AP FACT CHECK: Trump exaggerations on blacks' economic gains

President Donald Trump is exaggerating economic gains for African Americans during his administration. He claims full credit for achieving the best economic figures for blacks across the board. That's not accurate. Black unemployment did reach a low last year, but much of the progress came during the Obama administration. Household median income also was higher for blacks prior to Trump taking office.

Trump also asserts that Friday's unemployment report was a triumph in "equality," making it a "great day" for George Floyd, whose death has spurred protests against racial inequality. But black unemployment actually increased, while declining for whites. The statements came in a week of alternate realities put forth by Trump and his team.

A look at some of his claims: BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT TRUMP: "What we're announcing today is a tremendous tribute to equality. We're bringing our jobs back." — remarks Friday to reporters. THE FACTS: The joblessness figures in Friday's report did not improve uniformly across racial and ethnic groups.

The unemployment rate did decline last month for white workers, to 12.4 per cent from 14.2 per cent in April, as well as for Latinos, to 17.6 per cent from 18.9 per cent. But joblessness actually rose slightly for African American workers, to 16.8 per cent from 16.7 per cent. For Asian Americans, it increased to 15 per cent from 14.5 per cent.

TRUMP, on the economy before the pandemic: "We had the best numbers for African Americans on employment and unemployment in history ... best everything." — Fox News interview Wednesday THE FACTS: True on unemployment. Not true by a long shot on "everything" in the economy. Black unemployment reached a record low during the Trump administration, 5.4 per cent in August, as the longest economic expansion in history pressed ahead.

Most of the progress came when Barack Obama was president: Black unemployment dropped from a recession high of 16.8 per cent in March 2010 to 7.8 per cent in January 2017. Improvement continued under Trump until the pandemic. Black unemployment reached 16.8 per cent in May, compared with 13.3 per cent for the overall population. ECONOMY TRUMP: Prior to the pandemic, "we had the most people working in the history of our country, almost 160 million people. We were never even close to that." — remarks Friday.

THE FACTS: Yes, but that's because of population growth. A more relevant measure is the proportion of Americans with jobs, and that never came close to record highs.

According to Labor Department data, 61.2 per cent of people in the US 16 years and older were working in January. That's below the all-time high of 64.7 per cent in April 2000, though higher than the 59.9 per cent when Trump was inaugurated in January 2017. CONSPIRACY THEORY WHITE HOUSE: "Antifa and professional anarchists are invading our communities, staging bricks and weapons to instigate violence. These are acts of domestic terror." — tweet Wednesday, with a video showing collections of bricks and stones as if stockpiled for attacks.

THE FACTS: The tweet's evidence of malfeasance was bogus. The video contained multiple clips showing brick or stone for construction projects and the like, not for a nefarious plot. One clip captured rocks encased in wire frames. Those are actually a protective barrier outside Chabad of Sherman Oaks, a synagogue in Los Angeles, to stop vehicles from ramming the building.

"They've been there for about a year," Rabbi Mendel Lipskier of the synagogue told The Associated Press. CAPITAL CHAOS TRUMP: "They didn't use tear gas." — Fox News Radio on Wednesday, referring to the previous night's demonstrations outside the White House.

KAYLEIGH McENANY, White House press secretary: "No tear gas was used. ... No one was tear-gassed. Let me make that clear." — briefing Wednesday. THE FACTS: People were tear-gassed.

Authorities acknowledged using pepper compound fired in plastic balls. Scientific sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, list dispersed pepper as a tear gas. TRUMP: "Washington, DC, was the safest place on earth last night!” — tweet and Facebook post Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Obviously untrue. More than half a dozen federal agencies joined in the effort to bring order. Among them, the US Park Police said Tuesday that 51 of its members were injured over the previous four days of demonstrations.

During that time, Trump had warned that anyone getting past White House security would face "the most vicious dogs, and the most ominous weapons." At one point early in the confrontations, Secret Service agents spirited Trump to a White House bunker. VIRUS TESTING TRUMP: "We have incredible testing now. So we've done a great job." — interview Wednesday on Fox's “Brian Kilmeade Show.” TRUMP, on coordination with states: "We jointly developed testing projections and goals for each state for the month of May, altogether totalling 12.9 million tests. Think of that: 12.9 million tests." — news briefing on May 11.

THE FACTS: US testing has been far from "incredible." It was a failure in the crucial early weeks, US officials acknowledged, meaning missed opportunity to limit the spread of the virus before infection and death surged. Brett Giroir, the lead federal official on testing, said Thursday that the US conducted about 12 million tests in May, falling 900,000 short of the administration's target for the month.