AP FACT CHECK: Trump's wall claim is beyond 'redemption'

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's wall claim is beyond 'redemption'

SeattlePI.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, President Donald Trump told a rally that people who are in the United States illegally are paying for his Mexico border wall. It was the latest iteration of his effort to convince the public that Mexico is covering the cost, just as he promised throughout his 2016 campaign and since.

Evidence to the contrary came three days later. The Pentagon announced it is taking $3.8 billion approved by Congress for fighter aircraft, ships and other military programs and using the money to pay for the wall. The Defense Department took a similar step last year and may yet again. U.S. taxpayers are paying for the wall, not Mexico, as has been the case from the start.

Trump spread a variety of distortions at the rally, and still more in other venues during a week that came to be dominated by machinations involving the Justice Department. The release of his proposed budget prompted Democrats to wrongly accuse him of undermining Medicare.

The week in review:

THE WALL

TRUMP: “You do know who's paying for the wall, don't you? Redemption from illegal aliens that are coming. The redemption money is paying for the wall." — New Hampshire rally Monday.

THE FACTS: To date, the money is coming from the U.S. treasury, meaning today's taxpayers and the future ones who will inherit the federal debt. To the extent any people who came into the U.S. illegally are kicking in for the wall, it's because they're working and paying taxes like other workers.

“Redemption” payments don't exist; Trump apparently meant to cite remittances. That refers to money that immigrants in the U.S. send to their countries of origin, often to family members. Trump has at various times talked about taxing or blocking such money but that has not been...

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