1. Trump claimed to have released an "exact transcript" of his call with Zelensky. The document says on its first page that it is "not a verbatim transcript." All witnesses that were on the call testified the transcript was substantially accurate though.captkirk said:
No, just the ones you think are for me, as you stated
2. Trump claimed he did not ask for anything on the call. Trump asked Zelensky to look into former Vice President Joe Biden, look into a debunked conspiracy theory about Democratic computer servers, and speak with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr.
3. Trump claimed Zelensky criticized former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch "out of the blue" on the call. Trump brought up Yovanovitch first.
4. Trump claimed that "Everybody" that looked at the text of the call agreed that it was "perfect." Some of Trump's staunch defenders agreed with this characterization, but clearly not "everybody" did.
5. Trump claimed that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke to Trump about the call and said, "That was the most innocent phone call that I've read." McConnell said he doesn't recall speaking to Trump about the call. His public statement on the call was far less effusive than Trump's description.
6. Trump claimed that the Washington Post made up fictional sources for its article on how Trump had allegedly tried to get Barr to hold a news conference saying Trump had broken no laws in the call. (There is no evidence that the Post invented sources. Other major news outlets, including CNN, quickly reported the same thing the Post did.
7. Trump claimed the whistleblower was "so wrong" The rough transcript and witness testimony have corroborated the substance of the WB's complaint.
8. Trump claimed the whistleblower, a second whistleblower and the first whistleblower's source have all "dissapeared" There is no evidence for this. Whistleblowers do not have an obligation to speak publicly after filing their complaints.
9. Trump claimed the whistleblower had "all second hand" information. While the whistleblower did get information about the call from other people, the whistleblower also had "direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct," noted Michael Atkinson, the Trump-appointed inspector general for the intelligence community.
10. Trump claimed the whistleblower "said quid pro quo 8 times" The whistleblower did not even use the words "quid pro quo" in the complaintid those words.
11. Trump claimed the whistleblower "works with Biden." There is no evidence for this. The whistleblower's lawyers said their client has never worked for or advised a candidate, campaign or party; the lawyers said the whistleblower has come into contact with presidential candidates for both parties while working as a civil servant in the executive branch.
12. Trump claimed someone "changed the whistleblower rules" just before this whistleblower submitted their complaint. The whistleblower rules were not changed.
13. Trump claimed Schiff committed an illegal act by delivering an exaggerated interpretation of Trump's July 25 call at a committee hearing. As dumb as Schiff was for doing this, the Constitution gives members of Congress immunity for comments they make at committee.
14. Trump claimed Schiff might have committed "treason" Treason has a specific constitutional definition that Schiff's actions do not come close to meeting.
15. Trump claimed Schiff made his comments beforeTrump released the rough transcript of the call, not expecting Trump to release it. Schiff spoke the day after Trump released the document.
16. Trump claimed Schiff might have been the WB source. This is nonsense. The whistleblower said in the complaint that information about the call came from "multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call." ICIG Michael Atkinson would have uncovered this in his review.
17. Trump claimed Schiff might have picked the WB The whistleblower sought guidance from Schiff's committee before filing their complaint, but there is no evidence showing Schiff "picked" the whistleblower.
18. Trump claimed Schiff "will only release doctored transcripts" Schiff has already released multiple transcripts of testimony from closed-door impeachment inquiry hearings, and there was no sign that any of them had been "doctored." Witnesses and their lawyers were given the opportunity to verify the accuracy of the transcripts prior to release, and Republicans who attended the testimony did not allege that any transcripts had been improperly altered.
19. Trump claimed Republicans were not allowed into the closed-door impeachment inquiry hearings. Republican members of the three committees holding the hearings were allowed into the room and to ask questions of witnesses. Republicans & Democrats who were not on the committees were barred from the room.
20. Trump claimed Republicans were not allowed to ask questions in the closed-door hearings. Republicans were allowed to ask questions. Democrats and Republicans alternated questioning.
21. Trump claimed nobody else has ever faced closed-door impeachment hearings. Both the Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton impeachment processes involved some closed-door hearings.
22. Trump claimed his opponents have committed illegal acts related to impeachment. Trump wasn't clear about who he was talking about, but there is no evidence of illegality by either the whistleblower or Democrats.
23. The people who have testified in the impeachment inquiry have had "no first hand knowledge" Various witnesses have had first hand knowledge of various components of the story.
24. Trump claimed Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, still says there was "no quid pro quo." Sondland revised his original testimony to effectively acknowledge his belief that there had been a quid pro quo.
25. Trump claimed unlike Democrats, former House Speaker Paul Ryan "would never issue a subpeona." Numerous Republican subpoenas were issued to the Obama administration during Ryan's tenure as speaker.
26. Trump claimed "many" of the people who had testified as of October 21 "were put there during Obama, during Clinton, during the Never Trump or Bush era." Just two of the nine people who had testified at that point had been appointed under Obama. The other seven were appointed by Trump or his appointees.
27. Trump claims Joe Biden, along with his son Hunter Biden, has "ripped off at least 2 countries for millions fo dollars" There is no evidence Joe Biden has profited from his son's business dealings abroad.
28. Trump claims a video of Joe Biden speaking in 2018 about his past dealings with Ukraine is evidence of "corruption". The video does not show corruption. It shows Biden talking about his effort, in accordance with President Obama's foreign policy to pressure Ukraine into firing a prosecutor widely considered unwilling to fight corruption.
29. Trump claims there is a photo of Joe Biden playing golf with "the company boss" of Burisma, the Ukrainian company for which Hunter Biden sat on the board. Neither Burisma's owner nor chief executive is in the photo. The person Trump had identified as a "Ukraine gas exec" was Devon Archer another American board member at Burisma and a longtime business associate of Hunter Biden.
30. Trump claimed that golf photo contradicts Joe Biden's claim to have never met the gentleman. Joe Biden had not claimed to have never met Devon Archer.
31. Trump claims that Hunter Biden was under investigation by the Ukrainian prosecutor who Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire. There is no public evidence that Hunter Biden was ever himself under investigation. The prosecutor's former deputy has said that the actual investigation, into the owner of Burisma, was dormant at the time of Joe Biden's pressure.
32. Trump claims Biden pressured Ukraine to take the prosecutor off the case. There is no evidence that Biden ever called on Ukraine to remove the prosecutor from the Burisma case. Rather, Biden, like the US government more broadly, tried to get the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, fired.
33. Trump claims before Joe Biden denied that he had spoken to Hunter Biden about Hunter's overseas business activities, Joe Biden had said he did speak about those business activities. Joe Biden had not said he did speak to Hunter Biden about those business activities. Hunter Biden said they had one brief conversation in which Joe Biden asked him if he knew what he was doing.
34. Trump claims Hunter Biden's acts were "illegal." Hunter Biden has acknowledged using "poor judgment" in accepting the seat on the Burisma board, but there is no evidence of illegality.
35. Trump claimed he "didn't delay" the military aid to Ukraine. His administration did delay the aid.
36. Trump claimed Democratic senators sent a letter to Ukraine that threatened to deny aid if the Ukrainians did not comply with their demands. The letter did not make a threat. The senators expressed concern about a New York Times report that Ukraine had, to avoid Trump's wrath, stopped cooperating with the Mueller investigation and frozen investigations into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The letter urged Ukraine to reverse course if the report was true.
37. Trump claimed President Barack Obama sent mere "pillows and sheets" in aid to Ukraine. Trump was correct that Obama refused to provide lethal military assistance, but Obama sent other military assistance: drones, armored Humvees, counter-mortar radars, night vision devices and medical supplies.
38. Trump claimed the US is the "only" country providing assistance to Ukraine, and "nobody else is there." European countries have provided billions in grants and loans to Ukraine since Russia's 2014 invasion.
39. Trump claimed cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is primarily owned by someone from Ukraine. CrowdStrike is a publicly traded, US based company founded by an American citizen who was born in Russia.
