Situation Room on Thursday to fact-check those tweets and expose the frightened lies Trump is spreading.
Acosta was quickly able to debunk that claim, as Trump regularly inflates numbers (like his own wealth) when it suits him to do so.
‘For starters, the latest estimated cost of the Mueller report and Russia investigation is $25 million, not $40 million.’
More than $25 million (and in fact more than Trump’s lie that the investigation cost the taxpayers $40 million) was also recovered in asset forfeitures from Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
Acosta asserted that this claim is also untrue, citing Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Bannon says that Mueller came to the White House at the Trump administration’s request to discuss ways to reform the FBI. Trump has also claimed that Mueller was conflicted over a refund he requested on golf fees from a Trump golf club years ago. The idea that Mueller lay in wait for decades to get his revenge over golf fees doesn’t even need a fact-check. It’s a ridiculous claim.
Trump also began the day after Mueller’s press conference by inadvertently admitting that Russia’s hacking of the DNC emails in 2016 were to help him get elected.He later tried to walk back that claim, angrily saying to reporters, “you know who got me elected? I got me elected! Russia didn’t help me at all!” He went on to claim that Russia’s hacking attempts were to help Clinton win, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
As Acosta pointed out, the intelligence community has already debunked that nonsense claim, as well.
‘A 2017 U.S. Intelligence community report stated “we further assess Putin and the ‘Russian government developed a clear preference for President-Elect Trump,” and then there’s the president’s personal call for Russian assistance during the campaign.’
For Acosta’s fact-checking assessment on The Situation Room, see video below:
CNN's Jim @Acosta: "Pres. Trump gave fact-checkers quite a workout today as he opened up a fire hose of falsehoods on special counsel Robert Mueller. That performance came after the President appeared to accidentally concede that the Russians helped him win the 2016 election." pic.twitter.com/C033Hhg8Qz
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) May 30, 2019
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
