White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett isn't sure why Trump made a false claim about the economy on Twitter

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 10 September 2018

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Monday contradicted a claim President Trump tweeted about the economy, saying somebody must have given him wrong information.

Early Monday, the president tweeted that for the first time in 100 years, the nation's GDP is higher than its unemployment rate. But that's not true; as CNN and The Washington Post both quickly pointed out, it happened 12 years ago, in 2006.

During the White House press briefing Monday afternoon, Hassett surprisingly acknowledged that what the president tweeted was wrong. While he said he doesn't know exactly how incorrect information ended up on Trump's Twitter account, he speculated that somebody probably meant to tell him that it had been 10 years but they accidentally added an extra zero. He added, "You'd have to talk to the president about where the number came from, but the correct number is 10 years."

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.

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