Politifact: And the "Lie of the Year" Is...

It’s the end of the year, so everybody has an end-of-the-year list, of sorts.

Politifacts is no different, and it’s time for their “Lie of the Year.”

It’s 2017. There have been so many.

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So what particular tale got this year’s “honor”?

President Trump’s insistence that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election was a hoax.

In bestowing the honor on Trump, the site pointed out the fact that Trump has stuck to the claim of “fake news,” regarding Russia’s involvement, against everything.

“Trump continually asserts that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election is fake news, a hoax or a made-up story, even though there is widespread, bipartisan evidence to the contrary,” Politifact’s Angie Drobnic Holan writes.

She’s right.

For Trump, he feels that admitting Russia attempted to control the direction of the election somehow delegitimizes his win.

He’s argued against everyone, even our own intelligence community.

In an interview with NBC in May, Trump said that the concept of Russian interference was “made up” by Democrats as an “excuse” for losing the election.

“You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he said at the time. “It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won … This was an excuse for having lost an election.”

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Politifact goes on to state that Trump’s continual claims of no collusion gives an implicit nod to the actual interference of Russia. He just wants to be left out of it.

And that part may be right. That doesn’t get his team off the hook, but…

“Trump could acknowledge the interference happened while still standing by the legitimacy of his election and his presidency — but he declines to do so,” Holan writes. “Sometimes he’ll state firmly there was ‘no collusion’ between his campaign and Russia, an implicit admission that Russia did act in some capacity. Then he reverts back to denying the interference even happened.”

Lying is the man’s first language, but he’s done it so long, he’s confused himself.

The Politifact Readers’ Poll likewise determined Trump’s dogged denial as “the year’s most significant falsehood.”

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