Attorney General Pam Bondi made the head-spinning claim Wednesday that Donald Trump saved 258 million American lives as a result of fentanyl seized at the U.S. border.
During a Cabinet meeting, Bondi said that if not for the president, about 75 percent of Americans would be dead.
“Since you have been in office, President Trump, your DOJ agencies have seized more than 22 million fentanyl pills—3,400 kilos of fentanyl…which saved—are you ready for this, media?—258 million lives,” Bondi claimed.
When asked how the attorney general arrived at that number, the Department of Justice provided a formula to the Daily Beast: 3,400,000 grams of fentanyl multiplied by the “current purity level” of .1518, divided by .002, the lethal amount per gram. The result: 258,060,000.
On Tuesday, Bondi had made a lesser, nine-figure claim about the lives the Trump administration saved by seizing “fentanyl-laced pills.”
“Today is Fentanyl Awareness day,” the attorney general wrote in a social media post that afternoon. “In President Trump’s first 100 days we’ve seized over 22 million fentanyl laced pills, saving over 119 Million lives.”
Bondi highlighted on Wednesday one recent seizure of 20,000 molly pills laced with fentanyl.
“That’s 20,000 lives saved because of you,” she told Trump.
This seizure, the DOJ said, was from a Drug Enforcement Agency operation in Los Angeles in February.
Bondi’s praise for the president at the Cabinet meeting—in which members of the administration took turns flattering the president while seated in front of red “Gulf of America” hats—went above and beyond.
“Your first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country, ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you,” she gushed.
Trump’s approval rating, though, shows otherwise.
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