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Who was the ‘somebody’ who issued a 100-day plan for President Trump?

Analysis by
The Fact Checker
April 24, 2017 at 12:16 p.m. EDT
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered a speech in Gettysburg, Pa., on Oct. 22 laying out his vision for his first 100 days in office. (Video: The Washington Post)

AP: “You did put out, though, as a candidate, you put out a 100-day plan. Do you feel like you should be held accountable to that plan?”
TRUMP: “Somebody, yeah, somebody put out the concept of a hundred-day plan. But yeah. Well, I’m mostly there on most items.”
— exchange during interview between Julie Pace of the Associated Press and President Trump, in an interview on April 21

The Fact Checker will have a full fact-check of various claims made by President Trump in his interview with the Associated Press. But we were especially puzzled by his claim that “somebody” put out the concept of a 100-day plan and that he’s “mostly there on most items.”

The Facts

Who was that “somebody” who put out the plan?

It was somebody named Donald Trump.

In a campaign speech on Oct. 22 delivered in Gettysburg, Pa., Trump outlined at substantive length each law he pledged to pass in his first 100 days. Here’s a screengrab of the news release on his campaign website.

Another campaign news release highlighted the praise Trump received for the speech from right-leaning media.

“He set a newly serious tone … Donald Trump Saturday outlined an ambitious plan for his first 100 days in office … Trump’s ‘Gettysburg address’ makes closing argument for choosing him and unveils first-100-days agenda as he promises ‘the kind of change that only arrives once in a lifetime’… Trump says his “100 day action plan” is a contract between him and the American voter.”

At the Fact Checker, we used his 100-day plan as a template for tracking the president’s promises. Trump had made some 280 promises on the campaign trail, many that were contradictory, but this was a specific plan of action that he had said would guide his administration from the first day. He even signed the “Contract with the American Voter” with his distinctive signature. And Trump touted it again with a video he recorded during the transition.

There were 60 promises embedded in the plan. According to our tally as of April 24, Trump has failed to meet most of his objectives. Of the 60 promises, he has kept five and broken five. Eleven other promises have been launched, two are stuck and one resulted in a compromise. He has taken no action on 36 promises — 60 percent of them.

The Pinocchio Test

We relied on Trump’s “Contract with the American Voter” because, given that it had his signature, we figured there would be little chance he would try to distance himself from this set of promises. Apparently we were wrong.

Four Pinocchios

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"Somebody, yeah, somebody put out the concept of a hundred-day plan."
in an interview with the Associated Press
Friday, April 21, 2017