Trump lies about calls of support for his wall from voters -- the White House switchboard is down for the shutdown
White House photo of President Donald Trump speaking on the phone aboard Air Force One en route to a campaign rally.

President Donald Trump held a kind of in-person Twitter rant in the press briefing room Thursday. He told those assembled that he has overwhelming support for his U.S.-Mexico border wall and has received calls, tweets and letters. At least one of those statements isn't true.


"The people of our country want it," Trump said Thursday. "I have never had so much support as I have in the last week over my stance for border security, for border control and for frankly the wall or the barrier. I have never had anything like it in terms of calls coming in, in terms of people writing in and tweeting and doing whatever they have to do. I have never had this much support and we've done some things as you know that have been very popular."

According to conservative CNN commentator Bill Kristol, Trump couldn't have gotten calls of support from regular Americans because the White House switchboard is closed due to the government shutdown.

It's possible Trump has received calls from conservative media personalities that have access to Trump's cell phone, but everyday Americans don't have access to contact him that way.

A CBS poll revealed that the majority of Americans do not want the border wall, particularly if Mexico isn't going to pay for it, as Trump promised. A poll taken over the last week by Reuters said that 50 percent of Americans blame Trump for the government shutdown and only 32 percent of Americans blame Democrats.

See the short clip below: