The Biggest, Most Ridiculous Lies Trump Has Told (So Far)

Republican Party front runner Donald Trump has consistently made headlines over the past year for his outlandish statements and aggressive comments, from calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists to suggesting a nationwide ban on Muslims. When fact-checked, PolitiFact found that 92 percent of his statements since 2015 are either completely false or "half true" at best. In one town hall event alone, the Huffington Post found Trump lied exactly 71 times in the space of about one hour, almost one lie a minute.

Here are some of the biggest lies Donald Trump has told so far during his presidential campaign.

1. Mexico is sending people who are "bringing drugs . . . crime. They're rapists."
According to The Washington Post, despite the fact that very little data exists on the correlation of immigration and crime, this statement can't be exactly accurate. In fact, The Post says, data does show that first-generation immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. And since the 1990s, immigration has risen while crime has fallen.

2. He said he met Putin during a 60 Minutes interview.
Trump claimed that he'd "get along very well with Putin" and that they met while on set together for a 60 Minutes season premiere. Truth is, they weren't even on the same continent at the time, according to TIME Magazine — Trump was interviewed in his penthouse in New York City while Putin was interviewed in Moscow.

3. Muslims were "cheering" when the Twin Towers fell.
Back in November, when Trump's campaign was still a late-night TV punchline, the business mogul claimed he had watched on TV as Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11. The state attorney general's office and news organizations searched through hours of footage but couldn't verify what Trump said. His comments were inflammatory and potentially harmful to the American Muslim population.

4. He claimed that 81 percent of white murder victims were killed by black people.
The day after a black attendee was kicked and punched by Trump supporters at one of his rallies, the business mogul tweeted out a racially charged image surrounded by incorrect crime statistics. Among those stats was the statement that 81 percent of murders were committed by black people against white people. The image cited the "Crime Statistics Bureau — San Francisco," which, according to PolitiFact, doesn't exist. In actual fact, FBI reports from 2014 state that only 15 percent of murders of white people are committed by black people.

5. "I'm self-funding my campaign."
This one gets a big fat nope. Despite what he tells his government- and lobby-hating, private-sector-loving followers, about 50 percent of Trump's campaign is funded through campaign donations, according to PolitiFact. The other 50 percent is a "loan" from himself that he expects to be paid back after the race.

6. He posed as his own publicist for years.
In this truly ridiculous story, it appears that Trump made calls throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s to reporters posing as his own publicist, named John Miller and later John Barron, according to CNN. The calls were often full of compliments he paid to himself and exaggerations of his business dealings. In a double whopper of a lie, Trump recently said that Miller and Barron were real people, despite stating in a 1990 court case testimony that he used the name John Barron "on occasion."

7. He called Germany "crime-riddled" because of Syrian refugees.
In an interview with NBC Nightly News, Trump tried to defend his idea of banning all Muslims by pointing to rising crime rates in Germany. This delectable tidbit of fear-mongering completely misses the mark, as Germany hasn't experienced much change in its crime rates in years. If anything, crimes committed against refugees are on the rise.

8. Trump University has an "A" with the Better Business Bureau.
During a GOP debate earlier this year, Trump told Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly that his self-named university was currently enjoying a solid "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau. According to the Bureau, though, TU has had "No Rating" since September 2015, and before that its rating fluctuated between a "D-" and "A+." In addition, the "school" has never been an accredited business or college. It faced multiple lawsuits during its existence and is currently facing a class-action lawsuit from students who say the school pressured them into overextending on their tuition.

9. "The windmills are killing hundreds and hundreds of eagles . . . They're killing them by the hundreds."
Trump waxed on randomly during an event in North Dakota when asked about fracking. He went on to slam renewable energy by saying wind turbines are killing hundreds of golden eagles every year. The number is actually closer to 60 eagle deaths a year, but even that number is from before updates to wind turbine systems made in recent years.

10. He said he raised $6 million for veterans, including pledging $1 million of his own money.
Trump held a fundraiser back in January at a benefit for veterans' causes in Iowa. On that night, he declared that donations had "cracked $6 million," according to the Washington Post. In the last few weeks, when it came time to hand the money over to the various veterans' groups it had been promised to, there didn't seem to be $6 million available.

According to his own campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Trump only raised $4.5 million and they were waiting on a few key pledges. Within days, Trump said all the pledges had come in and the total was now $5.6 million, still short of the promised $6 million. When the Post began asking veteran groups if they received the $1-million pledge Trump promised, one of the groups received a call from Trump saying he would send the money but he was delayed vetting charities, despite the fact that money from his fundraising had already been sent to some. Trump finally sent the money the day the above article came out, according to the AP.

Of course, Trump isn't the first politician to lie. So how does he stack up to the other candidates? According to PolitiFact, 50 percent of Hillary Clinton's statements are either completely false or "half true" at best, while Bernie Sanders clocks in at 49 percent for the same measure.