White House’s Top Economist: Trump Made False Claim About Economy
90-YEAR DIFFERENCE
“I’m not Chairman of the Counsel of Twitter Advisers,” Kevin Hassett said.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, admitted that President Trump made an erroneous claim regarding the economy in a Monday tweet. During a press briefing, Hassett was confronted by a reporter who pointed out that Trump’s assertion that the GDP growth rate is higher than the unemployment rate for the first time in over 100 years was “just not true.” Hassett admitted that the claim was incorrect, saying “somebody probably conveyed it to him adding a zero to that and they shouldn’t have done that.” He also said that he didn’t know if a quote Trump attributed to former President Obama, saying that Trump would need a “magic wand” to get the GDP to four percent, was true. “I don’t know... I’m not Chairman of the Counsel of Twitter Advisers,” he said.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett corrected Trump’s false claim that U.S. GDP was higher than unemployment in 100 years:
