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Final fact check: Donald Trump said 26 false things on Sunday

Trump made false claims about everything from Iran to Frank Sinatra.

Fact or fiction: Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina Nov. 7. The Toronto Star's Daniel Day counted 26 false things the Republican presidential candidate said on Sunday. Monday is a new day.Fact or fiction: Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina Nov. 7. The Toronto Star's Daniel Day counted 26 false things the Republican presidential candidate said on Sunday. Monday is a new day.  (CHRIS KEANE / REUTERS)  

NEW YORK—Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had the busiest day of his campaign on Sun., Nov. 6, holding five rallies. He said 26 false things:

Sioux City, Iowa

1. Falsely said, “The Iran deal — $150 billion going back to Iran.”(The nuclear deal with Iran did not involve $150 billion going back to Iran; rather, a smaller amount of Iranian assets were unfrozen. The Treasury Department told Congress in 2015 that total Iranian assets were estimated at $100 billion to $125 billion; it put the “usable liquid assets” at around $50 billion. Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran would get about $55 billion.)

 

2. Falsely said of Frank Sinatra’s opinion of his hit “My Way” after it became popular: “All of a sudden, he loved it. He loved it. It became his favourite song, just about.” (Sinatra never came to like “My Way,” let alone making it one of his favourites. His daughter Tina said in 2000, “He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent. He didn’t like it. That song stuck and he couldn’t get it off his shoe.”)

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3. Falsely said, “As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton allowed thousands and thousands of the most dangerous and violent criminal aliens to go free, because their home countries would not, under any circumstances, take them back. Can you imagine that? They catch murderers, drug dealers, the worst people, the worst people; they bring ’em back and their country says we’re not taking ’em. They go through the secretary of state, she said ‘bring ’em back.’ ” (This is wrong in more than one way: These immigrants were not actually sent to their refusing home countries; they were simply released from prison in the U.S. This was not Clinton’s personal choice: a 2001 Supreme Court decision requires their eventual release if they can’t be deported. The decision did not go through the secretary of state.)

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 4. Falsely said, of the illegal immigrant drunk driver who killed Sarah Root: “Despite the pleas of people who knew him: don’t do this, don’t do this.” (There is no evidence that people who knew Eswin Mejia had begged for him to be incarcerated.)

5. Falsely said, “Just today we learned Hillary Clinton was sending highly classified information through her maid.” (The emails in question were marked classified several years after the maid was asked to print them; they were marked at the lowest level of classification, not highly classified.)

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Minneapolis, Minnesota

6. Falsely said, “She refuses to campaign in Minnesota. So do you really want a president who doesn’t care enough about your vote that she never shows up? She never came here . . . Hillary Clinton has not been here once.” (Clinton was there in July.)

7. Falsely said, “She wants virtually unlimited immigration and refugee admissions from the most dangerous regions of the world.” (Clinton supports limits on immigration and refugee intake from dangerous regions.)

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8. Falsely said of the illegal immigrant killers who murdered farmer Earl Olander, “His killers had criminal records a mile long, but they did not meet the Obama administration’s priorities for removal. And yet everybody that knew these killers, everybody that knew them, said please, please get ’em out, they should be incarcerated, don’t let them roam our communities.” (The two men did not have lengthy criminal records; both had convictions for driving without licenses, and one had a drunk-driving conviction. It is false that everybody who knew them wanted them incarcerated: a man who employed one of them for more than 10 years told a local news outlet, “We totally trusted him.”)

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9. Falsely said, “To the public, she says ‘Donald Trump is lewd, lewd.’ ” (Clinton has not called him lewd. That was how The Washington Post initially characterized his caught-on-tape 2005 remarks about sexual assault; Clinton said “this is horrific,” and she later called him degrading and demeaning to women.)

10. Falsely said, of the Beyoncé/Jay-Z concert for Clinton on Friday, “Many of the audience left during the performance because it was disgusting.” (Repeated at his third rally of the day.) (This did not happen.)

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11. Falsely said, of that concert, “By the time Hillary got up to speak, there was practically nobody there.” (Repeated at his third rally of the day.) (While a substantial portion of the crowd did leave, much of it remained to hear her short speech.)

12. Falsely said, “We’re already the highest-taxed nation in the world.” (Repeated at his fourth and fifth rallies of the day.) (The U.S. is not even the highest-taxed in the world when it comes to corporate taxes, where it is near the top. When all taxes are included, the U.S. is below average for major industrialized countries.)

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13. Falsely said, “Hillary Clinton is going to substantially raise your taxes.” (Repeated at his third and fourth rallies of the day.) (This would only be true if he was speaking to an audience of rich people. Clinton is only proposing to raise taxes on the highest earners. The Tax Policy Center says most residents below the top one per cent will receive minor tax cuts under her plan.)

14. Falsely said, “I won the debates, according to virtually everybody.” (Pundits almost universally thought Trump lost all three debates, and polls showed that the public thought the same.)

15. Falsely said, “She’s going to Michigan at 10 o’clock in the evening on Monday.” (Clinton is going to Michigan on Monday afternoon; her event is scheduled for 4 p.m.)

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Sterling Heights, Michigan

16. Falsely said, “I was honoured. Five years ago, Man of the Year in Michigan. That was a great honour for me.” (There is no apparent evidence for the claim that he was named the state’s Man of the Year; the campaign has not responded to a request for comment. We will delete this claim from the list if proof appears.)

17. Falsely said, of his acceptance speech for the award, “And during my speech, all I talked about is what Mexico and these other countries are doing to us. And I was criticized. They said, ‘Donald, speak about something else.’ ” (Again, there is no evidence this occurred. We will delete this from the list if proof appears.)

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Children are greeted by Trump during a campaign rally at Freedom Hill Amphitheater on November,6 2016 in in Sterling Heights, Michigan.Children are greeted by Trump during a campaign rally at Freedom Hill Amphitheater on November,6 2016 in in Sterling Heights, Michigan.  (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)  

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18. Falsely said, “In the great state of Arizona that I just left . . . .” (Trump had not just left Arizona; he had been to Iowa and Minnesota earlier in the day, and he was last in Arizona eight days prior. It was the third time in days he’s falsely told a rally he “just left AZ.”)

19. Falsely said, of an illegal immigrant recently arrested for murder in Michigan, “Everybody was begging: please, please, please incarcerate him.” (There is no evidence of this. News reports say he had either a romantic or friendly relationship with the victim.)

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Moon Township, Pennsylvania

20. Falsely said, “$800 billion deficit worldwide, trade.” (The U.S. trade deficit was $746 billion last year only when services trade is excluded; overall, it was $532 billion. And it may be lower this year: it fell 10 per cent in September, to the lowest level in 19 months.)

21. Falsely said, “Our deals with China, we have a deficit of almost $500 billion each year.” (The U.S. trade deficit with China was $367 billion last year in goods alone, lower than that when services are excluded. It may be lower this year.)

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22. Falsely said, “She wants to ban shale production.” (Clinton has not endorsed a fracking ban, which was a point of contention between her and Bernie Sanders; she supports additional restrictions, which would likely limit shale production, but would not end it. Politifact wrote: “As secretary of state, Clinton supported and promoted fracking around the world. As a 2016 candidate, her support comes with conditions such as local choice, stronger environmental regulation and (dealing with) chemicals.”)

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 23. Falsely said, “She’s the one that started ISIS. When she was secretary of state, there was no ISIS.” (ISIS was a significant entity by the time she became secretary of state in 2009. It started using the name Islamic State of Iraq in 2006.)

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Leesburg, Virginia

24. Falsely said, of “inner cities”: “Worst, in many cases, than war zones . . . No education, no jobs.” (This is a gross exaggeration even for the poor black communities to which he seemed to be trying to refer. And many urban cores are thriving.)

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25. Falsely said, “More than 90 per cent of those arrested are here illegally.” (It is not precisely clear what Trump was talking about, but illegal immigrants represent well under 10 per cent of arrests.)

26. Falsely said, of an illegal immigrant who killed three people in Manassas, Va. in 2011, “Everybody that knew him said he was violent — please, please get him out of the country or put him in prison or incarcerate him.” (There is no evidence this happened.)

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The Star’s Washington Bureau Chief, Daniel Dale, has been following Donald Trump’s campaign for months. He has fact checked thousands of statements and found hundreds of falsehoods. Click the photo to explore the unauthorized database of false things that Donald Trump has said.
The Star’s Washington Bureau Chief, Daniel Dale, has been following Donald Trump’s campaign for months. He has fact checked thousands of statements and found hundreds of falsehoods. Click the photo to explore the unauthorized database of false things that Donald Trump has said.   (RAFFI ANDERIAN ILLUSTRATION/TORONTO STAR)  
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