So Trump was scheduled to begin receiving his classified briefings this week, so he went out yesterday at a rally and bragged about having watched a “top secret” video that was “clearly government footage” that the Iranians allegedly sent us to taunt us. Now, Trump’s mangled description of the events led people to conclude that he really was describing top secret footage because it didn’t match any publicly released footage, but then some reporters figured out that he was probably just screwing up some of the details and describing a clip that was aired on Fox News in January.

His campaign spox Hope Hicks confirmed that, yep, the “top secret” roll Trump was describing was… a clip shown on Fox News.

“Remember this: Iran — I don’t think you heard this anywhere but here — Iran provided all of that footage, the tape of taking that money off the airplane,” Trump said at the rally. “Right?” Trump provided no source for this exclusive information but described in detail what he saw in the video. “Now, here’s the amazing thing: Over there, where that plane landed, top secret, you don’t have a lot of paparazzi. You know, the paparazzi doesn’t do so well over there, right?” Trump said, seeming to refer to Iran and not Switzerland, where the footage was recorded. “And they have a perfect tape, done by obviously a government camera, and the tape is of the people taking the money off the plane. Right? That means that in order to embarrass us further, Iran sent us the tapes. Right? It’s a military tape, it’s a tape that was a perfect angle, nice and steady, nobody getting nervous because they’re gonna be shot because they’re shooting a picture of money pouring off a plane…” The Washington Post asked Trump’s staff to explain what Trump was talking about and emailed a link to a Fox News clip that showed the January footage from Geneva, asking if that was the video the nominee saw. “Yes,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks responded in an email. “Merely the b-roll footage included in every broadcast.”

So… did Trump just think he was watching top secret footage while he was sitting at home watching Fox News? Or is this just yet another example of Trump’s obvious Brian Williams syndrome, where he constantly places himself in the middle of events or exaggerates his own exclusive access to information, like he did with his ridiculous and easily falsifiable claim that the NFL sent him a personal letter complaining about the debate schedule?

Here’s an idea for Trump – your life is already plenty interesting by the standards of ordinary people. Try just telling the truth, without adding a bunch of embellishments or outright lies. See, these days, people are actually paying attention to, recording, and then fact checking your claims. The days when you could impress the rubes with vaguely plausible exaggerations consequence-free are over.

Just a thought.