Carly Fiorina may have stood out during the CNN Republican debate, but the increased attention may not be working in her favor. More and more, the hypocrisy of Fiorina is becoming clear along with the fact that she is a pathological liar.
Mother Jones has compiled a killer list comparing Fiorina’s lies to the facts. Here are a few of their findings:
1. Claim: Fiorina was not fired from her job at Hewlett-Packard because of performance.
Facts: In February 2005, Fiorina was dismissed from her post as CEO of HP by a board of directors that she’s since called “dysfunctional.” At the time, she roundly told reporters that the firing was not about performance. She struck a similar note in her 2006 memoir, Tough Choices, writing that after more than five years leading HP, by December 2004 she had she had pulled the company toward success. She cited a strong fourth quarter, despite a third-quarter “stumble.” In fact, the stumble was an enormous shortfall: HP missed its earnings projections that quarter by 23 percent. “When companies miss by a few pennies, it doesn’t mean all that much,” the New York Times wrote of Fiorina in 2006. “When companies miss by 23 percent, Wall Street starts wondering if the people at the top have a clue what’s going on in the various businesses.” The Times also pointed out at the time that although Fiorina wrote in her memoir that HP missed its number on her watch on three times, “in fact, the company fell short at least nine times on either revenue, profit or both.”
2. Claim: The Securities and Exchange Commision investigated allegations of HP’s violations of the Iran embargo and cleared HP management of any knowledge of the problem.
Facts: Last week, several news outlets reported that Fiorina was CEO of HP when the company allegedly sold products to Iran via a third-party company in Dubai, potentially a violation of the US-Iran sanctions. When conservative radio host Sean Hannity questioned Fiorina about the allegations last Friday, she said, “The SEC did a thorough investigation and concluded that no one in management, myself included, knew anything about it.
In fact, there’s no evidence that an SEC investigation of the allegations ever happened. The SEC did inquire about the company’s Iran dealings in a 2009 letter, after Fiorina had left the company. But there’s no evidence that a ruling clearing management of any knowledge was ever issued. What’s more, in their response to the SEC, HP indicated that management was aware of the Dubai-based company Redington Gulf’s sales of HP products to Iran, but that such sales were legal under US law.
3. Claim: Fiorina told Fox News host Chris Wallace last week that Redington Gulf was “not honest” with HP about selling HP products to Iran, a potential violation of US-Iran sanctions.
Facts: Redington Gulf was open about its sale of HP products to Iran. The company issued a press release in 2003 saying that its relationship with HP began in 1997 to focus on “one market–Iran.”
For more on this, read the article from Mother Jones titled: “Carly Fiorina Makes a Lot of Stuff Up About Everything.”
