Donald Trump fact check: President takes credit for jobs that he didn't create in first speech before Congress
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Version 0 of 1. Donald Trump falsely took credit for a whole range of jobs in his first speech before Congress. Speaking during a "Joint Address" that marked his first big speech to politicians since he became President, Mr Trump appeared to claim responsibility for new jobs that he didn't actually have anythign to do with. "Since my election, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Walmart and many others have announced that they will invest billions of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs," he said in the speech. But many of those decisions were already made when he became President. Intel, for instance, decided that it would build the Arizona factory that Mr Trump was referencing during Barack Obama's presidency, but it suffered some delays that meant construction has only recently begun. Other companies are thought to be making layoffs. The full numbers will be revealed next week, when the government publishes its payrolls data on how many jobs have been created and lost. Mr Trump made the claim about jobs just after committing to "keep our promises to the American people". The claim was the first update "on the progress I've made in keeping those promises", he said. He went on to list a number of other promises that he claimed to have lived up to. "The stock market has gained almost three trillion dollars in value since the election on November 8th, a record," he said. "We've saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter, and will be saving billions more dollars on contracts all across our Government. We have placed a hiring freeze on non-military and non-essential Federal workers. "We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a 5 year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials – and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government." Experts have contradicted Mr Trump's claim about the new F-35 jet fighter. And Mr Trump's reference to draining the swamp drew laughs from Democrats, who have pointed out that the new administration has the most millionaires and billionaires of any in history. It was one of a series of questionable claims made throughout the speech. |