Trump Claims, Falsely, That His Daughter Ivanka Has Created ‘Millions’ Of Jobs

President Trump, even many of his supporters would admit, has a tendency to exaggerate, but not usually by a matter of millions.

The president, speaking to a group of governors at the White House Monday, claimed that his daughter, Ivanka Trump, has created “millions” of jobs.

“My daughter has created millions of jobs, I don’t know if anyone knows that, but she’s created millions of jobs,” the president said at the meeting, as filmed by C-SPAN. After the comment, many in the room were heard applauding.

A CNN fact-check, published Monday, states that “it’s simply not true that Ivanka Trump has ‘created millions of jobs,’ as her father claimed.”

The fact check refers to a program called the National Council for the American Worker, which is chaired by Ivanka Trump as well as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The program asks companies to agree to “committing to expand programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers from high-school age to near-retirement.”

While 200 companies have agreed to that pledge, “training opportunities” do not translate directly to “jobs,” much less millions of them. And some of those companies pledged opportunities that they had already promised as part of previous initiatives.

Fact Check: Did Ivanka Trump create "millions of jobs"? https://t.co/GmlRtgTZ5s pic.twitter.com/LfRyr5f2HO

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 25, 2019

It’s unclear how many jobs Ivanka Trump has created in her previous private-sector business career, but that number is very clearly not in the millions. Per the Chicago Tribune, when Ivanka shut down her clothing company in 2018, it meant that 18 people were losing their jobs.

The younger Trump is a senior advisor to her father, and a White House staffer with an expansive portfolio that includes both business affairs and some meetings with foreign leaders. Her husband, Jared Kushner, is also a top advisor to the president.

“Ivanka, keep going. My daughter has created millions of jobs. I don’t know if anyone knows that but she has created millions of jobs,” President Trump told US governors this morning when talking about vocational training. pic.twitter.com/G3OLg3KCBn

— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) February 25, 2019

At the meeting with the bipartisan group of governors, per The Hill, Trump discussed infrastructure policy, as elected officials of both parties are eager to pass an infrastructure spending package, legislation which has been elusive throughout the Trump era. The meeting was held prior to the president’s departure for Vietnam, where he is scheduled to meet once again with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

“Our private conversations on that have been incredible,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, sworn in last month as governor of California, told The Hill in reference to the infrastructure policy discussions. “Truly, substantively, I’ve been impressed by his, not rhetorical commitment, but his firm commitment to get serious about an infrastructure bill.”