North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), who is rumored to be on the shortlist to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, defended the presumptive GOP nominee against criticism of a number of falsehoods told by Trump during Thursday’s debate.
Burgum, in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, called the story a “hoax” and noted that everything Trump said Thursday he has said publicly in the past.
“The fabrication this morning that Donald Trump said something he’s never said before, I think he’s never said before. I mean, everything he said on Thursday night, he’s said before. So, this is not news,” Burgum said.
Burgum was responding to a question about whether Trump should stop repeating false information, as he did during Thursday’s debate. Burgum was also asked about previous interviews in which he said he never lies.
NBC News’ Kristen Welker pressed Burgum further on the issue, citing some of the false statements Trump made during the debate.
“Just to mention a few things, he said Democrats want to kill newborn babies, which is not true. He lied again about widespread fraud, which is not true. He also lied about what he said after Charlottesville,” she said.
“If the governor wants to lead this country, shouldn’t he be honest with the American people? Especially since you said you would never lie. That’s the standard for a governor,” Welker pressed, leading Burgum to move on to criticize the Democrats’ stance on abortion.
CNN, which hosted Thursday’s debate, made it clear at the outset that its moderators would not be responsible for live fact-checking the candidates’ statements. Over 30 false claims Trump’s comments during the debate drew criticism from critics and the public.
CNN reported that while most of the false claims had actually been made in previous campaign speeches or other public forums, some were new: “For example, the claim that the United States currently has the largest budget deficit and trade deficit with China in history – both records that were actually reached under the Trump administration,” CNN reported.
