Trump ‘Incapable Of Telling The Truth,’ Former White House Press Secretary Says
Former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said Sunday that Donald Trump is the first president in the history of the United States who is “incapable of telling the truth,” The Hill reports.
“This has never happened before. We’ve had great presidents, we’ve had terrible presidents, Republicans and Democrats, but we’ve never had anything like this — where we have a president who is incapable of telling the truth.”
Joe Lockhart, who served under former president Bill Clinton, cited a Washington Post analysis, which found that Trump has made over 3,000 false or misleading claims since the beginning of his presidency.
According to WaPo‘s analysis, since taking office, Donald Trump has made, on average, 6.5 false or misleading claims per day. The outlet also cataloged the president’s flip-flops, adding that Trump has a proclivity to repeat many of his false claims.
For instance, Trump has falsely claimed to have passed the biggest tax cuts in history 72 times, although his tax cuts, in fact, ranks in eighth place. According to the same analysis, not all of president Trump’s days in office are filled with false or misleading claims, but on some days the POTUS accelerates, like, for example, on April 28, when he racked up 44 false claims.
In Joe Lockhart’s opinion, president Donald Trump’s White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has “crossed the line,” and neither her nor the POTUS think that the facts matter.
“That’s just a terrible place to be for the country. And it has consequences,” Lockhart concluded.
Clinton press secretary: Trump is "incapable of telling the truth" https://t.co/UHX3mPGCYS pic.twitter.com/jA5uEzcL5g
— The Hill (@thehill) August 5, 2018
Lockhart is best known for being the nineteenth White House press secretary from October 5, 1998, to September 29, 2000, during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton who has, much like Donald Trump, had a shaky relationship with the truth.
Bloomberg argued that, with Donald Trump, the United States is going through a Bill Clinton deja vu of sorts, in terms of going from scandal to scandal, crisis to crisis, and lie to lie. Corruption, adultery, lies, pardons are what, according to Bloomberg, Clinton and Trump have in common.
Resurgent House Republicans impeached Clinton for lying under oath, and it remains to be seen whether or not Donald Trump will face the same fate, and complete the deja vu, as Bloomberg has referred to it.
According to Lockhart, a White House press secretary is meant to balance between the interests of the government and the public’s right to information. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lockhart said, has “gone beyond the point of being in a tough situation” with her boss, Donald Trump, and is now “aiding and abetting” the process.
