AP FACT CHECK: Trump on FBI, phantom law on migrant kids

Source: Associated Press

AP FACT CHECK: Trump on FBI, phantom law on migrant kids

By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN
Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is claiming exoneration in the Russia matter from a Justice Department report that actually offers him none. He’s also branding fired FBI chief James Comey a criminal, though the report in question makes no such accusation.

Fallout from the internal report by the department’s inspector general capped a week of diplomacy with North Korea, trade spats on several fronts and growing attention to an immigration policy that is splitting children from parents after their arrests at the border. Trump dropped misrepresentations into the mix at every turn.

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TRUMP: “The Democrats forced that law upon our nation. I hate it. I hate to see separation of parents and children.” And: “I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.” — remarks to reporters Friday.

THE FACTS: It’s not Democrats’ law. There is no law mandating the separation of children and parents at the border.

The separations are a consequence of a Trump administration policy to maximize criminal prosecutions of people caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally. That means more adults are jailed, pending trial, so their children are removed from them. Before the policy, many people who were accused of illegal entry and did not have a criminal record were merely referred for civil deportation proceedings, which generally did not break up families.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/dc41519107004360ae23c5cf9f66c7e1/AP-FACT-CHECK:-Trump-on-FBI,-phantom-law-on-migrant-kids

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The article also fact checks Trump on North Korea, the economy, trade, ...