President Trump claimed during Tuesday’s debate that “Portland, the sheriff just came out today and he said, ‘I support President Trump.’”
“Sheriff” is a title typically held by county-level law enforcement officers, and Portland is located in Multnomah County, Oregon. Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese, however, denies the claim. Reese tweeted during the debate that he has “never supported Donald Trump and will never support him.”
Reese’s tweet and the lack of any prior evidence that he supported Trump make this a pretty open and shut case: no, the sheriff of the Portland area has not endorsed Trump.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 U.S. Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more.
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I keep coming back to this thread. I am completely enthralled by the gymnastics that people here are going to through to support what the President said.
Maybe it was some other Portland,
Maybe he got it confused with Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is on the other side of the country. Probably happens all the time. People fly to Kenosha for a vacation and find themselves in Oregon.
Maybe it was some other Sheriff in a place that sounds like it, or is near there, or wears the same color hat.
It's 20 hours after the debate. If any Sheriff in any Portland had endorsed President Trump yesterday his people would have that out in the media.
And don't try some kind of BothSideIsm about how many mistakes Biden made. Your boy blew it, and you know it. Part of being an adult is admitting your mistakes and learning from them.
As regards fact checks, this one seems like it was an easy slow pitch what with the Sheriff in question answering it himself in real time.
To make it a bit harder... Did any Sheriff come out yesterday morning explicitly for Trump? The claim was not just that it was a certain sheriff, but that it was a public endorsement of the sort that others would have seen and that it was specifically made yesterday morning. Is this Trump repeating a dream he had, or should we start questioning his recall abilities?