President Donald Trump took credit for an investment and job creation announcement by Exxon Mobil Corporation (ticker: XOM) Monday, even though the investment had been planned several years prior to his presidency, reports the Associated Press.
Exxon’s chairman and CEO Darren Woods promoted the company’s decade-long $20 billion investment in Gulf Coast refineries, chemical and liquefied natural gas plants on Monday at a conference in Houston. Part of an initiative launched in 2013, the plans would translate to 12,000 full-time jobs and 35,000 temporary construction positions.
Still, Trump commended Exxon Mobil and congratulated himself in a series of tweets, including one linking to a White House news release and another featuring a short video.
“Thank you to @exxonmobil for your $20 billion investment that is creating more than 45,000 manufacturing & construction jobs in the USA!” one of the tweets reads.
“This is something that was done to a large extent because of our policies and the policies of this new administration,” Trump said in the video.
45,000 construction & manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. $20 billion investment. We are already winning again, America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
There is an incredible spirit of optimism sweeping the country right now–we’re bringing back the JOBS! pic.twitter.com/BNSLvKiEVj
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
The news release does point out in the second-to-last paragraph that Exxon Mobil’s investments, expected to last through 2022, began in 2013 when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the company’s CEO.
Twitter users also noticed this paragraph exists in both the Exxon Mobil and White House press releases.
Did the White House copy/paste part of an ExxonMobil press release for an official White House release? https://t.co/WKxtkFuRuM pic.twitter.com/KRaXEKbn6g
— ABC13 Houston (@abc13houston)
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken credit for already planned company announcements. In late December, Trump said Sprint Corp (S) and OneWeb, a satellite company, would create 8,000 U.S. jobs. But Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. had previously pledged to do this.
Earlier last year, Trump tweeted about helping talk Ford Motor Co. (F) into not sending a Lincoln plant to Mexico from Kentucky — though Ford doesn’t have a Lincoln-only Kentucky plant. A plant there makes the Lincoln MKC SUV and the Ford Escape. Ford reportedly had sought a production shift for that Lincoln model but that was scrapped.
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Trump Congratulates Himself on Exxon Mobile Corporation Plans Made in 2013 (XOM) originally appeared on usnews.com
