FactChecking Russian President Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin made several false and misleading claims during his press conference in Finland with President Donald Trump and in an interview with Fox News.
- Putin falsely claimed that business associates of William Browder, who had lobbied for a 2012 U.S. law sanctioning Russians, had given $400 million to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Those affiliated with the firm in question gave just $17,700 to Clinton.
- Discussing the case of a Russian firm indicted for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, Putin said, “So far, American court has not discovered any trace of interference whatsoever.” That’s misleading. There’s an ongoing legal dispute over pretrial evidence. There is, however, plenty of evidence in the indictments.
- Putin denied that a video played during his annual state of the nation address showed an animated depiction of nuclear warheads raining down on Florida — not far from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private resort and golf club. But it did.
Putin spoke after he and Trump held a summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16.
We don’t typically fact-check foreign leaders, but in this case, Putin’s comments were part of a high-profile event with the U.S. president. And besides, there are no fact-checking organizations in Russia, according to the Duke Reporters’ Lab.
Clinton Campaign Contributions
In the , Putin claimed that business associates of William Browder evaded taxes in Russia and gave “a huge amount of
