AP FACT CHECK: Trump hypes bid to stem monument vandalism

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's persistent see-no-evil posture on coronavirus testing — if you don't look for the virus, the cases go away — defies both science and street sense. Yet he took it a step further with a comment suggesting that testing be restrained so the pandemic doesn't look so bad.

His aides passed that off as a joke. Trump contradicted them, saying he wasn't kidding. Then he contradicted himself, saying he was.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, Trump cited powers he actually doesn't have as he suggested he had imposed 10-year prison sentences for vandalism of monuments. The president did not — and cannot —- unilaterally change such laws.

So it went over the past week as America's reckoning with disease and racism navigated a fog of falsehoods and distortions from the president. A sampling:

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MEMORIALS

TRUMP: “Since imposing a very powerful 10 year prison sentence on those that Vandalize Monuments, Statues etc., with many people being arrested all over our Country, the Vandalism has completely stopped.” — tweet Sunday.

TRUMP: “I’ve also made clear that any rioters damaging federal property and defacing our monuments will face severe and lengthy criminal penalties. Ten years.” — remarks Tuesday in Phoenix.

THE FACTS: He has no such authority. A president is not a judge.

Trump signed an executive order Friday to protect monuments, memorials and statues, calling on the attorney general to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any person or group that destroys or vandalizes a monument, memorial or statue.

The order basically instructs the attorney general to enforce laws that already exist. Trump does not actually impose sentences.

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TRUMP: “I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes...