Former President Donald Trump echoed the familiar boast and displeasure in a keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly invoked the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” and made exaggerated attacks on President Biden. Despite denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “atrocity” and praising the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a “brave man,” he repeated his misleading statement that the Obama administration has simply provided Ukraine with blankets.
Here’s a fact check.
What Mr Trump said
“The wall will quickly compete. We will build the wall and complete it in three weeks. It took two and a half years for the wall, two and a half years just to win all the lawsuits, more than 11 lawsuits they threw at us. And we were almost done and I said they can’t be serious. They don’t want to close the little loops.”
Lie. During his 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to build a 1,000-mile border wall that would paid by Mexico. By the time he left office, his administration had built 453 miles of border wall, most of which have replaced or strengthened existing barriers. In places where previously no barriers existed, the administration has built a total of 47 miles of new main wall.
Mr. Trump’s promise that he could complete the wall in three weeks also fell short of the original pace of construction. Construction of new fences in Calexico, California, started in February 2018, the first border wall project under Mr. Trump. The construction of the first new section of the wall in the Rio Grande Valley began in November 2019. This equates to 12.9 miles of wall replacement and 3.3 miles of new wall per month.
What Mr Trump said
“Just a year ago, we had the most secure border in US history, record low gas prices.”
Lie. When Mr Trump left office in January 2021, average price of a gallon of gasoline in the country for that month was $2.42. This is not a record low. 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 Mr Trump said
“I am the one who finished his pipeline. He said you’re killing me with a pipeline. No one else completed his pipeline. Biden has arrived. He approved of it.”
Updated
February 27, 2022 10:16 AM ET
It’s a delusion. Mr. Trump was referring to the status of the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under his and President Biden’s administrations. In fact, the presidents of the United States and most European countries, except Germany and France, consistently opposed project, but they have a limited say in whether the pipeline will be built.
Mr Trump signed the law the imposition of sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in December 2019, which led to the suspension of construction. But by that time, most of the pipeline had already been built, and 2100 kilometers laid as well as 300 kilometers left. Construction resumed after a year in 2020.
Current White House press secretary Jen Psaki called Nord Stream 2 “bad deal” it divides Europe and makes Ukraine and Central Europe vulnerable to Russian manipulation. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said opposition to the Biden administration “unshakable”.
Understand Russia’s attack on Ukraine
Card 1 of 7
What is at the heart of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine a part his natural sphere of influence, and is unnerved by Ukraine’s proximity to the West and the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO or the European Union. Although Ukraine is not part of either, it receives financial and military assistance from the US and Europe.
Are these frictions just beginning now? Antagonism between the two countries has simmered since 2014, when Russian troops crossed into Ukraine after an uprising in Ukraine replaced a Russian-friendly president with a pro-Western government. Then, Russia annexed Crimea and inspired separatist movement in the east. A ceasefire was signed in 2015but fighting continued.
How did Ukraine react? February 23, Ukraine declared a state of emergency for 30 days. how cyberattacks disabled government institutions. After the attacks began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky martial law declared. The Foreign Minister called the attacks a “full-scale invasion” and called on the world to “stop Putin.”
However, in May 2021, the State Department lifted sanctions on the company building the pipeline. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Servicethis may be because “the administration’s ability to interfere with the pipeline’s launch is limited” and sanctions “could jeopardize US-German and US-European cooperation in other areas, including countering Russian aggression.”
Mr. Biden new sanctions on the pipeline this week after Germany announced it was suspending pipeline certification in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
What Mr Trump said
“The reason for the sharp rise in gas prices is that Biden turned off American energy, canceled our oil and gas lease agreements just two days ago. Two days ago they canceled many oil and gas leases because of the environment.”
It’s a delusion. Biden administration stopped indefinitely new federal oil and gas leases and permits in response to the court ruling. He did not cancel existing leases. A federal judge blocked the administration’s way of calculating the cost of climate change, causing the administration to suspend regulatory decisions that were based on the metric.