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| Republican Convention Speeches: What You’ve Missed So Far and Our Fact Checks | Republican Convention Speeches: What You’ve Missed So Far and Our Fact Checks |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Welcome to the prime-time lineup for Day 1 of the Republican National Convention. Melania Trump, Donald J. Trump’s wife, is the featured speaker tonight. She is among a series of celebrities, politicians and former military officers whose jobs are to describe how Mr. Trump will “keep America safe again.” | Welcome to the prime-time lineup for Day 1 of the Republican National Convention. Melania Trump, Donald J. Trump’s wife, is the featured speaker tonight. She is among a series of celebrities, politicians and former military officers whose jobs are to describe how Mr. Trump will “keep America safe again.” |
| Here are the highlights and our fact checks (you can also watch live video and check out our real-time analysis): | Here are the highlights and our fact checks (you can also watch live video and check out our real-time analysis): |
| • Melania Trump was introduced by none other than her husband, who walked onto the stage to a booming rendition of Queen’s “We Are The Champions.” Ms. Trump praised him as an “amazing leader” who “thinks big” and will never give up. She said predicted that he would win over Mrs. Clinton, and said that “it would not be a Trump contest without excitement and drama.” | |
| If she is able to serve as first lady, she promised to help “people in our country who need it the most.” She said she would focus on women and children, and in particular making sure that children have the education they deserve. “It is kindness, love and compassion for each other that will bring us togehter and keep us together,” she said. | |
| • Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, repeatedly bought the crowd to its feet. He said Americans do not feel safe, and thanked the police for the dangerous job they do. “When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you are black or white. They just come to save you,” he said. | |
| He called Mr. Trump a man with “a big heart,” and said that Americans “should be sick and tired” of what he deemed a “vicious, nasty” campaign by Mrs. Clinton. He said that President Obama had made America appear weak to its enemies by not saying the phrase “Islamic extremist terrorists.” | |
| Mr. Guiliani stayed away from detailed accusations, staying focused on emotional attacks likely to bring the crowd to its feet. “Hillary Clinton’s experience is exactly the reason she should not be President of the United States,” he said. | |
| Two actors kicked off the night’s speeches: Scott Baio, who starred on “Happy Days” as a child, said the country does not want to pick Hillary Clinton, who is “wrecking this country,” while Willie Robertson, the star of “Duck Dynasty,” said that those who feel forgotten should know that “Donald Trump will have your back.” | |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas and two-time presidential candidate, introduced Marcus Luttrell, a retired member of the Navy SEALs and the author of “Service: A Navy SEAL at War.” Mr. Luttrell stressed the need for “an elite military” because terrorism had come to America’s shores. “Your war is here. You don’t need to go looking for it. It’s here.” | • Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas and two-time presidential candidate, introduced Marcus Luttrell, a retired member of the Navy SEALs and the author of “Service: A Navy SEAL at War.” Mr. Luttrell stressed the need for “an elite military” because terrorism had come to America’s shores. “Your war is here. You don’t need to go looking for it. It’s here.” |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Patricia Smith, the mother Sean Smith, a State Department employee who was killed in the 2012 attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya, became near tears when she spoke. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally.” | |
| • John Tiegen and Mark Geist, authors of the book “13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi,” discussed their memories of terror and fog of war in a 20-minute account full of claims that were difficult to verify. | |
| Fact check: At one point, however, they contended that Mrs. Clinton was watching a live feed of the attack from a drone and did very little in response. Mrs. Clinton has testified that no one at the State Department had access to real-time video of the attacks.) | Fact check: At one point, however, they contended that Mrs. Clinton was watching a live feed of the attack from a drone and did very little in response. Mrs. Clinton has testified that no one at the State Department had access to real-time video of the attacks.) |
| Mr. Geist said that “when Hillary failed to do her job,” Americans died. But the House Select Committee on Benghazi did not share that view: It concluded that while there were failures across the board, from the Pentagon to the State Department, there was no new evidence of culpability by Mrs. Clinton. | Mr. Geist said that “when Hillary failed to do her job,” Americans died. But the House Select Committee on Benghazi did not share that view: It concluded that while there were failures across the board, from the Pentagon to the State Department, there was no new evidence of culpability by Mrs. Clinton. |
| _____ | _____ |
| • In emotional terms, Kelly Terry-Willis and Kent Terry, siblings of Brian Terry, a border patrol agent who was killed in a gunfight in December 2010 that involved two weapons later linked to the disputed gun-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, blamed the program, in which federal agents in Arizona tried to trace illegal guns, for his death and said “no one in Obama’s administration were ever held accountable for its failure.” | |
| Fact Check: After numerous investigations, the Justice Department’s inspector general issued a scathing report that severely criticized federal officials for their handling of the gunrunning program, in which they lost track of hundreds of weapons, including two that were found near the site where Mr. Terry was killed. The I.G. found no evidence that Obama administration officials approved the operation. | Fact Check: After numerous investigations, the Justice Department’s inspector general issued a scathing report that severely criticized federal officials for their handling of the gunrunning program, in which they lost track of hundreds of weapons, including two that were found near the site where Mr. Terry was killed. The I.G. found no evidence that Obama administration officials approved the operation. |
| • Three relatives of victims mudered by illegal immigrants took to stage in Cleveland on Monday to describe their stories. “It’s time that we have an administration that cares more about Americans than it cares about illegals,” said Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son, a police officer, died in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver in 2014. | |
| • Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that Mrs. Clinton favored “open borders, executive amnesty and the surge of Syrian refugees.” | |
| Fact Check: While Mrs. Clinton has said she supports President Obama’s executive actions to allow some illegal immigrants to live and work in the United States, she has not called for “open borders” and her support for accepting Syrian refugees has been limited to 65,000 people, far fewer than the number who were accepted by some European countries. | Fact Check: While Mrs. Clinton has said she supports President Obama’s executive actions to allow some illegal immigrants to live and work in the United States, she has not called for “open borders” and her support for accepting Syrian refugees has been limited to 65,000 people, far fewer than the number who were accepted by some European countries. |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Darryl Glenn, the Republican candidate for Senate in Colorado, accused President Obama of leaving the country more racially divided than it was when he came into office, and declared that “blue lives matter,” urging a standing ovation in the arena. | |
| But he drew his biggest applause with a dig at Mrs. Clinton, who he called “unfit” to be president. He noted that she “loves her pantsuits,” and added: “We should send her an email and tell her that she deserves a bright orange jumpsuit.” | |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq — and who wrote a now-famous letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran threatening to undermine any nuclear deal — took up the “leading from behind” critique of the Obama administration. It was a classic, pre-Trump call for a more muscular America: “We’d like a commander in chief who speaks of winning wars and not merely ending wars.” | |
| _____ | |
| • Fact Check: It is not clear what era Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama was citing when he said that the trade deficit had risen fivefold in the Clinton and Obama years. If he was going back to the beginning of the Clinton administration in 1993, he understated what has happened since. | |
| In 1993, the trade deficit in goods with China was $22.77 billion, and at the end of last year, it was $367.17 billion, a 16-fold increase. But China was a bit player in 1993; it is now the world’s second-largest economy. Moreover, American exports to Iran have risen 13-fold in that time. That does not include services, a big source of American revenues | |
| When did some of the biggest surges in the trade deficit with China take place? It was during the George W. Bush administration. This year, based on the figures for the first five months, it is in decline. |