Sarah Sanders embarrasses Trump by calling out his lie about oil prices
Cleaning up after Trump is a full-time job.
Trump’s propensity for lying is so egregious that even his own press secretary had to call him out late Saturday evening.
On Saturday morning, Trump punctuated his normal Twitter stew of attacks and lies with a surprising claim: that Saudi Arabia had agreed to increase its oil production.
Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference…Prices to high! He has agreed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018
But on Saturday evening, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a readout of the call that contradicted Trump’s account of the conversation.
King Salman didn’t agree to increase oil production to 2 million barrels. Saudi Arabia already has a reserve of 2 million barrels of oil per day.
“In response to the President’s assessment of a deficit in the oil market,” Sanders wrote, “King Salman affirmed that the Kingdom maintains a two million barrel per day spare capacity, which it will prudently use if and when necessary to ensure market balance and stability, and in coordination with its producer partners, to respond to any eventuality.”
As usual, Trump was lying to make himself sound impressive. Trump wanted Americans to believe that he can convince the world’s biggest oil producer to work even harder, just for him.
The Sanders statement came after the Saudi government released their own readout, which did not include any mention of a specific agreement to increase production.
Trump also managed to call out one of his own lies this weekend. He tweeted on Saturday that he “never pushed” House Republicans to support either of the two failed immigration bills sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).
I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018
That would be news to Trump from three days ago, who tweeted, in all caps, a very strong push for House Republicans to pass the second bill.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2018
And there’s an extra lie in both of those tweets. The failure of the immigration measure that Trump tweeted about wasn’t the Democrats’ fault. The bill only got 121 Republican votes in the House, nearly a hundred short of the number needed to pass.
Trump may not have much to show for his first year and a half in office — but he certainly has achieved a lot when it comes to lying.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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