Trump's whistleblower claim receives 2019 'Lie of the Year' award from fact-checker PolitiFact

Jeanine Santucci | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption What is the difference between a whistleblower and a leaker? Whistleblowers have been at time essential and detrimental to a country's democracy, but what makes them different than a leaker? We explain.

President Donald Trump did not receive the distinction of being named Time magazine's "Person of the Year," but his claims about the anonymous whistleblower did score "Lie of the Year" from fact-checking website PolitiFact.

Trump has repeatedly said the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry was "almost completely wrong" about his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a claim that PolitiFact rated the most significant falsehood of 2019.

The president is accused of using the power of his office to pressure Zelensky to open investigations into domestic political rivals, and leveraging nearly $400 million in military aid to do so. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on two articles of impeachment—abuse of power and obstruction of Congress—that were passed along partisan lines by the Judiciary Committee.

What's next for impeachment?: Full House vote this week on charges against Trump, Senate trial likely

“Do we have to protect somebody that gave a totally false account of my conversation?" Trump said in October. "I don’t know. You tell me.”

"The Whistleblower got it sooo wrong that HE must come forward," Trump also tweeted in November.

In the complaint, the whistleblower cited officials who listened in on the call, saying that Trump "sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President's 2020 reelection bid."

The whistleblower said Trump asked Zelensky to perform investigations into 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and the origins of the hacking of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 that were previously determined to have been a Russian effort. The complaint also said Trump asked Zelensky to communicate with Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr.

The first so-called second hand information “Whistleblower” got my phone conversation almost completely wrong, so now word is they are going to the bench and another “Whistleblower” is coming in from the Deep State, also with second hand info. Meet with Shifty. Keep them coming! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2019

The majority of the details in the whistleblower complaint line up with the summary of the call released by the White House. Trump did ask the Ukraine leader to investigate the Bidens, as well as the Ukrainian 2016 election interference theory that has been put forward by Trump and his allies without evidence. He mentioned Giuliani and Barr multiple times.

The whistleblower, who remains anonymous despite Republican calls for public identification, transmitted a complaint to the inspector general for the intelligence community in August after the phone call.

PolitiFact called Trump's claim "more than ridiculous and wrong," also noting that the "Lie of the Year" distinction is the only time the website uses the term "lie" to describe claims. The fact-checker said Trump has repeated versions of the statement against the whistleblower more than 80 times since the complaint was released publicly Sept. 26.

In previous years, "Lie of the Year" has been given to claims from politicians on both sides of the aisle and online entities alike. In 2018, it went to online actors targeting survivors of the Parkland, Fla., shooting; in 2015, was various statements by Trump during his campaign; and in 2013, it was a claim by former President Barack Obama about the Affordable Care Act.

Trump has received the distinction four times. In 2015, he denounced PolitiFact as "a totally left-wing group" and "bad news." The site is nonpartisan and owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute.

"Where the complaint and the president veer apart is on what the events mean," PolitiFact wrote, as Republicans interpret the call as harmless, as Trump was right to look into corruption, and Trump has said it was "perfect."

"No matter the motivations or the political outcome, testimony from the whistleblower would not change the underlying facts of what Trump said," PolitiFact said.