CNN Falsely Claims False Claims Trump Lied About COVID-19

On May 29th, 2020 CNN claims Trump made 654 false claims regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The headline itself is misleading which read "Fact check: Breaking down Trump's 654 false claims over 14 weeks during the coronavirus pandemic" insinuating that Trump lied about COVID-19 654 times in 14 weeks. 

The article begins with pulling that back indicating of the 654 alleged lies, "only 215 of  them specifically [were] about the pandemic."

 001   CNN             Irrelevant claims: 439

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Midway into the article the fact that there were not even 215 false claim claims in reality, there are only 16. 

 002  CNN              Irrelevant claims: 439

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

BAN's 

What CNN is actually referring to is 16 alleged false claims were stated 215 times collectively. 

Screenshot from CNN.com

The article states the number one lie (note that the graph above states only false, not misleading, statements are tallied) being when Trump: "kept calling the restrictions a 'ban' on travel from China." and premised solely with the following:

"They aren't a ban: they contain exemptions for US citizens, permanent residents, many of the family members of both groups, and some other types of people. Trump inaccurately described the restrictions on 41 separate occasions during this 14-week period, more than he made any other individual false claim 

 

Notably, they explicitly call this a false claim.

Here is the Collins English Dictionary definition of a ban:

ban / (bæn) /

verb (used with object), banned, banning.

1. to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict:
• to ban nuclear weapons;
• The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.
2. Archaic.
1. to pronounce an ecclesiastical curse upon.
2. to curse; execrate.

noun

1. an official prohibition or interdiction
2. informal 
• denunciation or prohibition, as by public opinion: society's ban on racial discrimination.
3. Law 
• an official proclamation or public notice, esp of prohibition
4. a public proclamation or edict, esp of outlawry
5. Ecclesiastical. a formal condemnation; excommunication. 
6. a malediction; curse.

This definition is clearly applicable to a Presidential Proclamation, which is the precise word used in the noun definition of a ban.

CNN determined that the proper term is a restriction. Here is the Thesaurus.com list if synonyms for ban.

Courtesy Thesaurus.com

In the English language, a ban and a restriction are similar things, in the context of the Proclamation, they are certainly the same thing. However, to be thorough, here is the definition of a restrict (the word restriction refers to the act of restricting, thus restrict is used for a better definition).

restrict / ri-strikt /

verb (used with object)

• to confine or keep within limits, as of space, action, choice, intensity, or quantity.

The definition of a ban is clearly more applicable as the accurate noun that would define the Trump Proclamation. The Proclamation doesn't "restrict" people to the boundaries of their respective countries, but notably, as shown above, restriction is an acceptable synonym for a ban and as such, would be applicable in description. However, CNN's claim blatantly a false false claim.

This claim in particular is concerning considering it is coming from not one, but two journalists of whom one would think would at very least be in support of the meaning of words in the English language.   

 043  CNN             Irrelevant claims: 439

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Tariff's 

China, not US, is paying cost of Trump's tariffs is not relevant to COVID-19 and has been ignored.

BAN Part II

CNN labels the next item Europe travel ban as a false claim, however, Proclamations on March 11th, March 14th, April 22nd, and June 22nd were all applicable to Europe, the March 11th and 14th being the most relevant. Additionally, CNN claims he "exaggerated" without quoting a single reference and in contradiction to the previous statement that "misleading" statements were not counted assuming an exaggeration would technically qualify as misleading.

+17 allocated to CNN for false False Claims.

 061  CNN              Irrelevant claims: 510

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Borders+

"Open" Borders, $500 billion trade deficit with China, Mexico soldiers, and Protecting health conditions are not relevant to the fact check.

Broken Test from Obama

We checked every single reference quoted by CNN as well as every single other mention we could find where Trump said anything remotely similar to this and not one single time did Trump say the Obama Administration or indicate from whom the tests were obtained from at all.

Every single quote CNN prints word for word in support of this mentions not one word about Obama. 

CNN holds the opinion that what Trump did said  "clearly suggested" he meant the Obama administration, however, an opinion is not a fact nor premise for a fact check. This claim is both subjective by CNN and a relative opinion.

"Clearly", another bad mark added to CNN who appears to attempt to make up words Trump didn't actually say to support a "fact check".

 062  CNN             Irrelevant claims: 510

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

More Unrelated Commentary 

CNN out of the blue, CNN goes off topic stating that:

Undeterred by the pandemic, Trump kept using a bunch of his old favorite false claims. (No, he is not the one who got the Obama-era Veterans Choice program passed; no, he has not always protected patients with pre-existing conditions.)

None of which is relevant nor could CNN tie it together with anything other than the irrelevant first three words. No point to either party nor noted as irrelevant since no numbers were associated.

Testing

CNN claims Trump made 37 false statements regarding testing some of which were related to this:

This includes one of his most infamous and most egregious false claims of the crisis -- his March 6 declaration that "anybody that wants a test can get a test"

This is a false False Claim and one we have an entire article on as is the 12 renditions of Obama inheritance we discussed previously. +13 CNN.

 075  CNN             Irrelevant claims: 510

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Ventilator Shortage

CNN disproves its own false claim as a false false claim on this one. They state that

Trump also made 24 false claims about ventilators and the Strategic National Stockpile. Ten of these were versions of his claim that he was left entirely empty stockpile shelves by Obama. In reality, Obama left thousands of ventilators and various other supplies.

First of all this is once again another relative opinion from CNN and once again CNN is stating words that Trump did not say. Trump used an old analogy and actually that "Obama left the cupboards bare" and what a "bare cupboard" is in itself is relative as is the support effort of "thousands" of ventilators.

In a country of 365 million people, "thousands" of ventilators, as report by CNN themselves, does indeed sound like a "bare cupboard", however, this is not what CNN quoted to discredited themselves, in a linked article they quoted a 2011 study. 

"A January 2011 study, which was supported by the NIH, said that "without a doubt, the current ventilator supply in the United States is nowhere near sufficient to meet the projected needs of a pandemic" like the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions of people around the world."

This is word for word what CNN themselves printed. 

24 points added to CNN.

 099  CNN             Irrelevant claims: 510

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Travel

As previously discussed, the travel ban is a false False Claim. +71, CNN.

  170  CNN             Irrelevant claims: 510

 000  Trump               Scoreboard

Governors and Equipment

CNN points to an alleged false claim that Trump "falsely denied" saying what reporter Yamiche Alcindor quoted him as saying then go on to prove Trump was right, proving themselves wrong, and yet, still call this a false claim. 

Yamiche Alcindor  quoted Trump to have said "that some of the equipment that governors are requesting they don't actually need". 

Trump responded with "I didn't say that".

What does CNN do to support Yamiche Alcindor and allege Trump falsely denied saying this? They quote what Trump actually said and discredit the reporter themselves. 

What Trump actually said was this:

"I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they are going to be, I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators."

 

Additionally, he said this as reported by CNN  as well:

"a lot of equipment's being asked for that I don't think they'll need"

Stating that Trump said Governors were resting equipment they didn't need is not the same as saying Trump doesn't believe they need that equipment in that quantity. There is a huge difference here. 

The way the reporter worded the question made it sound as if Trump stated governors were maliciously overstocking, whereas the actual truth was that Trump had a different opinion on what the needs were based on his reports. 

Despite this or the fact that they printed both version which are not only different in meaning but in actual words, CNN maintained that Trump lied. 

Yet another bad mark for CNN and at this point this author is in disbelief.  It was expected to find one or two false Fake Claims, but almost every single one has been questionable or blatantly false, some to the point of being out right irresponsible and/or malicious in intent. 

Testing Again

CNN claims that Trump exaggerated by saying the United States had performed more test than all other countries combined. 

This is actually true. +1 bad mark Trump.  He has also said this on a few occasions and it is outright incorrect.

Has the United States performed more test than any other country? Yes. Also the United States is #1 to #2 depending on  the day in tests per-capita often trading places with the UK.

However, all countries combined? No. There has not been one single day this was true. This is inaccurate and exactly what CNN reported.

  171  CNN             

 001  Trump               Scoreboard

Then Come Jokes

CNN then jokes about a Fact Check which is actually false False Claims, in that the President said to "inject disinfectant", which he did not say. +1 CNN

However land an accurate claim in that the President claimed the aforementioned was him being sarcastic because he couldn't have been sarcastic about something he didn't say, however, regardless it is impossible to know if the President was being sarcastic or not.

Despite this fact, we can give CNN the benefit of the doubt by using the technical explanation that Trump couldn't have been sarcastic about something he didn't say just to keep CNN from another point. 

They make 30 more claims quoting Factbase which are peer opinions of positive or negative opinions many of which people just don't like the way he said something. In one instance there was a negative mark counted as a lie where the President merely said he and the Vice President had taken tests. +30 CNN.

None of these present any evidence.  

  201  CNN             

 002  Trump               Scoreboard

The remainder presented no evidence and several of these just stated "we counted".

Final score. Trump 2, CNN 201. 

Summary

201 false claims by CNN. 

Claim: "CNN: Fact check: Breaking down Trump's 654 false claims over 14 weeks during the coronavirus pandemic"

Fact Check Verdict:  201 FALSE CLAIMS 

Claimant:  CNN

Additional Claimants: Daniel Dale and Tara Subramaniam