Former President Donald Trump repeated false claims about the Middle East, rival Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other subjects in an interview that aired Sunday morning on Fox News. One of the notable false claims was Trump’s assertion that he warned the US not to invade Iraq.
Trump revived a lie he has been uttering since his 2016 presidential campaign, an assertion that he publicly spoke out against the idea of invading Iraq. He said on Fox, “Going into Iraq was a stupid thing. Remember I used to say: ‘Don’t do it, but if you do it, keep the oil.’” However, fact-checking revealed that Trump’s claim was false as he did not publicly express opposition to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq before it occurred.
He began criticizing the war in 2003, but after the invasion, and also said that year that American troops should not be withdrawn from Iraq. It was not until 2004 that he emerged as an explicit opponent of the war.
During the interview, Trump also repeated a claim about Iran intentionally avoiding hitting a base that housed US troops in Iraq. However, this claim was also proven false, as 11 Iranian missiles hit the al-Asad base targeted in the retaliatory attack.
Furthermore, Trump made false claims about Nikki Haley and Mitch McConnell, including an untrue statement that McConnell has supported trillions in spending on Green New Deal projects. This claim was debunked, as McConnell has been a vocal opponent of the Green New Deal congressional resolution.
Trump also falsely claimed to have built 561 miles of wall during his presidency, when the official report by US Customs and Border Protection stated that the number was 458 miles. This claim was also an exaggeration and proven false.
Overall, in the interview, Trump repeated multiple false claims about various topics, showcasing the persistence of misinformation in public discourse.