,
31 tweets,
5 min read
Read on Twitter
Quotes and fact checks on Trump’s press conference will be in this thread.
Trump calls his meetings at the UN "pretty staggering." He claims to have possibly set a "new record." (For...quantity of meetings, it seems.) (No idea who is the reigning meetings recordholder.)
Trump says the "so-called whistleblower" "didn't have any first-class or first-rate or second-tier information, from what I understand...you'll have to figure that out for yourself."
Trump seemed to be struggling for the word "secondhand," which he eventually used.
Trump again criticizes Hunter Biden for his business dealings in Ukraine and with China, saying "I demand transparency." (He tweeted the same a little while ago.) He then notes that Zelensky "wants to end corruption in Ukraine."
"No push, no pressure, no nothing," Trump says of his call with Zelensky, calling this story a "hoax." He complains that the media is not covering his diplomatic accomplishments.
Trump is blasting a group of Democrats for a letter criticizing Ukraine's prosecutors for closing investigations. He accuses these Democrats of threatening Zelensky.
Trump boasts of China losing jobs and wealth. He boasts of the US economy, promises "much bigger trade deals."
Here's what Trump was talking about when he criticized the letter from the Democratic senators. cnn.com/2018/05/04/pol…
Trump says the US is now energy independent. It is not. (Definitions vary, but the EIA says it expects exports to exceed imports at some point next year. Even at that point, the US will obviously still be using foreign energy.)
The Democratic senators were criticizing Ukraine for closing prosecutions related to Paul Manafort so as to, a NYT article suggested, not offend Trump. nytimes.com/2018/05/02/wor… 
Trump alleges with no evidence at all that it was "all planned" that this controversy would be happening while he was having success at the UN.
Sir Alert: Trump says foreign leaders came up to him and said, "Sir, what you go through no president has" gone through.
Trump says reporters can have his other conversation with Zelensky any time they want, since it was "all perfect."
Trump, subdued but rambling, repeats his usual imaginary story about how San Diego and California wanted a wall but then San Diego complained after it was built. San Diego and California governments oppose the wall; even San Diego's Republican mayor opposes it.
This is rally-level Trump rambling, except he is talking quietly to reporters.
Trump is now talking about his decision to cut aid to Central American countries, saying all the US got back for all the money was caravans.
"Made a lot of new friends," Trump says of his time at the UN, then opens things up to questions, which he requests to be about UNGA rather than the "witch hunt."
Asked to explain why it IS appropriate to ask a foreign leader for info about a political rival, and what he'd say if Obama did it, Trump says, "That's what he did." Obama did not do that.
Trump is wrong that the Democratic senators' letter threatened to cut money to Ukraine. Here's the letter. foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Trump claims that any time there's a poll, you can add 10 points, or 7 points, or 6 points to his support number. (This is still in response to the question about the appropriateness of his actions with Zelensky.)
Trump is not really addressing the question about his call to Zelensky. He is instead boasting again that he beat Hillary Clinton 306 to 223, though she got 232, though he has said 223 more than 25 times. He then talks about how Clinton didn't go to Wisconsin.
After extremely not answering the question about his actions re Ukraine, Trump hands it over to Pompeo, who talks about Iran. I'll resume if Trump does.
Trump is back. He makes his usual misleading suggestion that tariff revenue is being paid by China rather than Americans. (It's usually straight false, but this was a vaguer version.)
Trump says he has great internal polls. He repeats his false claim that NC Republican Dan Bishop was down 17 points with three weeks to go and his false claim that NC Republican Greg Murphy was up only one or two points.
After exaggerating, Trump says he has to be accurate here or else there'll be media headlines, "Trump Exaggerates." It's funny when he acknowledges fact-checkers as he is being non-factual.
Trump says of his first conversation with Zelensky: "I'll release that too if it's important to you." He adds that "I don't like the concept of releasing calls."
Trump on why he released the call document today: "You folks were saying such lies...about a call that was so innocent and so nice." He says Lindsey Graham was "shocked" that Trump could be so nice to somebody. "I was nice," Trump says.
This has not been an enlightening press conference so far. It's mostly that Trump is just talking about other stuff at great length.
Trump is citing the comments of Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. He says he'll take one more question, "on the economy." He calls on a reporter from Venezuela. "How are you doing over there?" he asks. She says "bad."
Trump has ended the press conference after his lengthy filibuster.
