--- title: Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the 'Lie of the Year' description: Out of 77 statements PolitiFact analyzed, 76% were found to be "mostly false, false, or pants on fire" canonical: https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-21T18:07:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:33:03.104Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the '2015 Lie of the Year' og:description: Out of 77 statements PolitiFact analyzed, 76% were found to be "mostly false, false, or pants on fire" og:url: https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a0dbef0f35c2beb/698876595f570f1b4eb1eec0/501657354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Mesa, Arizona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the '2015 Lie of the Year' twitter:description: Out of 77 statements PolitiFact analyzed, 76% were found to be "mostly false, false, or pants on fire" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a0dbef0f35c2beb/698876595f570f1b4eb1eec0/501657354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the '2015 Lie of the Year' ## Video: Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8) (4:00)  _Published 2015-12-16. Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 21, 2015 6:07 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guest gathered during a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. Trump is in Arizona the day after the Republican Presidential Debate hosted by CNN in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ralph Freso—Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to guest gathered during a campaign event at the International Air Response facility on December 16, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. Trump is in Arizona the day after the Republican Presidential Debate hosted by CNN in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ralph Freso—Getty ImagesRalph Freso—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 21, 2015 6:07 PM UTC Fact checking website [PolitiFact](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/21/2015-lie-year-donald-trump-campaign-misstatements/) announced its annual “Lie of the Year” on Monday, and it found the “only real contenders” were statements made by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump throughout his campaign. “PolitiFact has been documenting Trump’s statements on our Truth-O-Meter, where we’ve rated 76 percent of them Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire, out of 77 statements checked,” authors of this year’s post wrote. “No other politician has as many statements rated so far down on the dial.” Some “pants on fire” statements include Trump’s widely denounced claim that he saw “thousands and thousands” of people cheering in New Jersey as the World Trade Center fell on September 11 and his insistence that the Mexican government sends “the bad ones over.” Trump has been largely unapologetic when reporters and critics have pointed out the inaccuracy of some of his statements. When the candidate retweeted an inaccurate statistic about crime in the U.S., he defended his actions by saying that a retweet is not an endorsement. “Am I gonna check every statistic?” Trump said when Fox News host Bill O’Reilly challenged the tweet. “I get millions and millions of people … @RealDonaldTrump, by the way.” Read the full analysis at [PolitiFact](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/dec/21/2015-lie-year-donald-trump-campaign-misstatements/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the '2015 Lie of the Year'","datePublished":"2015-12-21T18:07:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:33:03.104Z","description":"Out of 77 statements PolitiFact analyzed, 76% were found to be \"mostly false, false, or pants on fire\"","url":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump","trump","2016 Republicans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a0dbef0f35c2beb/698876595f570f1b4eb1eec0/501657354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a0dbef0f35c2beb/698876595f570f1b4eb1eec0/501657354.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Mesa, Arizona","caption":"Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Mesa, Arizona","creditText":"Ralph Freso—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/","name":"Donald Trump's 'Campaign Misstatements' Named the '2015 Lie of the Year'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Fifth Republican Debate In Four Minutes","description":"Nine Republican presidential candidates faced off for the fifth Republican debate on CNN","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mQUMUx2k/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-16T05:38:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mQUMUx2k.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/","duration":"PT4M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4157265/donald-trump-politifact-lie/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```