Trump Claims Credit For Bringing Back Sprint Jobs That Were Already Announced

Source: Talking Points Memo

By TIERNEY SNEED Published DECEMBER 29, 2016, 10:22 AM EDT


The thousands of telecommunications jobs President-elect Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that he was bringing back to the United States were part of a previously announced investment deal between Sprint and its main funder, SoftBank.

"5,000 jobs announced today are part of the 50,000 jobs that [SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son] previously announced. It will be a combination of newly created jobs and bringing some existing jobs back to the U.S," a Sprint spokeswoman said in a statement to Politico, after Trump made his announcement to the press.

Trump on Wednesday afternoon spoke briefly to reporters outside of his Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida to brag about 5,000 jobs being added in the United States by Sprint and an additional 3,000 jobs being created by OneWeb, a satellite manufacturing startup. He had said that those jobs were a result of "what is happening and the spirit and the hope" from his election, later adding that, "because of me they are doing 5,000 jobs in this country."

According to the New York Times, the 50,000 job expansion was planned as part of a $50 billion investment by SoftBank into operations in the United States. That funding was announced in October, before the election, according to Politico. SoftBank has owned a controlling stake in Sprint for years.


Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-sprint-jobs-previously-announced