Fact-Checking President Trump’s Interview With The New York Times - The New York Times

"WHAT TRUMP SAID



“We have 25 percent now on $50 billion. And by the way, Peter, that’s a lot of money pouring into our Treasury, you know. We never made 5 cents with China. We’re getting right now 25 percent on $50 billion.”



False.

Tariffs imposed on imports of foreign goods do not mean another country is paying the bill. The costs are largely passed onto American companies and consumers.



It is also not true that the Treasury Department had never collected any revenue from tariffs on Chinese products before President Trump. President George Washington signed the Tariff Act of 1789, when trade between China and the United States was already established.



Tariffs generated almost a third of all federal revenue in 1915. In the 2016 fiscal year, the Treasury Department collected $35 billion in tariff revenue.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“Veterans Choice, V.A. Choice. They’ve been trying — as long as you’ve been writing, they’ve been trying to get V.A. Choice.”



This is misleading.

Mr. Trump is confusing an existing program for veterans’ health care with recently enacted overhauls.





The Veterans Choice Program was created in 2014 after the scandal of hidden waiting lists at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals. Under the program, veterans who do not live within 40 miles of a department hospital or face wait times of more than 30 days for care could seek private health care funded by the government.



In June, Mr. Trump signed a law that overhauled and consolidated Veterans Choice and other existing programs into a single Veterans Community Care Program. Under new rules unveiled this week by the administration, veterans who must drive for at least 30 minutes to one of the department’s facilities will be able to opt for private care, a less stringent requirement for many veterans.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“If the Obamacare were repealed and replaced — except for John McCain, it would have been, you know, he campaigned against it for six years, and then when he had the chance, he went thumbs down at 2 o’clock in the morning.”



This is exaggerated.

It’s a stretch to say that the Affordable Care Act would have been repealed and replaced were it not for Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who died in August. An affirmative vote from the senator would have kicked off a process, but a full repeal would not have been assured.



The Senate voted on — and rejected — three proposals to repeal the health care law. Mr. McCain, along with Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both also Republican, voted with Democrats against one version.



Even if Mr. McCain or either of his colleagues had voted with their party, that version of the bill — known as “skinny repeal” — would have repealed the individual and employer mandates, but would have left Medicaid expansion and the health care law’s insurance regulations intact (though leaving millions more Americans uninsured). And it would still have required passage in the House or lawmakers from both chambers to negotiate their differences.



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WHAT TRUMP SAID



“You look at the heroin and a lot of the other drugs, they come from — 90 percent, more than 90 percent — from right across the southern border. And unlike what the Democrats say, they don’t, you don’t bring trucks of drugs through the checkpoints. You bring trucks of drugs by making a right 20 miles, and a left into the country.”



False.

Mr. Trump is right that the majority of heroin comes in through southern border, but contrary to his assertions, most of it comes through ports of entry, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. About 90 percent of heroin was seized at ports of entry from Oct. 1, 2017, to Aug. 30, 2018, compared with about 10 percent in the areas between ports of entry.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“But look, we have among the highest polls — and actually the highest polls — but among the highest polls ever in the history of the Republican Party.”



False.

Mr. Trump had an 88 percent approval rating among Republicans at Day 737 of his presidency, according to Gallup, compared with 93 percent for President George W. Bush, 95 percent for President George Bush and 92 percent for President Dwight D. Eisenhower at roughly the same point in their presidencies.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“You know, we’ve created over 500,000 manufacturing jobs, and the previous administration lost 200,000 over eight years and said that was the magic wand.”



This is misleading.

The numbers omit important context. President Barack Obama presided over a net loss of 192,000 manufacturing jobs from January 2009 to January 2017. Under Mr. Trump, the economy has added 473,000 manufacturing jobs so far. But when he took office, Mr. Obama inherited a deep, job-killing recession, while Mr. Trump was sworn in during an economic recovery that began under his predecessor.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“I got him more money than the military has ever seen before.”



False.

The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019, which Mr. Trump signed in August, provided $716 billion for the Pentagon’s basic operations and war spending, as well as for the Energy Department’s national security programs. But that’s not the largest military budget in recent history, let alone all of American history. Even if inflation were not taken into account, Mr. Obama signed a $726 billion National Defense Authorization Act for the 2011 fiscal year.



Adjusted for inflation, Congress authorized more money for the Pentagon every fiscal year from 2007 to 2012, during the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“You know it’s interesting, historically, you just never — you rarely put a military person in, which surprises me. When I first got here, I said, ‘What do you mean?’ That’s the natural of all naturals. Actually, you need special approvals to put them in, you know, etc. etc. Normally, a business person goes in — and I mean, you have one exception or two exceptions — but historically, a business person goes in to the secretary of defense.”



False.

The opposite is true. Most secretaries of defense have had previous military experience. Of the 26 men to have held the position since 1947, when the position was created, 19 have served.



The other seven were businessmen: Charles E. Wilson and Neil H. McElroy under Mr. Eisenhower; James R. Schlesinger, the former director of the C.I.A., under President Richard M. Nixon; Harold Brown, a scientist and former secretary of the Air Force, under President Jimmy Carter; Dick Cheney, the future vice president, under President George Bush; William S. Cohen, a former senator, under President Bill Clinton; and Ashton B. Carter, a scientist and former deputy defense secretary.



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WHAT TRUMP SAID



“I mean, the primary collusion was Hillary Clinton.”



False.

This refers to news reports that the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign paid for opposition research that led to a dossier about Mr. Trump compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy. But it was a conservative website, The Washington Free Beacon, that first paid a research firm for the research. It stopped when Mr. Trump won the nomination. The firm, Fusion GPS, was then paid by the Democrats for the research that became the dossier.



Collusion, which is generally understood as secretive and often illicit collaboration, has no defined legal meaning. Mr. Steele did use Russian sources to compile his dossier, and reported his findings to the F.B.I. But there is no evidence anyone from the Clinton campaign met with Russian officials and conspired to manipulate the American election.



WHAT TRUMP SAID



“China was killing our country. They were taking out $500 billion dollars a year.”



This is exaggerated.

The United States had a $336 billion trade deficit in goods and services with China in 2017, and a trade deficit in goods alone of $376 billion.



Curious about the accuracy of a claim? Email factcheck@nytimes.com.



Linda Qiu is a fact-check reporter, based in Washington. She came to The Times in 2017 from the fact-checking service PolitiFact. @ylindaqiu."





Fact-Checking President Trump’s Interview With The New York Times - The New York Times