title:  That Story Trump Just Told The Press About Obama And Air Force One NEVER Happened
text: On Tuesday, Donald Trump told a story about Air Force One and former President Barack Obama. The only problem is that it never happened. Before boarding the plane to come home, Trump told the press that Air Force One was denied landing rights in the Philippines during a trip by his predecessor because U.S. relations with the nation were so bad.Trump said Air Force One  never got to land  in the Philippines while be bragged about having  a very strong relationship  with the Southeast Asian nation. And as you know, we were having a lot of problems with the Philippines. The relationship with the past administration was horrible, to use a nice word,  Trump told reporters in Manila. I would say  horrible  is putting it mildly. You know what happened. Many of you were there, and you never got to land,  he continued.  The plane came close but it didn t land. The Associated Press fact-checked Trump s bizarre claim:President Barack Obama last visited the Philippines in November 2015, arriving in Manila after an overnight flight from Turkey. There were no problems with landing the plane. Obama used the visit to announce the United States was transferring two ships to the Philippine Navy.Perhaps Trump was referring erroneously to Obama s aborted meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte? In September 2016, Obama abruptly canceled a meeting with the new Philippines leader in Laos after Duterte called him an obscene name. Duterte was warning Obama not to speak with him about the brutality of his crackdown on the illegal drug trade.Obama did visit the Philippines on several trips earlier in his presidency and even signed an enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the country in 2014, but Trump claimed that our relationship with the Philipines is  probably better than ever before. So it s very important that we get along with the Philippines, and we really do. We have a very good relationship. I would actually say probably better than ever before,  he said.Duterte has carried out an unlawful crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users, resulting in at least 7 thousand deaths by means including execution using death squads. Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. There are 3 million drug addicts. I d be happy to slaughter them,  Duterte declared in 2015.However, while Trump was there he largely ignored any discussion of human rights with the dictator. We understand that Trump is jealous of President Obama, but his lies prove why he has so much disdain for fact-checkers. It s sad that he doesn t have that same disdain for murderous dictators, though.Photo by Zach Gibson   Pool/Getty Images.