How Many False Claims Did Biden Make In His First 100 Days?

How Many False Claims Did Biden Make In His First 100 Days Compared To Trump?
Josephine Harvey·Reporter, HuffPost
Mon, April 26, 2021, 6:39 PM

In the wake of a presidency in which lie-telling was a key feature, preliminary results on dishonesty are in for President Joe Biden.

Biden made 67 false and misleading statements in his first 100 days in office, according to a report Monday from The Washington Post’s fact checker. That compares to 511 such comments from his predecessor Donald Trump in his first 100 days.

The Post’s fact checkers characterized the Biden era as “a return to a more typical pattern when it comes to a commander in chief and his relationship with the facts — one that features frequent spin and obfuscation or exaggeration, with the occasional canard.”

The team analyzed Biden’s every speech, interview, tweet or public statement, following the same methodology as the database that tallied more than 30,500 false or misleading claims over the course of Trump’s four years in office.

The Post made several notes on the difference between the two presidents.

Biden has spoken around 40% fewer words than Trump had by this point in his presidency. His public remarks are typically prepared, in contrast to Trump, who was known for his lengthy, stream-of-consciousness-style speeches.

Biden has also tweeted considerably less than his predecessor and tends not to repeat his false claims if they’ve been fact-checked and shown to be false.

Two of Biden’s falsehoods have earned the Post’s “Four Pinocchio” rating, designated for “whoppers.” He claimed several times that Georgia’s GOP-led election law will end voting hours early. It won’t. The other is Biden’s claim that federal government contracts awarded to foreign companies went up by 30% under Trump, when in fact it was likely much less.

The fact-checking analysts noted that when Biden made exaggerated claims, he would often amend his wording in subsequent addresses in apparent response to news coverage.

Trump’s tally grew at a dramatically faster rate as his presidency progressed. Toward the end of his term, he was making around twice as many false claims a month as he did in his entire first year in office. On Nov. 2, the day before the election, Trump made 504 false claims in a day, nearly the same amount he made in his first 100 days.

Biden falsely claims $2T infrastructure plan will create 16 million jobs
Thomas Barrabi
Thu, May 6, 2021, 5:19 PM

President Biden significantly misstated estimates on how many jobs would be created through the implantation of his "American Jobs Plan" during a speech Wednesday in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Biden has called on Congress to approve roughly $2.2 trillion in spending on physical infrastructure projects as well as other goals favored by his administration, such as jobs training and elderly care. In his latest pitch, the president claimed the "American Jobs Plan" would add 16 million jobs to the economy – well above actual projections.

"All the economists, including the liberal as well as the conservative think tanks, point out we will create up to 16 million good-paying jobs," Biden said at the event. "Not $8 an hour or $12 an hour or $15 an hour. Prevailing wage jobs, wages you can raise a family on. My dad would say, just a little bit of breathing room after everything’s paid."

Biden did not specify which studies projected his plan would create 16 million jobs. But the remark appeared to be a reference to a study conducted by economic research firm Moody’s Analytics, which projected a far smaller number.

An April 2021 report by Moody’s determined the US economy would add roughly 16.3 million jobs through 2030 regardless of whether Biden’s "American Jobs Plan" passed. The study found the economy would add roughly 2.7 million more jobs, or about 19 million in total, if the infrastructure plan is implemented.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on Biden’s remarks.

Biden made a similar reference to the Moody’s study at an event earlier this week, according to a White House transcript.

"You have Moody’s talking about increasing it up to — I don’t know what the most recent one is — 16 million new jobs," Biden said. "It’s about growth, not stunting growth."

White House officials have misrepresented the Moody’s analysis on several occasions in recent weeks. Biden said at an event in early April that "independent analysis" showed the infrastructure plan "will create 19 million jobs."

White House National Economic Council Brian Deese referenced the same 19 million jobs figure during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" and attributed the number to Moody’s Analytics.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki later clarified the administration’s remarks at an April 6th briefing.

"Moody’s ran an analysis that showed that the economy would create 19 million jobs over the next decade if Congress passes the American Jobs Plan — almost 3 million more than if it doesn’t," Psaki said. "So that is the — that is what the impact would be of the American Jobs Plan: 2.7 million, to be totally clear."