Lies about discussing who would pay for the border wall with Mexico

During an August 31, 2016 visit to Mexico City, Trump stood beside President Enrique Peña Nieto and told reporters that the two men did not discuss who would pay for his proposed border wall. PBS fact-checks and follow-up coverage note that Peña Nieto quickly contradicted him on Twitter and in interviews, saying he had told Trump in their private meeting that Mexico would not pay. Within days Trump was back in the United States insisting that he had raised payment and that Mexico would in fact foot the bill, even though the Mexican president publicly denied this, turning a single meeting into mutually exclusive accounts. By lying about what he said in a foreign capital and then hardening the falsehood to his base, Trump used disinformation to prop up a central campaign promise and to cast a neighboring president as the one who was not telling the truth.

"We did not discuss who will pay for the wall." — August 31, 2016 joint appearance with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City, where Trump claimed they had not talked about wall payments even as Peña Nieto said he told Trump Mexico would not pay.