Alternative Facts

“But we cut approximately $600 million off the F-35 fighter, and that only amounts to 90 planes out of close to 3,000 planes. And when you think about $600 million, it was announced by Marillyn, who’s very talented, the head of Lockheed Martin. I got involved in that about a month ago. A lot was put out, and when they say a lot, a lot meant about 90 planes. They were having a lot of difficulty. There was no movement and I was able to get $600 million approximately off those planes.”
— President Trump, remarks to the press, Jan. 30, 2017

Facts

Trump, yet again, claims credit for decisions that were already made before he became president. Trump stated he “was able to get $600 million approximately off those planes,” thereby ending the “difficulty” and “no movement” in the program.

Yet the Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive. Once again, we award Trump Pinocchios for taking undue credit.