Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump officially introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to the nation as his running mate on Saturday in Manhattan. Before Pence joined him on stage to accept the vice presidential nod, however, Trump delivered a nearly 30-minute speech touching on everything from the recent coup attempt in Turkey to likely general election rival Hillary Clinton to his success at vanquishing his Republican primary foes. Here's a look at how the speech handled a wide range of issues:
North American Free Trade Agreement
TRUMP SAID: Trump cited Indiana's manufacturing recovery as one reason for picking Pence. "I saw how NAFTA has drained our manufacturing jobs... NAFTA is the worst economic deal in the history of the country."
FACTS: According to the Washington Post, "economists have not reached any firm conclusion on the impact of NAFTA, but many think that claims of massive job losses are overstated." The Congressional Research Service backs that up, finding in 2015 that "the net overall effect of NAFTA on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modes." Meanwhile, Pence, while serving in Congress, was a strong supporter of NAFTA and has also supported every other free trade deal in the last decade, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In a speech on the House floor in 2001, Pence specifically touted NAFTA, saying, "Trade already benefits Indiana" by increasing agricultural exports from the state.
Verdict: Trump vastly overstates the number of jobs lost as a result of NAFTA, but this was a strange point to bring up before introducing his new running mate, considering how big a proponent of free trade agreements Pence has been in the past.
Indiana's Low Unemployment Rate Under Mike Pence
TRUMP SAID: "Indiana, their unemployment rate has fallen, when he was there, when he started, 8.4 percent when he was governor, when he took over, to less than 5 percent in May of 2016."
FACTS: In May of 2016, the national unemployment rate was 4.7 percent (in June, it was 4.9 percent). In May of 2016 in Indiana, the unemployment rate was 5 percent. According to CNBC, "compared to the rest of the 50 states, Indiana's economy puts it just about where it sits on the U.S. map — roughly in the middle."
VERDICT: While the unemployment rate in Indiana has declined since 2013, this mirrors national trends rather than being an outlier. National and Indiana unemployment rates are equal.
Indiana's Balanced Budget
TRUMP SAID: Pence balanced the state of Indiana's budget and produced a surplus. The state has a AAA credit rating.
FACTS: Since taking office, Pence has balanced the state's budget. At the end of the 2015 fiscal year, he touted a state surplus of $210 million, achieved in part by an austere approach to government agency spending that was criticized by the state's Democratic lawmakers. Indiana does have a AAA credit rating, one it has maintained since 2010.
VERDICT: True. However, balancing the budget is not an achievement unique to Pence. States are required to produce a balanced budget.
Indiana's Increase in Labor Force Under Mike Pence
TRUMP SAID: “Since January 2013, Indiana's labor force has increased by more than 186,000 jobs. You have to understand, I've gone around to all these states. I've gone to all of them. And every time, I have statisticians. I say give me the stats on a state. And it's always bad, down, down, down. Down 40 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent in some cases. Here's somebody where it's gone up. Private sector job growth is up by more than 147,000 jobs since 2013. That's very unusual."
FACTS: As of May there has been an increase of 186,527 jobs in the labor force since Jan. 2013, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The same department also reported that there has been 147,800 private sector jobs since Jan. 2013, as well.
The Washington Post points out that there is no state where the unemployment rate is down anywhere close to the "40, 50, 60 percent" Trump cited Saturday.
VERDICT: Partially true. Trump’s numbers on job growth since Pence began governing the state is accurate. However, he is wrong about other state’s unemployment rates being so high.
Brexit
TRUMP SAID: “And I said that Brexit is going to happen. I said that they are going to break away, and everyone laughed at me and the odds were 20 percent.”
FACTS: Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview in March on the United Kingdom’s ITV news that he did believe Britain would leave the EU. However, according to the Economist’s Brexit poll tracker which began in January, the percentage of people who wanted to leave EU was always 36 percent or higher six months prior to the vote.
VERDICT: Partially true. Trump did predict the Brexit vote correctly, but the odds of it occurring were much higher than 20 percent.
Trump's Stance on the Iraq War
TRUMP SAID: Contrasting his foreign policy views with Clinton, “If you look at my calls, I said don’t go into Iraq. Nobody cared, because I was a business person, I was a civilian.”
FACTS: The only report that found Trump speaking about the Iraq war before it happened was byBuzzfeed News, which reported that in a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, Trump was directly asked if he would support the invasion of Iraq, which didn’t begin until Jan. 28, 2003. “Yeah, I guess so,” Trump responded. “I wish the first time it was done correctly.”
Shortly after the Iraq war began in 2003, Trump began slowly condemning the decision and told the Washington Post in March of 2003 that he thought the Iraq war was “a mess.”
VERDICT: False. Trump admitted to supporting the Iraq war in 2002 before the war began though he did progressively change his decision publicly within the next year.
It bears mentioning that Pence strongly supported the Iraq War — he co-sponsored and voted in favor of the bill authorizing the Iraq War when he was a House representative from Indiana, and opposed measures to set a timeline to withdraw troops.
Clinton's Emails
TRUMP SAID: “These are crimes, these are crimes,” referring to Clinton's email scandal. “She got away with murder — in fact I think it might be her greatest accomplishment."
FACTS: Weeks ago, FBI director James Comey announced a recommendation that Clinton not be charged for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. The Department of Justice accepted that recommendation.
VERDICT: In the view of the FBI and the DOJ, Clinton's use of a personal email server did not meet the standard of criminal intent.
Bonus Pence Fact-Check: Clinton Killing Coal Mining Jobs
PENCE SAID: “Where Donald Trump supports an all of the above strategy and will end the war on coal, Hillary Clinton actually promised an energy plan that would close American coal mines and put coal miners out of work.”
FACTS: In a CNN town hall in March Clinton did say, “we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” However, she added that wasn’t planning on leaving them unemployed saying, “And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories. Now we've got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don't want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on.”
NPR also reported coal jobs have been declining since the Obama administration began combatting climate change moving away from carbon-intensive coal to fuel power-production. Since 2014, coal mining jobs dropped below 75,000. But Clinton has noted in her $30 billion plan to increase job training, small-business development and investment, particularly in coal mining towns like in Appalachia.
VERDICT: Partially true. Clinton did admit her policies will lead to job losses for coal miners, but she has also provided a plan to assist formerly employed coal miners.