Trump Claims Clinton Invented a Statement He Made to the Debate Moderator

Trump denied saying that Japan should get nuclear weapons. But he made that claim to Chris Wallace in April.

David Goldman/AP

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When Hillary Clinton noted during Wednesday night’s presidential debate that Donald Trump had said countries like Japan should get nuclear weapons to defend themselves, Trump called her a “liar” and said she was misquoting him.

“There’s no quote,” Trump said. “You’re not going to find a quote from me.”

It turns out Trump was the one lying, and he’d said exactly what Clinton claimed. Not only that, Trump’s comments endorsing nuclear weapons for other countries came during an interview with the debate moderator, Fox News’ Chris Wallace.

During an interview back in April, Trump told Wallace, “So, North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would in fact be better off if they defend themselves from North Korea.”

Wallace clarified. “With nukes?” he asked.

“Including with nukes, yes, including with nukes,” Trump said.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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