Considering only 4 percent of his statements are marked as “true” on PolitiFact, it should come as no shock that President Donald Trump‘s continued insistence that Russia‘s interference in the 2016 election was “made up” or a “hoax” was named the “lie of the year” by the fact-checking website.
The “lie of the year” distinction was announced Tuesday. Trump has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the conclusion by the intelligence communities’ determination that Russia used a sophisticated campaign to influence American voters and sow discord ahead of the 2016 election.
Major tech firms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have also concluded that Russian actors bought advertisements on their platforms ahead of the election that targeted specific American voters.
Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, Trump has insisted that Russia did not interfere with the election. In a May interview with NBC, Trump said, “Trump and Russia is a made up story.” In September he called the situation a “hoax,” and last month he said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin when he said Russia did not interfere in the election.
“Trump continually asserts that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election is fake news, a hoax or a made-up story, even though there is widespread, bipartisan evidence to the contrary,” PolitiFact reported. “When the nation’s commander-in-chief refuses to acknowledge a threat to U.S. democracy, it makes it all the more difficult to address the problem.”
Trump apparently does not tell the truth often, according to PolitiFact’s ratings. Only 4 percent of his statements are rated “true,” 12 percent are rated “mostly true,” 15 percent are rated “half true,” 21 percent are rated “mostly false,” 33 percent are rated “false,” and 15 percent are rated “pants on fire,” the lowest possible score.
You can read more about the “lie of the year” here.