Trump Campaign Press Release - Correct The Record: Biden In Pennsylvania?

BIDEN: "I used to be a county commissioner."

FACT: Biden was a county council member, not a commissioner.

• Joe Biden was elected to be a member on the New Castle County Council in 1970.
• The New Castle County Council does not have commissioners.

BIDEN: "An independent analysis by Moody's, a Wall Street firm, looked at my plan and his plan in detail, this is Moody's, and they said my plan will create 18.6 million jobs in the next four years."

FACT: The outfit Biden cited – Moody's – has a history of drastically underestimating the positive effects of President Trump's economic policies.

• In 2016, Moody's estimated then-candidate Trump's economic plans would lead to higher unemployment rates under every scenario; in fact, the unemployment rate fell to a half-century low under President Trump before the pandemic hit.
• Moody's drastically underestimated job growth and the increase in the stock market that has happened under President Trump.

BIDEN: "Now we find out Trump has a secret bank account in China."

FACT: The bank account is neither secret nor President Trump's.

• Long before Donald Trump ran for president, Trump International Hotels Management opened an account in order to pay local taxes in China and to explore potential hotel deals in Asia.
• No deals, transactions, or other business activities ever materialized, and since 2015, the business office has remained inactive.
• The Trump Organization maintains bank accounts in other countries where it does business, as international businesses typically do.
• The Trump Organization's account proves one thing: an international hotel business was an international hotel business.
• Meanwhile, Joe Biden still owes the American people answers about his foreign corruption and dangerous ties to China.

BIDEN: "Guess what, he's paid 50 times more in taxes in Beijing than he's paid in America."

FACT: This is false; President Trump has personally paid millions of dollars in taxes in 2016 and 2017, and the taxes paid in China were by a business, not by President Trump.

• A Trump Organization spokesman has directly said that "most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate" in The New York Times' reporting on the President's taxes.
• The Times'reporting is incorrect; the President paid $7.4 million in federal taxes in 2017, not $750.
• The Times' article ignores millions of dollars the President has paid in payroll, property, and other taxes, along with state and local taxes he has paid.
• Meanwhile, the taxes paid in China were paid by Trump International Hotels Management, not by President Trump.

BIDEN: "He says reelect me and I'm going to do away with the funding for Social Security out of your paycheck. Sounds great, except the actuary at Social Security said that will bankrupt Social Security by 2023."

FACT: This attack from Biden is false and has previously been debunked by fact checkers. The President's payroll tax deferral will not harm Social Security.

• The Washington Post's Fact Checker gave Biden's attack "Four Pinocchios," saying Biden and other "Democrats ginned up a letter from [Social Security's] chief actuary to describe a plan that does not currently exist."
• FactCheck.org and USA Todayhave debunked this and similar claims from Biden's campaign and his allies.
• President Trump wants to make the payroll tax deferral permanent next year, making this deferral a cut "without in any way, shape, or form hurting Social Security."
• The President has said he would use the Treasury Department's general fund to reimburse Social Security's trust fund, ensuring zero impact on our nation's seniors.
• Biden's attack is not only false, it is hypocritical.
• In 2011, Biden wrote an op-ed touting a bill Obama signed to cut the payroll tax, specifically saying it was "misinformation" to suggest a payroll tax cut hurt Social Security's solvency.
• President Trump has promised to always protect Social Security, unlike Biden who bragged in the 1990s about his efforts to "freeze" benefits.

BIDEN: "[Trump] said, if you look at the blue states, the Democratic governors and just look at the red states of the Republican governors, we're doing well. Well, first of all, it's not true. The great rise has happened in most of the red states."

FACT: This is false, coronavirus cases have also increased in states run by Democratic Governors.

• Even The New York Times admitted "Virginia, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Colorado, and Washington have all seen increasing case counts."
• The Associated Press pointed out that coronavirus is a public health problem that affect people "no matter where they live or what their politics are."
• 6 of the top 10 states for coronavirus deaths are run by Democratic Governors.

BIDEN: "I'm not banning fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else."

FACT: Biden repeatedly said he would ban fracking, wipe out fracking jobs, and eliminate the fossil fuel industry.

• In a local interview today, Biden promised that there will be "no fracking on federal land" if he is elected.
• Biden admitted during a debate last year there would be "no place" for fossil fuels, including fracking, in a Biden presidency, and that fossil fuels would be "eliminated."
• Biden agreed with a supporter in January that fracking needed to be stopped.
• Biden said in February that he wants to "phase out" oil and gas.
• In March, Biden exclaimed "so am I!" after Bernie Sanders said he was campaigning on "stopping fracking as soon as we possibly can."
• Last year, Biden pledged to a supporter that he would "end" fossil fuels.
• Biden said he would "sacrifice" "hundreds of thousands" of oil and gas jobs in pursuit of his anti-energy agenda.
• Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, wants to eliminate all fracking, saying "there's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking."
• Even CNN has said that Biden repeatedly voiced support for eliminating fracking.

BIDEN: "But nothing is more offensive than the way he's spoken about, as I said those who serve the nation [military servicemembers], suckers and losers."

FACT:At least 14 officials who were on the 2018 trip to France with President Trump have gone on the record to refute the anonymous sources and allegations in The Atlantic article:

• Sarah Sanders, former White House Press Secretary: "The Atlantic story on @realDonaldTrump is total BS. I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion - this never happened."
• Hogan Gidley, former White House Deputy Press Secretary: "These are disgusting, grotesque, reprehensible lies. I was there in Paris and the President never said those things."
• Dan Scavino, White House Deputy Chief Of Staff for Communications: "I was with POTUS in France, with Sarah, and have been at his side throughout it all. Complete lies by 'anonymous sources'…"
• Jordan Karem, former Personal Aide to President Trump: "This is not even close to being factually accurate. plain and simple, it just never happened."
• Karem: "Again, this is 100% false. I was next to @POTUS the whole day! The President was greatly disappointed when told we couldn't fly there. He was incredibly eager to honor our Fallen Heroes."
• Johnny DeStefano, former Counselor to the President: "I was on this trip. The Atlantic bit is not true. Period."
• John Bolton, former National Security Advisor: "'I didn't hear that,' Mr. Bolton said in an interview. 'I'm not saying he didn't say them later in the day or another time but I was there for that discussion.'"
• Stephen Miller, White House Senior Adviser: The accusation is a "despicable lie … The president deeply wanted to attend the memorial event in question and was deeply displeased by the bad weather call."
• Tony Ornato, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and then-Head of the Secret Service's Presidential Protective Detail has said the story is false.
• Derek Lyons, Staff Secretary and Counselor to the President: "I was with the President the morning after the scheduled visit. He was extremely disappointed that arrangements could not be made to get him to the site, and that the trip had been cancelled."
• Dan Walsh, former White House Deputy Chief Of Staff: "I can attest to the fact that there was a bad weather call in France, and that the helicopters were unable to safely make the flight."
• Zach Fuentes, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff: "I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather."
• First Lady Melania Trump: "@TheAtlantic story is not true. It has become a very dangerous time when anonymous sources are believed above all else, & no one knows their motivation. This is not journalism - It is activism. And it is a disservice to the people of our great nation."
• Jamie McCourt, U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco: "In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either. Let me add, he was devastated to not be able to go to the cemetery at Belleau Wood. In fact, the next day, he attended and spoke at the ceremony in Suresnes in the pouring rain."
• Major General William Matz (ret.), Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission: "I was the host of the event discussed by the false and despicable article published in The Atlantic magazine on 3 September. On 10 November 2018, I was at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery awaiting the arrival of President Trump. As a former Army infantryman who has flown on many helicopters, I knew that morning the weather was bad and the ceiling was too low for a safe landing that day. When the President's visit was appropriately canceled due to weather, I received word also that he was upset he would not be able to make the wreath-laying visit and to pay his respect to the 2300 fallen soldiers and Marines interred there. … Those who know President Trump know that the anonymous smears peddled by The Atlantic have no basis in fact or reality, and do a terrible disservice to journalism and to our veterans, living and deceased."
• Additionally, The Atlantic's reporting has been refuted by a White House email and Navy documents that directly show a "bad weather call" was the reason for the canceled presidential trip to Aisne-Marne cemetery in 2018.

BIDEN: "The administration gave Wall Street investors though a heads-up [about the coronavirus]. He didn't tell us. He just told his Wall Street friends and that's why they made so much money by quote, selling short in the market."

FACT: This is completely false; neither President Trump nor anyone in his Administration gave a "heads up" to Wall Street.

• Even the overhyped New York Times article Biden is citing does not support what he is saying.
• In late February, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Council of Economic Advisers Chair Tomas Philipson spoke to a group where they simply said that the coronavirus could have an effect on the economy.
• A private consultant who attended the events wrote a memo that was circulated in the financial world talking about the potential for economic uncertainty.
• No one in the White House or the Trump Administration participated in writing or distributing this memo.
• The comments made at these events were the same things that Kudlow and Philipson were saying publicly at the time; there was no private "heads up."
• Philipson, February 24: "The real threat, I think, is obviously the coronavirus. We don't know yet, but we're taking a wait and see approach."
• Kudlow, February 25: "There will be some stumbles. We're looking at numbers; it's a little iffy."

BIDEN: "But the American people don't panic. He panicked. And he still has no plan [for coronavirus]."

FACT:President Trump took action to combat the coronavirus beginning in January, and his Administration has led an unprecedented response to protect American lives.

• According to Dr. Fauci, the Trump Administration "acted very, very early" to combat the spread of the virus and did not delay putting in place mitigation strategies.
• President Trump restricted travel from China on January 31, a decision that saved American lives.
• On February 11, top Biden coronavirus advisor Ron Klain admitted the Trump Administration was "far from doing nothing."
• Even Democratic Governors such as Andrew Cuomo (NY) praised the Trump Administration's response: "What the federal government did, working with states, was a phenomenal accomplishment."
• President Trump completely overhauled the old and outdated testing system and replaced it with an innovative new testing strategy to meet the country's needs.
• President Trump used the Defense Production Act dozens of times to expand coronavirus testing technologies and capacity.
• President Trump launched Operation Warp Speed to guarantee that the American people are first in line for a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine—at no cost—as soon as one is developed.

BIDEN: "Before the pandemic, he handed out $1.5 trillion in tax giveaways to the wealthiest families in the nation and the corporations."

FACT: President Trump's tax cuts benefitted Americans at every income level and are delivering important benefits for working families and middle-class workers.

• Biden's claim that the tax cuts primarily benefited the wealthy is completely false and has repeatedly been debunked by fact-checkers and even The New York Times.
• IRS data shows that Americans with income between $50,000 and $100,000 saw twice as much of a drop in their annual taxes compared to Americans with incomes over $1 million.
• 82 percent of middle-income earners received a tax cut thanks to President Trump, and 65 percent of all taxpayers are estimated to have seen their taxes go down.
• The average family of four received a $2,000 tax cut, while also seeing benefits like the doubling of the child tax credit and lower energy bills.
• The Trump tax cuts are also helping workers, and are projected to create 1.4 million new jobs across all 50 states.
• President Trump's tax cuts created more than 8,700 opportunity zones which spurred $75 billion in new investments in disadvantaged communities.
• The Council of Economic Advisers projects that 1 million people can potentially be lifted out of poverty due to these new investments.
• More than 14 million small business owners took advantage of the new deduction for pass-through businesses.

BIDEN: "They do have time, though, to spend several weeks on confirming a new [Supreme Court] Justice [Amy Coney Barrett] who is interested in doing one thing: getting rid of Obamacare."

FACT: This is false; Judge Barrett has not expressed a view about the constitutionality of Obamacare or about the current case pending before the Supreme Court.

• Judge Amy Coney Barrett has not ruled on Obamacare, taking a firm position that a Judge's role is to interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench.

BIDEN: "He has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, over 400 million, due in the next two years, who does he owe it to?"

FACT: There is no mystery here; President Trump's financial disclosures are available to the public, and they list his liabilities in detail.

• President Trump has said his debt is "a tiny percentage of [his] net worth."

BIDEN: "He's never delivered on his promise for a big infrastructure plan. He told you in '17, I've got an infrastructure plan coming and in '18, '19, and '20. He hasn't done a thing."

FACT: President Trump released an infrastructure plan more than two years ago, and has repeatedly called on Congress to invest trillions in our infrastructure and included proposals in his budget to do just that.

• In February 2018, President Trump unveiled a plan to spur $1.5 trillion in new infrastructure spending.
• The President included his infrastructure plan in both his FY 2019 and his FY 2020 budgets.
• In his budget this year, President Trump again called for rebuilding our infrastructure, proposing $1 trillion in direct federal investment to rebuild and modernize American infrastructure.
• While President Trump is ready, willing, and able to act; Congress has failed to heed this call.
• In March 2020, President Trump continued to push for infrastructure funding, calling for a $2 trillion infrastructure package as part of a new coronavirus relief bill.

BIDEN: "I'm gonna build on the Affordable Care Act so you can keep your private insurance, if that's what you choose to do."

FACT: Biden's public option will end up destroying private health insurance, crowding out these plans with a subsidized government-run health plan.

• Biden's "public option" will jeopardize the private insurance plans held by millions of Americans, a fact that President Obama himself acknowledged in 2009.
• ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber conducted a study confirming that a public option would crowd out private health insurance plans, and later said "if the Democrats are right...it'll wipe out the private choice."
• The Obama-Biden Administration made the same promise – that Americans could keep their private insurance if they wanted – when they passed Obamacare, a lie which later earned "Lie of the Year."

• Biden is campaigning on a healthcare agenda that would cancel health plans, raise taxes, skyrocket premiums, jeopardize rural hospitals, and bring America closer to a disastrous government-run healthcare system.

• Biden's running mate Kamala Harris has even openly said she supports eliminating private insurance.