Trump Leans Into False Virus Claims in Chris Wallace Interview

WASHINGTON — An agitated President Trump supplied a string of combative and infrequently doubtful assertions in an interview aired Sunday, defending his dealing with of the coronavirus with deceptive proof, attacking his personal well being specialists, disputing polls exhibiting him trailing in his re-election race and defending individuals who show the Accomplice flag as victims of “cancel tradition.”

The president’s remarks, delivered in an interview on “Fox Information Sunday,” amounted to a contentious potpourri extra generally discovered on his Twitter feed and at his political rallies.

The distinction this time was a vigorous try by the host, Chris Wallace, to fact-check him, resulting in a number of clashes between the 2 on issues starting from the coronavirus response as to whether Mr. Trump would settle for the outcomes of the election ought to he lose.

The Coronavirus

• The president made a litany of false claims about his administration’s dealing with of the virus, regardless of proof that key officers and public well being specialists advising the president made essential missteps and performed down the unfold of the illness this spring. Within the interview, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that the USA had “one of many lowest mortality charges on the planet” from the virus.

  “That’s not true, sir,” Mr. Wallace mentioned.

  “Do you’ve gotten the numbers, please?” Mr. Trump mentioned. “As a result of I heard we had one of the best mortality fee.”

  America has the eighth-worst fatality fee amongst reported coronavirus circumstances on the planet, and the demise fee per 100,000 individuals — 42.83 — ranks it third-worst, in line with knowledge on the nations most affected by the coronavirus compiled by Johns Hopkins College. Mr. Trump mentioned that by growing testing, his administration was “creating hassle for the pretend information to return alongside and say, ‘Oh, we now have extra circumstances.’”

• Mr. Trump falsely claimed that the coronavirus case fee in different nations was decrease than in the USA as a result of these nations didn’t interact in testing. When Mr. Wallace identified a low case fee throughout the European Union, the president urged it was potential that these nations “don’t check.” And when Mr. Wallace identified that the demise fee in the USA was rising, Mr. Trump replied by blaming China.

  “Excuse me, it’s all an excessive amount of, it shouldn’t be one case,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “It got here from China. They need to’ve by no means let it escape. They need to’ve by no means let it out. However it’s what it’s. Check out Europe, check out the numbers in Europe. And by the way in which, they’re having circumstances.”

• Mr. Trump known as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s prime infectious illness professional, an “alarmist” who supplied defective info within the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

  “I don’t know that he’s a leaker,” Mr. Trump mentioned in the course of the interview. “He’s a little bit little bit of an alarmist. That’s OK. Slightly little bit of an alarmist.”

  Mr. Trump mentioned that Dr. Fauci had been in opposition to his determination to shut the borders to vacationers from China in January. That’s deceptive: Whereas Dr. Fauci initially opposed the thought on the grounds {that a} ban would stop medical professionals from touring to hard-hit areas, he supported the choice by the point it was made.

  Mr. Trump additionally mentioned Dr. Fauci had been in opposition to People carrying masks. Dr. Fauci has mentioned he doesn’t remorse urging People to not put on masks within the early days of the pandemic, citing a extreme scarcity of protecting gear for medical professionals on the time.

• Mr. Trump mentioned he doubted whether or not Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, was right in predicting that the pandemic can be worse this fall. “I don’t know,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “And I don’t assume he is aware of.”

  He mentioned public well being specialists and the World Well being Group “bought lots improper” early on, together with a principle that the virus would abate because the climate warmed — one which Mr. Trump himself had promoted repeatedly. Then the president reiterated his earlier declare, unsupported by science, that the virus would out of the blue stop someday. “It’s going to vanish, and I’ll be proper,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “As a result of I’ve been proper most likely greater than anyone else.”

The Election

• Mr. Trump insulted Fox Information pollsters as “among the many worst” when introduced with knowledge that confirmed him trailing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee, claiming that he had seen polls that confirmed him successful.

  “I perceive you continue to have greater than 100 days to this election, however at this level you’re shedding,” Mr. Wallace advised Mr. Trump after detailing a brand new Fox Information ballot that confirmed Mr. Biden main the president by eight factors, 49 p.c to 41 p.c, amongst registered voters.

  “To start with, I’m not shedding,” Mr. Trump replied, “as a result of these are pretend polls. They have been pretend in 2016, and now they’re much more pretend. The polls have been a lot worse in 2016.”

  However in actuality, the Fox Information ballot was significantly better for him than one other main survey launched Sunday. A Washington Publish-ABC Information ballot confirmed Mr. Biden with a double-digit lead: 55 p.c to 40 p.c amongst registered voters. The numbers have been a part of a slate of polls exhibiting Mr. Biden’s lead widening because the pandemic weighed on the president’s approval scores.

  Mr. Trump mentioned he was not frightened about shedding the election with the choice this week to switch his marketing campaign supervisor, Brad Parscale. Mr. Trump known as Mr. Parscale “an amazing digital man” earlier than saying that lots of his 2016 marketing campaign palms have been getting extra concerned. He didn’t point out his new marketing campaign supervisor, Invoice Stepien, by identify.

• When advised that Mr. Biden was chosen within the Fox ballot because the extra mentally sound candidate, Mr. Trump disputed that discovering and defended his cognitive check outcomes to Mr. Wallace, who mentioned he had taken the identical check that the president had bragged about acing this month. Mr. Wallace identified that one of many questions requested to determine an elephant.

  “It’s all misrepresentation,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “As a result of, sure, the primary few questions are simple, however I’ll wager you couldn’t even reply the final 5 questions. I’ll wager you couldn’t. They get very laborious, the final 5 questions.”

• Mr. Trump urged that he may not settle for the outcomes of the election ought to he lose. Mr. Wallace, who spent the interview grilling the president — a tactic he has utilized in different high-profile interviews — identified that Mr. Trump mentioned the identical factor in 2016.

  “You don’t know till you see,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “It relies upon. I feel mail-in voting goes to rig the election. I actually do.”

  Mr. Trump, who has voted by mail, has repeatedly warned, with out proof, that mail elections would contain robbed mailboxes, cast signatures and ballots printed by overseas nations.

Race and Policing

• Mr. Trump once more tried to assault Mr. Biden, claiming that the previous vice chairman needed to defund the police. The president urged this was evidenced by his work with extra progressive Democrats to create a constitution pledging to work collectively on issues together with modifications to policing.

  “It says nothing about defunding the police,” Mr. Wallace mentioned of that doc.

  “Oh actually? It says abolish, it says defund. Let’s go! Get me the constitution, please,” Mr. Trump mentioned, earlier than demanding to see the doc. In a promotional clip of the interview, Mr. Wallace mentioned the president had been unable to search out proof that Mr. Biden sought to defund or abolish the police.

• When Mr. Wallace requested the president if he may perceive why Black individuals can be offended about their elevated chance to be killed by the police, Mr. Trump reiterated a declare he made in one other interview final week: that white persons are fatally shot in excessive numbers, too.

  “I imply, many, many whites are killed,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “I hate to say, however this is occurring for many years.”

  Statistics present that whereas extra white People are killed by the police over all, individuals of coloration are killed at increased charges.

• Mr. Trump additionally refused to again down from supporting individuals who have been in opposition to abolishing the Accomplice flag, at the same time as Mr. Wallace identified that they’d used it in protection of slavery. The president equated the motion to tug down the flags and Accomplice monuments to “cancel tradition,” a time period extra generally used to explain a boycott in opposition to an individual, usually a star, who says or does one thing culturally offensive.

  “And you realize, the entire thing with cancel tradition, we will’t cancel our complete historical past,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “We are able to’t overlook that the North and the South fought. We now have to keep in mind that. In any other case we’ll find yourself preventing once more.”