U.S President Donald Trump held his first rally in three months in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20, 2020. Trump's speech went on for an hour and forty minutes and he talked about his opponent on the Presidential race, former vice president Joe Biden, he talked about how he handled the pandemic, he discussed about the country's health care and more.
Here are some of the things that President Trump discussed during his rally.
West Point ramp
Trump spent almost 10 minutes talking about his speech at West Point on June 13 and his slow and careful descent down a ramp afterward. His walk had made his political opponents and the public wonder if he is suffering from any illness.
However, Trump said that the reason why he was carefully walking down the ramp was because he was wearing leather bottom shoes at that time, and he did not want to slip and fall. He also repeated his claim on Twitter and said that for the final 10 feet, he ran down the ramp.
The truth? The President did not run down the ramp for the final 10 feet. There is a video of him at the event that showed him walking slowly down the ramp and he picked up his pace for a final couple of steps.
Judicial appointments
President Trump stated that by the end of his Presidential term, the United States will have around 300 federal judges that he had appointed and approved.
The truth? According to Russell Wheeler, who tracks judicial appointments at the Brookings Institution, as of June 12, the President had 198 judges confirmed. If the Senate confirms 43 pending nominees and the President nominates too, and the Senate confirms judges to the 30 current vacancies that have no nominees and by the end of the year 29 additional vacancies happen and the President submits nominees for all vacancies and the Senate confirms, then that is the only time that the President had appointed 300 judges by the end of his term.
Travel ban due to the coronavirus
President Trump said during his rally that he had ordered the ban of flights from Europe and China. The truth? What the President initially imposed was not a total ban on European countries or people traveling from Europe. He only imposed restrictions on travel from most countries in Europe but there were those who were exempted, like Ireland and the United Kingdom.
On January 31, the Trump administration announced the restriction policy, and it was implemented on February 2. It was not a total border closure and it was also not a complete ban on China. It only prevented those who spent 2 weeks in China from getting inside the country, but US citizens and permanent residents were exempted.
On April 14, The New York Times reported that there were almost 40,000 people who had arrived in the United States from China since the restrictions were implemented. The travel restrictions on Europe did not apply for US citizens and permanent residents of the country.
The restrictions applied to the 26 countries in the Schengen Area. The area is a European zone in which people can move across the boarders without having to go through checks. The President later added Ireland and the United Kingdom. The ban still left out Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, Romania, and Russia.
Related Article: Fact Check: Did Trump Say He Won't Leave the White House After the End of His Term?
