Donald Trump falsely claims he saved more than $600m on fighter jets for 14th time

President accused of 'taking credit for what's been in the works for many months'

President Donald Trump (REUTERS)

Donald Trump has repeated his claim to have saved hundreds of million dollars on F-35 stealth fighter jets, despite the deal having been cut before he became President.

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler said it was the 14th time Mr Trump had made the claim, more than two months after Democratic senator Jack Reed, of the US' Armed Services Committee, accused the President of "simply taking credit for what's been in the works for many months".

Mr Trump's claim relates to the procurement of 90 of Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth jets. The cost of the programme has soared over several years due to delays, design changes and the competing requirements of the different branches of the US military.

He told the Associated Press on Sunday that he had pressured the defence firm into slashing the cost of the lot by more than $725 million (£565 million).

He said: "Now there are 3,000 planes that are going to be ordered. On 90 planes I saved $725 million. It's actually a little bit more than that, but it's $725 million.

"Gen Mattis, who had to sign the deal when it came to his office, said, 'I've never seen anything like this in my life.' We went from a company that wanted more money for the planes to a company that cut.

"And the reason they cut — same planes, same everything — was because of me. I mean, because that's what I do."

But the head of the F-35 programme, Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan, had announced in December that Lockheed was planning to knock between $549 million and $630 million off the cost of the 90 planes, the Post said in a fact-check column in January.

Crucially, that was before Mr Trump met with chief executive Marillyn Hewson in January.