Fact check: Trump says George Washington ‘probably didn’t’ own slaves. Washington did

Washington CNN —

Former President Donald Trump delivered another litany of false claims during two speeches on Saturday. And he expressed an opinion on American history that is clearly contradicted by the facts.

During a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative Christian group,Trump criticized proposals to change the names of schools, military facilities and other places that honor slaveowners and Confederate leaders. (Under President Joe Biden, the Army has renamed nine installations that had been named for Confederate generals.) And Trump said, “How about George Washington high school? ‘We want the name removed from that high school.’ They don’t know why. You know, they thought he had slaves. Actually I think he probably didn’t.’”

Facts First: Washington owned slaves. This is an extensively documented fact. At the time of Washington’s death in 1799, there were 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon, his home and plantation in Virginia, including 123 people owned by Washington himself.

“George Washington owned slaves. We know this by his own hand. He kept ledgers on everyone he enslaved,” said Alexis Coe, a senior fellow at the think tank New America and author of “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington.” Coe said it is “reprehensible, on a personal level, to deny such a thing” and also “dangerous to our country” to have a leading presidential candidate espousing such inaccurate views on US history.

The website for Mount Vernon, which is now maintained as a historic place, says that the number of slaves at the property “grew steadily” over Washington’s time there from 1754 to 1799.

Washington inherited 10 slaves from his father at age 11. The Mount Vernon website notes