Trump & GOPer caught in lie that Dems are behind 'caravan'

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President Donald Trump suggested without evidence Thursday that Democrats or their allies are supporting a "caravan" of Central American migrants who are traveling north aiming to enter the United States.

Addressing thousands of supporters at a campaign rally in Montana, Trump said immigration is now one of the leading issues in the 2018 midterms, and he accused Democrats of supporting the migrants because they "figure everybody coming in is going to vote Democrat."...

"A lot of money's been passing through people to come up and try to get to the border by Election Day because they think that's a negative for us," Trump said. "No. 1, they're being stopped, and No. 2, regardless, that's our issue."

He added: "They wanted that caravan and there are those that say that caravan didn't just happen. It didn't just happen."

Trump appeared to be referring to an unfounded allegation promoted by ally Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. The Republican lawmaker tweeted a video on Wednesday of men handing out money to people standing in line. He claimed the video showed people being paid in Honduras to join a caravan and "storm the border @ election time." Trump on Thursday tweeted the same video, writing, "Can you believe this, and what Democrats are allowing to be done to our Country?"

After questions about the video's origin, Gaetz posted a correction later Thursday on Twitter, saying, "This video was provided to me by a Honduran government official. Thus, I believed it to be from Honduras."

Neither Republican provided evidence of his claim that the people were being paid to join a caravan.