CNN’s Jim Sciutto Offers Devastating Debunking of Trump’s ‘Parade of Lies’ at G7 Summit
CNN’s Jim Sciutto served up a devastating takedown of President Donald Trump’s “parade of lies” at the G7 Summit, debunking Trump’s numerous false statements about phone calls with China over the trade war, his absence at the summit’s climate change meeting, First Lady Melania Trump’s relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong un, and the real reason Russia was expelled from the then-G8 Summit.
Filling as guest host on OutFront, Sciutto began the show with a comprehensive fact-check of Trump’s statements. which the CNN host noted the White House “was forced to clarify, spin, and backtrack on.” Some of these statements received real-time pushback at a G7 press conference, like Trump’s repeated, misleading statements about why the G7 nations unanimously kicked Russia out of the conference after that country illegally invaded and annexed a part of neighboring Ukraine.
First, Sciutto pointed out how Trump made false claims about new Chinese outreach about a possible trade deal.
“The president later said there were, in fact, numerous calls, high-level calls,” Sciutto noted. “The only problem, China’s foreign minister’s office says it is not aware of any calls and no one else from the Chinese government has come forward to say that they participated. So how did the president explain that discrepancy?”
He then pointed out that, in fact, the White House’s only supporting evidence was a standing foreign ministry statement, not a phone call directly to the president. “So why is the president framing it as something new today in a call that wasn’t a call, but just a general public statement?”
Next, he turned to the president’s transparently false attempt to explain skipping the summit’s climate change meeting. which Trump said he was going to “next session” in response to a press question about his absence at a press conference.
“In fact, it had already happened, and that’s why the reporter was asking that question,” Sciutto noted, showing a clip of President Trump’s empty chair at that meeting while the other leaders began the talks. “So what was the excuse? According to the White House press secretary, quote: ‘The president had scheduled meetings and bilaterals with Germany and India, so a senior member of the Trump Administration attended in his stead.’ The problem here is that both the leaders of Germany and India were at that climate change meeting, as the photos showed very clearly, while the president’s chair remained empty, There they are. And if all of that spin on hugely consequential issues of China, trade, and climate change has not already made you dizzy, there was more to come.”
Trump also, inexplicably, lied about the First Lady, saying that she “has gotten to know Kim Jong Un” and that she agrees North Korea has “tremendous potential.”
“Perhaps you don’t recall ever seeing the First Lady meet Kim Jong Un. That’s because she has not met with North Korean leader,” Sciutto pointed out. “So how does the White House explain that discrepancy? Quote: ‘President Trump confides in his wife on many issues, including the detailed elements of his strong relationship with Chairman Kim, and while the First Lady hasn’t met him, the president feels like she’s gotten to know him, too.'”
Turning to CNN reporter Abby Phillip, whose was at the G7 Summit, Sciutto took stock of the barrage of falsehoods by Trump. “I know that is not new. This happens frequently,” Sciutto acknowledged. “But the succession of misstatements, misleading statements and in many cases just outright falsehoods today were truly remarkable.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
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