FACT CHECK: White House Apologizes For False Claim About African-American Jobs

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders apologized Tuesday for wildly misstating employment numbers for African-Americans under former President Barack Obama.

Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images

The White House was forced to backtrack this week, after wildly misstating the level of job gains by African-Americans under President Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.

The false claim came during Tuesday’s press briefing, which was dominated by questions about Omarosa Manigault Newman. In her new tell-all book and on an accompanying publicity tour, the former reality TV star and presidential assistant has accused Trump of being a racist.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tried to rebut that claim by arguing that Trump has done more to boost African-Americans’ economic status than his predecessor. But her job statistics were as bogus as Trump’s long-debunked claims about Obama’s birth certificate.