Trump’s questionable claims on Twitter

Nearly a quarter of Donald Trump’s tweets have contained unproven or disputed claims since the businessman became president, an analysis by the Press Association has found.

The study looked at whether statements made in tweets from the president’s @realDonaldTrump account could either be backed up by publicly-available evidence, or had been disputed by other news outlets.

It found that, of 447 tweets sent from the account since he took office, 108 contained claims that were either unproven or disputed – a total of 24.2%.

The president’s penchant for questionable claims appeared to peak around the middle of February, a month in which a series of damaging reports emerged relating to his team’s alleged communications with Russia during the election campaign.

In that month, President Trump tweeted 37 disputable claims, according to the PA analysis – including 12 in the week of security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation over suggestions he covered up talks with Kremlin officials.

Of those, six appeared to directly defend his team’s conduct in the Russia scandal, while five specifically contained the phrase “fake news”.

At the start of April, amid further pressure over the Russia allegations, the Press Association noted 13 questionable claims in Mr Trump’s tweets – the highest week of his presidency.

Another peak came as President Trump tweeted unfounded claims that he had his “wires tapped” by predecessor Barack Obama in the run-up to the election.