Trump Misspoke on Video of South African Farmers

During Wednesday's remarkable Oval Office meeting in which President Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with accusations of genocide against white farmers, Trump mischaracterized a portion of the video he played, reports the New York Times and ABC News.

• Trump's claim: As the video showed a rural road with white crosses, he said: "These are burial sites right here. Burial sites. Over a thousand of white farmers."
• The reality: They were not burial sites, both outlets document. The crosses were put up before a 2020 memorial procession near Newcastle for a white farming couple who police say had been murdered. The crosses came down after the event.

• White House: Asked about the Trump claim, the White House said the crosses represented white farmers who had been killed and did not address the mischaracterization of them as burial sites. However, much doubt exists about the overall claim as well, reports Axios, which sums up: "South African officials, scholars, journalists and others say there's no evidence of 'thousands' of white farmers being killed in that nation, or targeted in the way Trump claimed."
• Not South Africa: The AFP caught another mistake: An image Trump shared that he said showed genocide against white farmers was actually from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The image came from video made by the Red Cross, whose workers documented an attack against women there.

(More Cyril Ramaphosa stories.)