Politfact: Donald Trump wrong that Tim Kaine took more gifts than Bob McDonnell

[CBHagman]

Spoiler alert: Donald Trump's claim about Tim Kaine's record of gifts received (and disclosed, I might add) gets a Pants on Fire rating from Politifact.

Forewarned is forearmed. Get ready to deal with all your relatives, colleagues, and friends who will repeat the lie.

[url]http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2016/jul/24/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-tim-kaine-took-fraction-bob-mcd/[/url]

Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said Kaine accepted more political gifts than former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

That’s a big claim, because McDonnell, a Republican, stood trial for accepting $177,000 in undisclosed personal gifts from an entrepreneur who was seeking business with the state. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned McDonnell’s bribery convictions in June.

(SNIP)

We wondered whether McDonnell’s gift-taking was, in fact, "a fraction" of Kaine’s. Trump’s campaign did not respond to our request for proof. So we set out on our own, comparing gifts Kaine received as lieutenant governor and governor from 2002 to 2010 to those McDonnell accepted as attorney general from 2006 to 2009 and as governor from 2010 to 2014.

During those years, Virginia didn’t limit gifts to its politicians; the only requirement was that officeholders disclose what they accepted.

See details at the link.

[merrily]

1. The issue is legality, not numbers of dollars. Kaine did what Virginia law allowed and did

everything Virginia law required, to the point of assigning value to staying overnight at a friend's home and disclosing that.

Don't let Trump frame this in terms of whether Kaine took more or fewer dollars than the guy who got arrested and prosecuted for bribery. If he took $5 and failed to disclose it, he would have violated Virginia law. As it is, he did not violate Virginia law at all.

[CBHagman]

3. True, but people need to hear the whole story...

...and by and large, stories get bandied about without the fact-checking, especially on social media.

[merrily]

4. The most important thing is whether it was legal or not.

Someone like Trump might focus on the dollar amounts because that seems to be all he knows/

[bornskeptic]

10. The more important issue is that Trump is a compulsive liar

and he knows that his supporters don't care. As he article points out, McDonnell's gifts were almost three times as much as Kaine's. I knew Trump had no regard for the truth, but it still shocks me that he has the audacity to lie so blatantly about numbers which are so easily fact-checked.

[merrily]

11. Whether or not the potential VP of the US committted a felony related to bribing public officials

is not more important than whether a candidate exaggerated dollar amounts in a comparison involving his opponent during a political campaign?

Whether the prospective VP broke the law by $200 or by $600 is more important than the fact that he did not break the law at all and is not guilty of anything at all?

What in hell was I thinking?

[pnwmom]

2. And ALL of Kaine's was legally reported, and most of it consisted of reimbursement

for work-related travel.

[merrily]

5. That doesn't sound right

I have never in life seen reimbursement for work related travel expenses considered a gift.

[onenote]

6. Kaine's travel expense wasn't directly work related

It was largely political in nature so his being paid for it makes it a gift. But not at all similar to the gifts that McDonnell received.

[merrily]

7. McConnell had nothing to do with my question.

[onenote]

8. I didn't realize you had asked a question. I was just noting that Kaine's reimbursements

were not work-related(as the post to which you were replying suggested). That is why they are considered gifts, even if they were of a far different nature than the gifts received by McDonnell.

[merrily]

9. Sorry. I thought I asked an explicit question, but I was mistaken about that.

Thanks for clearing that up. The only reason I replied to pwnmom at all was that it seemed impossible for her statement to have been accurate, no matter who it applied to, not because I found fault with Kaine. Again for me, it's important that all the law required was disclosure and his disclosure was meticulous. Nothing to see here as far as I am concerned.

[whistler162]

12. From what I have heard and read Sen. Kaine

reported everything that could possible be construed as a gift. Over reported to a fault, at least according to what I heard Chris Matthews report.