'My hair has to be perfect': Trump appears to lie about ventilators, people crying and more after boasting about appearance

Donald Trump turned an event on slashing regulations into another pseudo-campaign event in which he stressed the need for a "perfect" presidential coif – complete with false statements about the federal ventilator stockpile and crying guests at a bill-signing event.

"My hair has to be perfect," the president said as he riffed his way through parts of prepared remarks on nixing federal rules he said lead to cut jobs and slow the economy.

At one point, he touted his push to compel companies to bring back incandescent light bulbs, saying they are better than their energy-saving replacements because "we all look so much better."

The president also riffed about policy matters.

At one point, on the South Lawn of the White House on a hot and humid day in Washington, the president said the Obama administration left an empty supply of ventilators that hindered the federal government's ability to help states respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

"We didn't have ventilators," Mr Trump said, always eager to shift blame.

Only that his administration has admitted there were over 16,000 of the breathing machines in the federal stockpile that were ready for use in March when the virus began to spread in the United States

At the time, Trump administration officials put that figure at just 10,000.

He also said attendees at a 2017 bill signing cried like no one had ever balled. But a video suggests his guests that day were all smiles.

He again laid into former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, despite rules against using the White House for overtly political purposes. But with no federal entity showing any signs of cracking down on his new practice, expect him to continue doing so up to Election Day.

Mr Biden leads Trump in most of the key battleground states, according to multiple polls.