President Donald Trump boasted to troops that his administration had given them a “big pay raise” as he claimed falsely that this raise is the first in around 10 years, Newsweek reported.
The President addressed the military personnel based in al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, during his first visit to an active war zone, bragging about “one of the biggest pay raises you’ve ever received,” while falsely saying it was also the first pay increase they had received in a decade.
“Is anybody here willing to give up the big pay raise you just got?” Trump said, the Huffington Post reported. “You haven’t gotten one in more than 10 years. More than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one. I got you a big one.”
President Trump debunked himself since he made a similar comment back in May.
The Department of Defense has informed that military personnel have received a wage raise in each of the last 10 years, from 1 to 2.9 percent.
Despite the 2.6% increase already being the largest in nine years, Trump exaggerated the amount by nearly four times its actual worth, while claiming he fought with “plenty of people” for the figure, and again claiming troops hadn’t received a raise in more than 10 years.
“They said, ‘You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it 3 percent. We could make it 2 percent. We could make it 4 percent’,” Trump claimed. “I said, ‘No. Make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent’.”
“Because it’s been a long time. It’s been more than 10 years. It’s been more than 10 years. That’s a long time. And, you know, you really put yourselves out there, and you put your lives out there. So congratulations.”
Following his unannounced visit to Iraq, Trump is scheduled to travel to Ramstein Air Base in Germany before returning to Washington.
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