Obama issues point-by-point rebuttal to Trump's RNC speech: 'Fears' expressed 'don't jibe with the facts'
President Barack Obama on Friday pushed back against some of the assertions made over the last week at the Republican National Convention.
Speaking at a joint White House press conference with Mexico's president, Obama said he "did not watch" the convention because he had "a lot of stuff to do."
That said, the president told reporters that he had read news reports about what took place in Cleveland and argued "some of the fears" expressed "don't jibe with the facts." Obama didn't address Republican nominee Donald Trump by name, but he touched on some of the biggest themes of the mogul's speech.
"This vision of violence and chaos everywhere doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people," Obama said. "I hope people the next morning walked outside. Birds were chirping and the sun was out."
Obama assailed speakers for contending that violent crime was on the rise throughout the US, noting that it was, in fact, lower today than when he took office eight years ago.
"It's far lower than it was when Ronald Reagan was president," he said.
The president also took issue with the way Republicans portrayed immigration.
"I think Americans expect that our immigration process is orderly and it is legal. And we have put unprecedented resources at our border," he said, noting there are "far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border today" than under George W. Bush's presidency.
Obama is set to address the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, as Hillary Clinton is formally set to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president.