#quiet as it’s kept the last option on the sex poll

[mxtxfanatic]

.

[nutriyumaddict]

20. Babysitting together.

Hello! Thank you so much! This one kind of turned into a bigger thing…oops. ;-)

Leslie glanced once more at the time (it was a quarter to eight, five minutes later than when she last checked) and then looked again over at the baby on her desk.

Yeah. The baby. On her desk.

The baby in question was just a little thing, maybe three or four months old? Not that Leslie was a very good judge of baby ages or anything, but the infant was clearly not talking yet and she barely looked big enough to crawl on her own, even if she wasn’t all snuggled up in a wicker basket.

Leslie’s unexpected guest, for her part, was watching her with big baby eyes as if to ask: Well…now what?

Good question, baby. Leslie paced around her office as she ran through the current situation once more. Who in their right mind would abandon a baby in a basket at City Hall? The answer, of course, was probably a very desperate and heartbroken person who felt like they had no other option than to do something drastic.

When she’d first found the little bundle after hours in the women’s restroom, Leslie had looked around and checked each stall for the parent. Nothing. Then she carefully brought the baby back to her office, along with a bag filled with diapers and formula and a note, which she’d eventually discovered in with the baby supplies.

The handwritten plea asked for whoever found the baby to take care of her and that her name was Wendi. That was it.

“Wendi, I’m really sorry, but I’m not quite sure what to do here,” Leslie said, staring down at her unexpected guest.

She was very cute and thankfully, so far quiet but still, Leslie was running for City Council, she couldn’t exactly take care of a baby. Not that it worked like that, of course. It’s not like she was suddenly a single mother or anything.

Leslie had called the non-emergency police number right away and talked to Lou, Dave’s old partner, as soon as she got back to her office. Turns out, it would probably be hours before someone could come get the abandoned baby. Plus, Pawnee’s finest apparently trusted her to watch an infant for a bit, so it was being considered a non-emergency while the Wamapoke County CPS was being notified about the situation.

The main problem right now was that although she was definitely a responsible adult, Leslie knew pretty much next to nothing about babies. Ann was in Michigan visiting her parents and Leslie’s own mom was on a cruise and right there, those were the two people that she knew of that maybe understood babies.

Well, there was also Jerry, but she wasn’t that desperate yet.

As if deciding she’d finally had enough of this situation, Wendi started to cry.

“Oh boy,” Leslie muttered, moving closer. “Hey there, hey Wendi, what’s wrong? Are you hungry? Do you want to hear a story about Madeleine Albright and how she was the first female Secretary of State?” Wendi kept crying, so that was probably a no. Maybe she wanted to hear about Larry Bird?

Leslie turned around to grab her autographed photo of the basketball legend, where it sat right next to Madeleine’s picture.

“Look, Wendi, it’s Larry Bird. He was the head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000 and now he–”

“Is that a baby?”

Leslie looked up at the unexpected interruption, surprised to see Ben in her office doorway.

He looked tired, standing there in his plaid shirt and a loosened tie. Also, what was he doing here so late? They’d bumped into each other in the hallway earlier in the afternoon, and she was about to latch onto him for their fun, five-minute conversation, but he’d taken one look at her stylish new pink and maroon sweater and turned away, walking into a supply closet seemingly just to avoid her.

“Yes. This is a baby,” Leslie answered, smiling and the current turn of events. “Wendi.”

Instead of walking away now, Ben frowned but moved closer. He continued to look really confused as he stared at her desk. The expression on his face was one she’d seen a lot since he’d come to Pawnee. “Why do you have a baby named Wendi?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not yours,” Leslie joked, trying to lighten the mood. But really, insinuating that she and Ben could have made a baby together before breaking up so that she could run for city council didn’t seem to exactly offer the levity she was hoping for.

He made a face. “Yeah. I really didn’t think that. Who’s is she? And why are you showing her your photo of Larry Bird?”

“I found her in the bathroom. I think she was abandoned and no one can come get her for awhile and I have no idea what else to do to get her to stop crying…” Leslie trailed off, watching as Ben took charge and crossed the few remaining feet to her desk, lifted Wendi up, and held her in his arms. Then his eyes widened.

“Good lord. I think this is a diaper situation.”

“Really?”

Ben kind of passed the baby’s lower half by her face.

“Oh my god.” How was it even possible for a sweet little baby to do that?

“Yeah,” he looked around and noticed the bag. “I don’t suppose there are any diapers in there?”

“Here,” she set the photo down and pulled a new diaper out. “Oh, hold on, I can Altavista how to change a…” but then she trailed off as Ben started rooting through the bag and got out a container of baby wipes and a worn pink blanket.

He spread the blanket out on her desk, laid Wendi down on it, and proceeded to change her diaper like a pro. Like he knew exactly what he was doing and crap on a calendar if that didn’t make Leslie all warm and gooey inside.

Damn it.

Also, she was fairly impressed just from a technical standpoint. “How do you know how to do that?”

Ben made a silly face at the baby and reached down so that Wendi could grip his finger in her tiny hand as she cooed, now perfectly content, and wow, okay, Leslie should probably stop thinking about how sexy Ben looked when he was taking care of a baby.

“My brother, Henry,” he answered her finally. “Remember he had a daughter a few months ago? Georgia. I went to visit and I got a crash course in changing diapers while I was there.”

“You’re really good with her. You know, with babies. You’re good with babies. You should have one,” Leslie blurted out, before she really realized what she was even saying. Then she did and she felt herself start to blush.

“Oh well, um…maybe one day. No current plans for future children right now.”

Leslie nodded quickly and decided to try and change the subject before she thought too much about Ben as a father. To be honest, she was still more relieved than she cared to admit that Shauna Malwae-Tweep hadn’t been here that morning after the world didn’t end.

“I’d take her to my place while I wait for CPS, but I don’t have a car seat or anything and so, I think we’re stuck here.”

Ben looked around and then back at Leslie and Wendi, still gripping onto his index finger. He sighed.

“I’m probably going to regret this, but do you want to walk over to my place with her? It’s just a few blocks.”

Like she didn’t know exactly where Ben lived. Like she hadn’t once run over there from this very building with stolen artwork or more recently, spent a handful of sneaky nights in his bedroom having cuddly, quiet sex with him.

“Really? I mean, yeah, that would be great. We can babysit together. You and me. Great idea, Ben!”

“Well, it’s at least a bit more comfortable and while it’s definitely not baby-proofed, I think between the two of us we could keep her out of danger,” he said, as Leslie started to repack Wendi’s bag. “And also, Andy is at Mouse Rat practice Thursday nights and April is at her parents’ for dinner.”

* * * * *

After checking in with the police department about her and Wendi’s new location, she and Ben wordlessly seemed to agree on a truce while they watched the baby together.

Not that they’d been fighting exactly (although the Model UN event last week had gotten fairly contentious), but right now Ben seemed less guarded around her. He wasn’t looking at her with an expression like he’d rather be anywhere else.

They were tentatively talking and eventually even laughing and communicating easily–even if it was about how to burp a baby or how cute little green booties were.

After Wendi was all fed and all taken care of, they sat on the couch and Ben coached her through holding the sleepy baby in her arms and to Leslie’s surprise, there was no crying or fussing at all. Wendi just looked up at her with her big blue baby eyes and seemed happy even.

Leslie snuck a peek at Ben. He was watching them with a soft and affectionate smile on his face, which he stopped doing as soon as he noticed her looking.

But still, he offered, “She likes you.”

“I like her too.”

Ben moved closer to Leslie so that their arms touched. It was quiet for a few minutes while they both watched the peaceful baby in her arms. She was sleeping now and Leslie was not quite so sure what she had been so frazzled about at first–babies were easy to take care of.

“How’s everything going?” He whispered finally. “You know, with the campaign.”

“Good. It’s all good.”

Ben nodded. “Your polling numbers are rising.”

“Yeah,” she responded, still looking at down at Wendi, but encouraged that Ben had been paying attention to her polling numbers.

Leslie relaxed and allowed herself the luxury of feeling close to him again. It was kind of like how she used to feel when they would just hang out at her place and talk or make-out. Except now, they were sitting here with a baby and that was leading to all sorts of thoughts about what else boyfriends did besides love and marry you–they made babies with you.

She’d been trying so hard to not think about Ben-stuff that much lately, especially after her meltdown a few weeks ago during the night with the Reasonablists, but tonight, she couldn’t help but do exactly that.

Leslie didn’t just want to be his friend but since that seemed like her only option for now, she couldn’t let go of it, no matter how much he seemed to try and push her away.

She wasn’t being obtuse, she was just clinging to anything to try and keep him in her life. Leslie was the one attempting to tread water until she could have him back completely, the way she really wanted him…she just didn’t know how to do that yet.

“Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to know that I miss you a lot. I miss this, being with you,” she confessed and then added, “I miss the romantic part of our relationship.”

He took a beat before he acknowledged her words. “I miss you too.”

But after he admitted it, Leslie could feel him start to pull away, both physically and emotionally. “Look, I’m glad you’re here right now and I’m happy to help with this situation but I think we should try to keep this…not so personal.”

“You were staring at my sweater today,” she told him, not at all trying to keep it not so personal. Besides, she couldn’t stop herself even if she wanted to, she needed to push for as much as he was willing to give her.

“Oh, um, well…it’s a nice sweater,” he admitted, definitely not looking at her sweater when he said it.

“Ann says it makes my boobs look amazing.”

Ben sighed and closed his eyes. “Leslie…”

“What? I’m just asking if you like my sweater and if you share Ann’s opinion. Friends can like other friend’s wardrobe choices.”

When he opened his eyes he didn’t look mad or even annoyed. Ben seemed sad and a little embarrassed.

“I’m sorry if I stared at your sweater earlier, I didn’t mean to. And yes, it’s very nice but seeing you and being around you still kind of bums out, so I’d really prefer not to, uh, talk about your breasts, alright?”

She swallowed but her throat threatened to buckle with a sob anyway. Leslie finally managed to get out a gruff, “Okay.”

Fuck, she was going to start crying and then that was going to wake up Wendi and then this whole situation was going to be even more awkward.

He seemed to know what was coming because Ben averted his gaze once again and looked down. “Don’t cry, Leslie. Please? I can’t…watch you cry and not want to hug you.”

“You could hug me.”

“You’re holding a baby,” he reminded her.

“You could hug both of us.”

Ben groaned but kept his voice quiet. “This isn’t fair. We broke up. And I need some space to try and get over you. Because I haven’t been able to get over you. Not when I see you every day and you wear sweaters like that and you tell me that you want me to hug you.”

They broke up because of her, but Leslie had no idea it would be this hard. That she’d miss him so much.

Maybe she should suggest that they say screw it about her campaign and even their jobs, and then they could hug and maybe even kiss too, with the sleeping baby between them. Oh, and then they could get Wendi a fake passport and take her to Spain, where they’d raise her as their own daughter. They’d all learn to Flamenco dance and make paella together for Sunday night dinners.

But just as she opened her mouth to maybe suggest some of that, the doorbell rang.

* * * * * 

Lou’s appearance at his front door seemed to briefly startle and fluster Ben, and he moved back quickly to let in both the policeman and a clearly tired Ms. Myton from Child Protective Services. She gathered up the baby from Leslie and the baby bag from Ben, all while Leslie tried not to sniffle about the previous mood in the room, which most everyone interpreted as sadness about Wendi’s situation.

“We’ll try to find the mother or her father,” Lou promised. “Or family. There are social programs and parenting classes and even if that doesn’t work out, I’m sure the baby will be okay,” the cop assured her.

Ben moved next to her to say goodbye to Wendi. It was a sweet little hand to finger shake that made Leslie tear up even more.

“Can I give you a lift in the squad car?” Lou asked.

“That’s a good idea,” Ben quickly answered for her. “Your car is back at City Hall, right Leslie?”

She looked at Ben. He was staring at her with a blank expression that she couldn’t read at all. No, wait. She could. It said, you need to not be here because I can’t do this anymore tonight.

Leslie nodded, moving onto the front porch with Lou. “Yeah. My car’s at City Hall. But you…” she added to Ben, “let’s touch base for that five-minute conversation tomorrow.”

“Great,” Ben answered in a tone that suggested he thought that idea was anything but, as he shut the door.

Ms. Myton and Wendi headed off in the woman’s blue Hyundai and Leslie got settled up front with Lou in his cruiser. Yeah, she thought, tonight was a little uncomfortable, but everything would be fine tomorrow. Spain was probably not a realistic idea (especially with the kidnapping and all), but Leslie knew that she and Ben could still be friends.

They just had to be.

[investmart007]

WASHINGTON | AP FACT CHECK: Trump's bent reality: Cohen, clean air, taxes

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/Tr2xMg

WASHINGTON | AP FACT CHECK: Trump's bent reality: Cohen, clean air, taxes

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump is living in an alternate reality when it comes to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and other controversies swirling around him.

He laments the threat of a “perjury trap” in explaining why he’s hesitant to be interviewed by Mueller in the Russia probe, even as Trump’s lawyers assert that Mueller had ruled out trying to indict a sitting president.

Trump also makes the head-scratching claim that the crimes of his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, are not criminal and falsely suggests that Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, should be viewed as innocent even after being found guilty on several bank fraud and other charges.

The statements came in a week of distorted truth in which Trump also complained about a politician plagiarizing his slogan despite his history of doing the same, wrongly claimed his tax cuts are the biggest ever and defied data in declaring the U.S. is No. 1 in environmental quality.

A look at his rhetoric and how they compare with the facts: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP, citing concerns of a “perjury trap”: “So if I say something and he (former FBI director James Comey) says something, and it’s my word against his, and he’s best friends with Mueller, so Mueller might say: ‘Well, I believe Comey,’ and even if I’m telling the truth, that makes me a liar. That’s no good.” — interview with Reuters published Aug. 20.

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP’S ATTORNEY: “I am not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury.” — remarks Aug. 19 on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

THE FACTS: They’re making a disingenuous claim. Both Trump and his lawyers point to a threat of perjury charges, even as Giuliani has maintained that Mueller’s team indicated the special counsel had ruled out the possibility of indicting Trump.

Legal experts generally agree that sitting presidents can’t be indicted. Mueller would presumably be bound by Justice Department legal memos from 1973 and 2000 suggesting that a sitting president is immune from indictment and that criminal charges would undermine the ability of the commander in chief to do the job.

Trump and Giuliani falsely suggest that Mueller would be able to easily bring a perjury indictment based solely on Comey’s contradictory testimony. In fact, perjury charges are often difficult to prove: Mueller would have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump intentionally lied. A conflicting statement from Trump doesn’t rise to a criminal offense if he arguably misunderstood, forgot, misspoke or misremembered information.

Mueller could also prepare a report detailing allegations intended for Congress to act upon as an impeachable offense. But impeachment is a political rather than a legal concept, strongly influenced by whichever party is in control of Congress.

Trump’s assertion of a “perjury trap” comes as he and his lawyers have hedged on an interview amid a months-long negotiation over whether and how investigators can question the president on possible obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. Mueller’s team has put forward questions including about his firing of Comey last year and his public antagonism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. ___ 2016 ELECTION

TRUMP: “You know, they kept saying I had a problem with the women’s vote; I get 52 percent in the election.” — remarks Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

THE FACTS: No. Trump appears to be citing a figure pertaining to white women only.

Among all women, about 54 percent nationally voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to exit polls, compared with Trump’s 41 percent. ___

COHEN AND MANAFORT

TRUMP: “Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime.” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: False. The campaign finance violations are crimes. While it’s not a crime to pay someone to keep quiet, the Justice Department says the hush money payments arranged by Cohen to conceal allegations of Trump’s extramarital affairs were actually unreported campaign contributions meant to influence the outcome of the election.

That’s a critical assertion because it makes the payments subject to campaign finance laws, which restrict how much people can donate to a campaign and bar corporations from making direct contributions.

Though some campaign finance experts suggested before the guilty plea that the payments to two women who say they had sex with Trump could have been arranged for other purposes, such as protecting Trump’s personal reputation, Cohen himself acknowledged that the goal was to affect the election and protect Trump’s candidacy.

The $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal by National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. and the $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels far exceeded permissible campaign contribution limits. ___ TRUMP: “A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: The jury’s lack of consensus on 10 of 18 counts hardly makes Manafort an innocent man, or supports the notion that Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt.” Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was found guilty on eight counts, including filing false tax returns and two bank fraud charges that will almost certainly guarantee years of prison for him.

On the 10 other counts, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict; they did not acquit him of those charges. Federal prosecutors have the option to try him again on those charges or accept what they’ve got.

Manafort faces another trial in Washington next month on separate charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., money laundering and witness tampering. ___ POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

TRUMP: “Bill DeBlasio, the high taxing Mayor of NYC, just stole my campaign slogan: PROMISES MADE PROMISES KEPT! That’s not at all nice. No imagination!” — tweet Tuesday.

TRUMP: “‘Promises Made, Promises Kept.’ They’re copying it now, the Democrats.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Trump is a slogan copycat himself. His slogan about promises made and kept was used by President Barack Obama in his 2012 campaign. Republican John Engler used it when he ran for re-election as Michigan governor in 1994.

“Make America Great Again” was used by President Ronald Reagan, preceded by “Let’s.”

“Drain the swamp” was a mantra of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi during the 2006 midterm election campaigns, in what turned out to be Democrats’ successful bid to take control of the House. ___ CLEAN AIR

TRUMP: “I want clean air. I want crystal clean water. And we’ve got it. We’ve got the cleanest country in the planet right now. There’s nobody cleaner than us.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday. THE FACTS: The United States does not have the cleanest air on Earth. Not even close.

The Associated Press consulted five databases and reports. Each showed countries with cleaner air both in dangerous small particles and in ozone, which is smog.

For example, the Health Effects Institute’s state of global air report found 65 countries with less smog when adjusted for season and population. Those include Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Canada and Venezuela. And in the more dangerous small particles, or soot, eight countries bested the U.S. Among them were Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Yale’s performance index ranks the United States 10th in overall air quality behind Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and others. But when it comes to dangerous soot exposure levels, the United States ranked 87th, just behind the Philippines.

When it comes to clean water, the data comes close to supporting Trump. Yale’s team took the top countries in the world on drinking water and ranked them all No. 1, including the United States, although there are some technical differences among them. ___ TAXES

TRUMP: “It is the biggest tax cut in the history of our country and you people are benefiting by it.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday. THE FACTS: This biggest-ever claim has become one of the president’s favorite fabrications.

His tax cuts are nowhere close to the biggest in U.S. history. It’s a $1.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years. As a share of the total economy, a tax cut of that size ranks a lowly 12th, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Are people already seeing benefits from the tax cuts? Companies definitely are.

Economic growth has picked up this year because of the deficit-financed stimulus. Companies are taking their tax savings and buying back stock at a record pace, according to TrimTabs Investment Research.

But so far, the tax cuts haven’t delivered a major shot of financial adrenaline to most families.

One recent estimate by former Treasury Department official Ernie Tedeschi is that the cuts are adding $50 a month to average take-home pay, a figure that falls to $17 a month when higher state and local taxes are included in the estimate.

Nor are the cuts fueling higher wage growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that wages have dropped in the past 12 months after adjusting for inflation. ___ IMMIGRANTS AND CRIME

TRUMP, praising Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “To hear some of the stories going on with MS-13, you wouldn’t believe it. And they’re doing an incredible job. They’re actually liberating towns.” — remarks Aug. 20.

TRUMP: “A vote for any Democrat in November is a vote to eliminate immigration enforcement, throw open our borders and set loose vicious predators and violent criminals. They’ll be all over our communities. They will be preying on our communities.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Trump suggests that weak border enforcement is contributing to crime committed by MS-13. But the gang actually has many U.S.-born members at this point — people who by virtue of U.S. citizenship can’t be denied entry based on their nationality, or deported. The government has not said recently how many members it thinks are citizens and immigrants. In notable raids on MS-13 in 2015 and 2016, most of the people caught were found to be U.S. citizens.

More broadly, Trump overgeneralizes about people who arrive illegally in the U.S. Several studies have shown that immigration does not lead to increased crime.

Foreign-born immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans, the research found, but crime rates rise for succeeding generations as the children and grandchildren of immigrants become more like native-born Americans. ___ TRUMP: “We have MS-13 on the run. They’ve poured in here with Obama, we have them on the run.” — remarks Tuesday.

THE FACTS: There’s no evidence that MS-13 gangs “poured in” during the Obama administration. The Justice Department has said there are about 10,000 MS-13 members in the U.S., the same number as more than a decade ago.

Trump’s Justice Department has indirectly credited the Obama administration, in its early years, with putting heavy pressure on the gang. It said, “Through the combined efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement, great progress was made diminishing or severely (disrupting) the gang within certain targeted areas of the U.S. by 2009 and 2010.” ___ TRUMP: “The new platform of the Democrat Party is to abolish ICE.” — remarks Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

TRUMP: “Leading members of the Democrat Party have even launched a campaign to abolish ICE. In other words, they want to abolish America’s borders.” — remarks Aug. 20.

THE FACTS: While some Democrats in the House and Senate have raised the prospect of eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement, no top Democrats in the House or Senate have called for such a move. Those Democrats who have expressed openness to eliminating ICE have said they would not abandon border enforcement, which is largely carried out by Customs and Border Protection. ___ By HOPE YEN ,  Associated Press ___

[mikemortgage]

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s bent reality: Cohen, clean air, taxes

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is living in an alternate reality when it comes to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and other controversies swirling around him.

He laments the threat of a “perjury trap” in explaining why he’s hesitant to be interviewed by Mueller in the Russia probe, even as Trump’s lawyers assert that Mueller had ruled out trying to indict a sitting president.

Trump also makes the head-scratching claim that the crimes of his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, are not criminal and falsely suggests that Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, should be viewed as innocent even after being found guilty on several bank fraud and other charges.

The statements came in a week of distorted truth in which Trump also complained about a politician plagiarizing his slogan despite his history of doing the same, wrongly claimed his tax cuts are the biggest ever and defied data in declaring the U.S. is No. 1 in environmental quality.

A look at his rhetoric and how they compare with the facts:

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

TRUMP, citing concerns of a “perjury trap”: “So if I say something and he (former FBI director James Comey) says something, and it’s my word against his, and he’s best friends with Mueller, so Mueller might say: ‘Well, I believe Comey,’ and even if I’m telling the truth, that makes me a liar. That’s no good.” — interview with Reuters published Aug. 20.

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP’S ATTORNEY: “I am not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury.” — remarks Aug. 19 on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

THE FACTS: They’re making a disingenuous claim. Both Trump and his lawyers point to a threat of perjury charges, even as Giuliani has maintained that Mueller’s team indicated the special counsel had ruled out the possibility of indicting Trump.

Legal experts generally agree that sitting presidents can’t be indicted. Mueller would presumably be bound by Justice Department legal memos from 1973 and 2000 suggesting that a sitting president is immune from indictment and that criminal charges would undermine the ability of the commander in chief to do the job.

Trump and Giuliani falsely suggest that Mueller would be able to easily bring a perjury indictment based solely on Comey’s contradictory testimony. In fact, perjury charges are often difficult to prove: Mueller would have to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump intentionally lied. A conflicting statement from Trump doesn’t rise to a criminal offence if he arguably misunderstood, forgot, misspoke or misremembered information.

Mueller could also prepare a report detailing allegations intended for Congress to act upon as an impeachable offence. But impeachment is a political rather than a legal concept, strongly influenced by whichever party is in control of Congress.

Trump’s assertion of a “perjury trap” comes as he and his lawyers have hedged on an interview amid a months-long negotiation over whether and how investigators can question the president on possible obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. Mueller’s team has put forward questions including about his firing of Comey last year and his public antagonism of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

——

2016 ELECTION

TRUMP: “You know, they kept saying I had a problem with the women’s vote; I get 52 per cent in the election.” — remarks Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

THE FACTS: No. Trump appears to be citing a figure pertaining to white women only.

Among all women, about 54 per cent nationally voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, according to exit polls, compared with Trump’s 41 per cent.

——

COHEN AND MANAFORT

TRUMP: “Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime.” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: False. The campaign finance violations are crimes. While it’s not a crime to pay someone to keep quiet, the Justice Department says the hush money payments arranged by Cohen to conceal allegations of Trump’s extramarital affairs were actually unreported campaign contributions meant to influence the outcome of the election.

That’s a critical assertion because it makes the payments subject to campaign finance laws, which restrict how much people can donate to a campaign and bar corporations from making direct contributions.

Though some campaign finance experts suggested before the guilty plea that the payments to two women who say they had sex with Trump could have been arranged for other purposes, such as protecting Trump’s personal reputation, Cohen himself acknowledged that the goal was to affect the election and protect Trump’s candidacy.

The $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal by National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc. and the $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels far exceeded permissible campaign contribution limits.

——

TRUMP: “A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: The jury’s lack of consensus on 10 of 18 counts hardly makes Manafort an innocent man, or supports the notion that Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt.” Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was found guilty on eight counts, including filing false tax returns and two bank fraud charges that will almost certainly guarantee years of prison for him.

On the 10 other counts, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict; they did not acquit him of those charges. Federal prosecutors have the option to try him again on those charges or accept what they’ve got.

Manafort faces another trial in Washington next month on separate charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., money laundering and witness tampering.

——

POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

TRUMP: “Bill DeBlasio, the high taxing Mayor of NYC, just stole my campaign slogan: PROMISES MADE PROMISES KEPT! That’s not at all nice. No imagination!” — tweet Tuesday.

TRUMP: “‘Promises Made, Promises Kept.’ They’re copying it now, the Democrats.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Trump is a slogan copycat himself. His slogan about promises made and kept was used by President Barack Obama in his 2012 campaign. Republican John Engler used it when he ran for re-election as Michigan governor in 1994.

“Make America Great Again” was used by President Ronald Reagan, preceded by “Let’s.”

“Drain the swamp” was a mantra of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi during the 2006 midterm election campaigns, in what turned out to be Democrats’ successful bid to take control of the House.

——

CLEAN AIR

TRUMP: “I want clean air. I want crystal clean water. And we’ve got it. We’ve got the cleanest country in the planet right now. There’s nobody cleaner than us.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: The United States does not have the cleanest air on Earth. Not even close.

The Associated Press consulted five databases and reports. Each showed countries with cleaner air both in dangerous small particles and in ozone, which is smog.

For example, the Health Effects Institute’s state of global air report found 65 countries with less smog when adjusted for season and population. Those include Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Canada and Venezuela. And in the more dangerous small particles, or soot, eight countries bested the U.S. Among them were Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Yale’s performance index ranks the United States 10th in overall air quality behind Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and others. But when it comes to dangerous soot exposure levels, the United States ranked 87th, just behind the Philippines.

When it comes to clean water, the data comes close to supporting Trump. Yale’s team took the top countries in the world on drinking water and ranked them all No. 1, including the United States, although there are some technical differences among them.

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TAXES

TRUMP: “It is the biggest tax cut in the history of our country and you people are benefiting by it.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: This biggest-ever claim has become one of the president’s favourite fabrications.

His tax cuts are nowhere close to the biggest in U.S. history.

It’s a $1.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years. As a share of the total economy, a tax cut of that size ranks a lowly 12th, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Are people already seeing benefits from the tax cuts? Companies definitely are.

Economic growth has picked up this year because of the deficit-financed stimulus. Companies are taking their tax savings and buying back stock at a record pace, according to TrimTabs Investment Research.

But so far, the tax cuts haven’t delivered a major shot of financial adrenaline to most families.

One recent estimate by former Treasury Department official Ernie Tedeschi is that the cuts are adding $50 a month to average take-home pay, a figure that falls to $17 a month when higher state and local taxes are included in the estimate.

Nor are the cuts fueling higher wage growth.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that wages have dropped in the past 12 months after adjusting for inflation.

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IMMIGRANTS AND CRIME

TRUMP, praising Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “To hear some of the stories going on with MS-13, you wouldn’t believe it. And they’re doing an incredible job. They’re actually liberating towns.” — remarks Aug. 20.

TRUMP: “A vote for any Democrat in November is a vote to eliminate immigration enforcement, throw open our borders and set loose vicious predators and violent criminals. They’ll be all over our communities. They will be preying on our communities.” — West Virginia rally Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Trump suggests that weak border enforcement is contributing to crime committed by MS-13. But the gang actually has many U.S.-born members at this point — people who by virtue of U.S. citizenship can’t be denied entry based on their nationality, or deported. The government has not said recently how many members it thinks are citizens and immigrants. In notable raids on MS-13 in 2015 and 2016, most of the people caught were found to be U.S. citizens.

More broadly, Trump overgeneralizes about people who arrive illegally in the U.S. Several studies have shown that immigration does not lead to increased crime.

Foreign-born immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans, the research found, but crime rates rise for succeeding generations as the children and grandchildren of immigrants become more like native-born Americans.

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TRUMP: “We have MS-13 on the run. They’ve poured in here with Obama, we have them on the run.” — remarks Tuesday.

THE FACTS: There’s no evidence that MS-13 gangs “poured in” during the Obama administration. The Justice Department has said there are about 10,000 MS-13 members in the U.S., the same number as more than a decade ago.

Trump’s Justice Department has indirectly credited the Obama administration, in its early years, with putting heavy pressure on the gang. It said, “Through the combined efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement, great progress was made diminishing or severely (disrupting) the gang within certain targeted areas of the U.S. by 2009 and 2010.”

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TRUMP: “The new platform of the Democrat Party is to abolish ICE.” — remarks Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

TRUMP: “Leading members of the Democrat Party have even launched a campaign to abolish ICE. In other words, they want to abolish America’s borders.” — remarks Aug. 20.

THE FACTS: While some Democrats in the House and Senate have raised the prospect of eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement, no top Democrats in the House or Senate have called for such a move. Those Democrats who have expressed openness to eliminating ICE have said they would not abandon border enforcement, which is largely carried out by Customs and Border Protection.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Chad Day, Josh Boak, Seth Borenstein and Cal Woodward contributed to this report.

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Health Effects Institute: https://www.stateofglobalair.org/report

Yale’s Environmental Performance Index: https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu/2018-epi-report/introduction

Berkeley Earth’s air pollution monitoring: http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/air-quality/CountryList.php?mode5

Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation: http://www.healthdata.org/

World Health Organization’s Urban Ambient Air Pollution: http://www.who.int/phe/health–topics/outdoorair/databases/AAP–databa http://www.who.int/phe/health–topics

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures

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