At CPAC, Trump misleads about Biden, Russian pipeline and gas prices

Former President Donald J. Trump repeated the familiar boasts and grievances in a keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.

Trump has repeatedly invoked the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” and launched exaggerated attacks on President Biden. Although he condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “atrocities” and praised the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a “brave man”, Repeat his misleading claim The Obama administration has only provided Ukraine with “blankets.”

Here is a review of the facts.

What did Mr. Trump say?

The wall will be completed quickly. We will build the wall and complete the wall in three weeks. It took two and a half years on the wall, only two and a half years to win all the lawsuits, and more than 11 lawsuits they threw at us. And we’ve got it all coming to an end, and I said they couldn’t be serious. They don’t want to close the little episodes.”

bloomer. During his campaign in 2016, Mr. Trump I promised to build a 1,000 mile border wall that would be so paid by Mexico. By the time he left office, his administration had built 453 miles from the border wallMost have replaced or reinforced existing barriers. Where there were no barriers before, the department built a total of 47 miles of the new primary wall.

Trump’s pledge that he will be able to complete the wall within three weeks also does not keep up with the initial pace of construction. Construction of replacement barriers in Calexico, California, Started in February 2018The first border wall project under Mr. Trump. Construction of the first new section of the wall began in the Rio Grande Valley in November 2019. This amounts to 12.9 miles of replacement wall and 3.3 miles of new wall per month.

What did Mr. Trump say?

“Just a year ago, we had the safest borders in US history, and record low gas prices.”

bloomer. When Mr. Trump left office in January 2021, he National average price of a gallon of gasoline So for the month it was $2.42. This is not a low standard. Gas prices fell to $2.21 in January 2015 under former President Barack Obama, $1.13 under former President George W. Bush and $0.96 under former President Bill Clinton.

What did Mr. Trump say?

“I’m the one who finished their pipeline. He said you’re killing me with the pipeline. Nobody else finished their pipeline. Biden came in and agreed.”

This is misleading. Mr. Trump was referring to the placement of a natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under his administration and that of President Biden. In fact, American presidents – and most European countries other than Germany and France – have Constantly opposed project, but they have a limited opinion of whether the pipeline was built.

Mr Trump signed a law Sanctions were imposed on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in December 2019, which led to the suspension of construction. But by that time, most of the pipeline had already been built Extension of 2100 km And the 300 km left. Building Resumed after a year in the year 2020.

Nord Stream 2 is described by the current White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, as a ‘bad deal’ It divides Europe and leaves Ukraine and Central Europe vulnerable to Russian manipulation. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that opposition to the Biden administration was so “Steady”.

But the State Department nevertheless lifted sanctions against the company building the pipeline in May 2021. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research ServiceThis could be because the administration’s “ability to prevent pipeline operation is limited” while sanctions “could jeopardize US-German and US-European cooperation in other areas, including in the face of Russian aggression.”

Mr. Biden Issue new penalties on the pipeline this week after Germany announced it would suspend certification of the pipeline in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What did Mr. Trump say?

“The reason why gas prices are so high is that Biden shut down US energy, and canceled oil and gas leases just two days ago. Two days ago, they canceled several oil and gas leases because of the environment.”

This is misleading. Biden administration paused indefinitely New federal oil and gas leases and permits in response to a court ruling. Existing lease contracts have not been cancelled. A federal judge has blocked the way the administration calculates the cost of climate change, prompting the administration to halt regulatory decisions based on scale.