Donald Trump Makes Two False Claims About The NFL And Koch Brothers In One Day

Donald Trump has made it a habit of claiming things that others have said or done, and while most times he gets away without much scrutiny, two claims he made on Saturday — about the NFL and the Koch brothers respectively — have been refuted as being patently false.

This is a new low even by Trump’s dismal standards, who has thrown every rule in the election playbook upside down by not only saying outrageous things in the past, but by refusing to accept his mistakes and even doubling down on his lies.

According to the Washington Post, the Republican presidential nominee said on Friday that rival Hillary Clinton and her cronies had colluded with the media to schedule this fall’s presidential debates alongside NFL games. Even as that allegation was disproved swiftly with reports suggesting that the debate schedules had been decided a year in advance — by a private group comprising of both Republicans and Democrats — Trump went on to say the next day that he had received a letter from NFL criticizing the schedule.

In an interview with ABC’s This Week on Saturday, Trump said that the NFL had voiced its disappointment about the conflicting prime time slots in a letter he had received.

“I’ll tell you what I don’t like. It’s against two NFL games. I got a letter from the NFL saying, “This is ridiculous.'”

Now it was as blatant a lie as they come, because as it turns out, NFL never sent him a letter. CNN‘s Brian Stelter contacted the league about Trump’s statement. The NFL, in its response, categorically denied the claim, saying that it never sent any letter to Trump.

“While we’d obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump.”

Trump: "I got a letter from the NFL saying, 'This is ridiculous.'"

NFL: "We did not send a letter to Trump." https://t.co/fGQ6exowHB

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 30, 2016

As remarkable as it may sound, this is not the only false claim that Donald Trump made on Saturday. According to the Hill, Trump said yesterday that he turned down a meeting with billionaires Charles and David Koch, who, through their network comprising roughly of 700 donors, have a 2016 cycle political and policy budget of about $250 million.

“I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!”

I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016

However, in a statement Koch network spokesman James Davis gave to the Hill, he said that the Koch brothers never requested Donald Trump for a meeting.

“You’ll have to ask the Trump campaign where they get their information from. We remain focused on the Senate.”

Another top Koch network official, Mark Holden, refuted claims that the Koch brothers had been contact with the Republican nominee. Speaking during a meeting in Colorado Springs, he insinuated that Trump might have fabricated an invite just because that is the way he is.

While this is certainly not the first time that Donald Trump’s claims have been refuted soon after they were uttered, the way he has gone on about widely brandishing his style of political skulduggery even after winning the nomination is staggering to say the least.

Earlier, when Trump had said that Hillary Clinton and her Democratic aides were responsible for scheduling the presidential debates alongside NFL matches, the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonpartisan group with members of both parties, released a statement refuting the assertion, saying that it had “announced the number, dates and sites for the 2016 general election debates in September 2015.”

“The CPD did not consult with any political parties or campaigns in making these decisions,” it said.

Although Donald Trump’s supporters echoed his statements regardless of the truth, his critics said making such claims were only an excuse to try and back out of the debates.

[Photo by Joe Mahoney/Getty Images]