this is "nightline." >> tonight, president trump's complicated relationship with the truth. from his claims about widespread voter fraud to the country's murder rate. >> the murder rate in our country is the highest it's been in 47 years, right? >> we separate the truth from the lies. and who is the commander in chief swooping in to defend his daughter from? plus we're basking in "moonlight" with the teen behind the best picture nominee. their unique coming of age tale shining a light on american experience often ignored by hollywood with a grittiness based in the harsh realities of their own lives. >> what he's doing is showing the world what we think we know of black men. then he gives you this glimpse in their eyes. also tonight, the

bunch. christie brinkley back in the "sports illustrated" swimsuit edition at 63 years old and she's not alone. how her two daughters ended up modeling for the magazine right alongside her. first here tonight the "nightline 5." >> when i brought jake home, i wanted him to eat healthy. so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor. a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. introducing theraflu express max. powerful relief now in pill form. the one and only cold and flue caplet with a maximum strength formula with a unique warming sensation you instantly feel. power through with theraflu express max cap le

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good evening. on day 20 of the donald j. trump presidency and it has been a day filled with fastballs. the president began with a dire warning about the security of this country and then he moved on to talking about his daughter's business. with charges and counter charges flying, it can sometimes be hard to sort fact from fiction. >> there's never been anywhere near the media dishonesty hike we've seen in this election. >> i understand the total sdo s dishonesty of the media. >> you are fake news. >> reporter: truth be told, president trump has a complicated relationship with the truth. this week glaring examples of statements that are provably false. he told the troops at centcomm that the media doesn't cover terrorism. >> we've seen what happened in paris and nice. all over europe it's happening. it's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. >> reporter: appearing to ignore -- >> the gunman then came d

>> a nation in shock -- >> what we know this morning from police -- >> reporter: all evidence to the contrary. he told sheriffs -- >> the murder rate in our country is the highest it's been in 47 years. >> reporter: not true. >> take a look, we pulled crime stats from the fbi. you can see right there the murder rate is nowhere near the highest at this point. >> reporter: trump continues to make the case without offering any proof, that millions of voters committed voter fraud, casting ballots for hillary clinton. in that big super bowl interview, bill o'reilly pushed back on that one. >> you say, for example, that there are 3 million illegal aliens who voted. then you don't have the data to back it up. some people are going to say that's irresponsible for a president to say that. is there any validity to that? >> many people have come out and said i'm right. >> but you've got to have data -- >> let me just tell you -- >> reporter: the trump white house has become northern for alternative facts which sometimes distort the truth, sometimes seem to ignore it altogether. when the

something like this today -- >> believe me, i've learned a in the last two weeks. and terrorism is a far greater threat than the people of our country understand. >> reporter: should we accept that at face value? >> is there a specific threat that he is talking about? and should the american public, based on that statement right there, be fearful? >> no, but i think the american people should understand that the president's committed to doing this. we face a very, very real threat in isis and radical islamic terrorism. and that we've got to do everything we can and that the reason he is taking the steps that he is, is because we are constantly -- we must remain ever vigilant. >> reporter: today we came to washington to see how it's going for our colleagues in the trenches. we are here with abc's cecilia vega who literally has a front-row seat for all this. >> you're sitting one over, yeah. >> the truth seems to be a moving target. >> define the truth.

we're playing "define the truth" in the white house. i don't know how that compares to past administrations but half of my day is spent fact-checking. >> is it your sense that this is because they're winging it? or because there's some sort of design, some sort of strategy? >> it's probably all of the above. this is a brand-new white house. everybody that comes into this place is afforded a little bit of a honeymoon period or should be. >> reporter: it's been a boon to comedy shows. "saturday night live" having a field day. >> as you know, president trump announced his supreme court pick on the national tv today. when he entered the room the crowd greeted him with a standing ovation! which lasted a full 15 minutes! >> maybe the best defense against the inaccuracies coming out of the white house is "saturday night live." >> reporter: plenty of trump supporters are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. >> the misstatement

allegations of exaggeration, outright lies, they really don't bother me very much at this point. i regard them simply as part of the fallout of a very heated political campaign and election. >> reporter: which makes fair-minded journalism more important than ever. yesterday cnn's jake tapper gave a master class. >> facts are stubborn things. to say we're not reporting something that happens not to be true, therefore we're not to be trusted, that's a problem. >> well, jake, if i can take the broader issue of our relationship with the media, i mean, i'm among if not the most open press person in the white house, i'm now being attacked by the media, including networks that are familiar to you. i'm just going to keep soldiering on. >> reporter: the foundation myth every schoolkid learns about the presidency is that story about george washington and the cherry tree. america's first president, pint-sized in that famous painting, who even at age 6 could not tell a lie. but in truth, p

presidents have prevary daicate. chuck lewis, founder of center for public integrity, has written a book on the subject, 935 lies, all told by occupants of the oval office over the years. >> i came to washington during watergate. i was in the midst of watching and covering iran contra, abscam, all the worst scandals we're had as a country, including the clinton years. >> reporter: a bipartisan affliction, from richard nixon's whopper -- >> i'm not a crook. >> to bill clinton's brazen denial. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> reporter: even ronald reagan fibbed. >> the united states has not swapped boatloads of planeloads of american weapons for the return of american hostages. >> reporter: during a primetime address he ultimately apologized. >> my heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true. but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.

>> reporter: hard to imagine president trump admitting even that much. nowadays we seem to live in a post-factual world. what advice do you have for the reporters who are in the trenches covering this administration every day? >> my advice would be, just keep on covering everything that's said and check the veracity of everything that's said, and if it's true, then report it straight. if it's not true, point it out. >> reporter: it's not just unraveling falsehoods. president trump prides himself on being unafraid to speak unpopular truths. and that gets a lot of attention too. an example from this weekend, his comments to bill o'reilly about vladimir putin. >> putin's a killer. >> a lot of killers, we got a lot of killers, what, you think our country's so innocent? >> reporter: not something any other president has said before. this is a president who shames critics into submission. today trump took on retailer nordstrom for dropping his daughter's fashion line from

my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by nordstrom, she's a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing, terrible. shortly after the president put out that tweet, nordstrom issued a statement of their own saying they're doing this for business reasons, that it's not personal. they say over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now. they added that they have a great relationship with ivanka trump and her te. the worry is that these petty battles over side issues will serve mostly to drive up people's cynicism, in the president and the press corps. and also that they'll distract from what's really important. >> i think what the president is doing is trying to convince a large swath of the public that the only person who can be believed is him. >> i think his supporters will give him a

what happens. it is possible that misstatements, errors of fact that are exposed, do take away some of the credibility. that's unavoidable. but i think those of us who supported him, we reserve judgment on that until we get to the point of policy-making. >> reporter: it's still early days. but we're off to a rocky start. i'm david wright for "nightline" in washington. next here, we're with the stars and creators of best picture nominee "moonlight." why they say this film is so meaningful to them. t the hospitl after a dvt blood clot, i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots.

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when mccraney began scripting what would one day become the film "moonlight" he says he was writing to process his pain. the coming of age tale now nominated for a best picture at the academy awards depicts a gritty reality based on his personal struggle in the face of bigotry, using words that can be painful and shocking to hear but it is exactly this type of hateful language that makes the story's message of acceptance so important. here's abc's chris connelly. >> reporter: in mid-1980s miami, shyrone, a bullied boy struggling with his identity, confides to his unlikely mentor the explicit slur that's been hurled at him. >> what's a faggot? >> a faggot is -- a word used to make gay people feel bad. >> am i a faggot? >> no, no.

you could be gay, but don't let anybody call you a faggot. >> reporter: an ugly word turned into a profound teaching moment. >> how do i know? >> you just do. >> reporter: in its words and in its silences and in its hauntingly beautiful images, "moonlight" has been captivated audiences and nominated for eight oscars. with three actors playing shyrone as he grows to manhood, this coming of age story has been acclaimed for illuminating its characters with rare tenderness. >> it's so important you got to decide for yourself who you're going to be. can't let nobody make the decision for you. >> the quality of the story, the aesthetic, being an art film, i was really attracted to, tackling subject matter i didn't feel had a light shined on it. >> reporter: a nuanced and raw portrayal of an african-american experience, a narrative

hollywood. herschel ali's a mid-level drug dealer. when he takes shyrone into his home it's transformative for them both. >> this young man is at that point where he is going to be potentially persecuted. >> good choice. put it in your pocket. >> so i have to be here for him. >> he doesn't judge shyrone, you know. he doesn't judge the way he talks, the way he acts, anything he does. >> shyrone's used to being judged a lot? >> yeah, very much. >> reporter: his vulnerability and yearning for connection is central to "moonlight." >> don't you get up, you stay down! don't you get up! >> reporter: directed by barry jenkins from his and terrell mccraney's script. >> how far away did you grow up? >> not far at all, 100, 200 yards, it's crazy. >> reporter: although they didn't meet until they were

adults, these two drew from real-life experiences they each had growing up. in a troubled miami housing complex during the height of the crack epidemic. >> in addition to geography, what else did your childhoods share as you got to know each other? >> the experience of our mothers who went through addiction to crack cocaine. >> reporter: mccraney's mother would die in 2003, the same year he wrote the play from which the film originated "in moonlight, black boys look blue." >> how did your feeling about your mother shape itself as you dealt with what she was dealing with? >> i had a resentment. then i found, as this film does, a lot of love for her. even to this day, i remember someone asked me if i was upset with her. and i was like, i wish she was here to be upset with. >> reporter: familiar to audiences as moneypenny in the james bond films, naomie harris was convinced by jenkins to play paula. >> give me the damn money! >> reporter: yr

crack-addicted mother. >> we see her lash out at her son. she still loves him, doesn't she? >> absolutely. she doesn't hate her son, she hates herself. >> reporter: she's the only performer in the film who acts with all three shyrones. >> i love you, shyrone. >> when you watch the movie it's seamless transition between them because they have the same essence. >> reporter: by the time travon day rhodes is playing him, he can't conceal the ache at his core. >> one of the things in the movie is how the character changes himself. it was really important to place the stamp on the audience's mind that, yes, this guy has radically reshaped himself. >> i am beholden to travonte. what he's doing is showing the world what we think we know of black men, of black men questioning their sexuality, then he gives you this glimpse in their eyes. even though the third act isn't exactly my life, we're exactly the same. >> reporter: terrell mccraney is the recipient of a

foundation genius grant, at yale drama school. >> you see me poised and walking around and seemingly self-assured. but it only takes a second to actually know that i'm terrified. that i'm very vulnerable. and i think that to me was the key to the film. >> i think stereotypes arise from outside the community. i know people watch these visuals, they bring expectations and assumptions into the cinema when they see herschel ali for the first time, aware we're about to subvert those things. >> reporter: no moment in "moonlight" is more subversive than the one in which juan teaches shyrone how to swim. film's luminous beauty and depth of feeling smashing stereotypes. >> this moment of spiritual transference this body of water was the appropriate place for a grown black man to teach a young black boy a lesson about life. >> i got you, i promise i'm not going to let you go. >> that is a moment that felt so

teaching him how to swim. the joy that was captured in that moment for both of those characters. >> yeah, man! >> that scene right there is a real moment of emancipation. >> what did it feel like to do that scene? >> amazing. because i learned how to swim. >> reporter: the movie has already received critical acclaim. >> berry jenkins. >> reporter: on this day attending the oscar luncheon at the beverly hilton, a chance just for a moment to reflect on their journey. >> watch this film, tarell and i are essentially shyrone. you don't assume the character is going to grow and up make a piece of art nominated for eight academy awards. but maybe now you do because it's happened. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm chris connelly in los angeles. a sneak peek at christie brinkley and her lawyers in the upcoming "sports illustrated" swimsuit edition. the insecurity she says they all have in common. ♪

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finally tonight, for some people being

runs in the family. at 63, christie brinkley is proving age is just a number. the supermodel gracing the pages of "sports illustrated's" swimsuit edition for the ninth time. this year alongside her two daughters, her youngest an aspiring model herself. >> sailor's always wanted to do this. alexa, she just couldn't imagine that would ever happen. >> the mother/daughter shoot was a first for the magazine and a first for the family. >> this is a real full-circle moment for me. and i can get very emotional about this. >> the star proudly sharing this shot of the trio on her instagram page. thank you, "sports illustrated," for sending the powerful message that good things come in packages of every size, and we do not come with an expiration date." and this year's "sports illustrated" swimsuit edition debuts across all platforms next week. thank you for watching abc news tonight. as always, we're online 24/7 at

"nightline" facebook page. thanks again for watching and good night. >> hey, everybody. get ready, because in the next 30 minutes, you may be watching someone walk out of here very, very rich. it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody. welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire" today? [cheers and applause] as an archaeologist, today's

to uncovering history. he's hoping to win enough money to tour the world's greatest archaeological sites. from pasadena, california, please welcome paul shattuck. [cheers and applause] hey, paul, how you doing? >> pleasure to be here. >> welcome. >> thank you. [cheers and applause] >> welcome to "millionaire." >> thank you, chris. >> what an incredibly interesting life and job, archaeological digging-- that's--what's one of the cooler places you've been and maybe one of the best discoveries you've found? >> oh, i worked on a-- on a project in peru, where we excavated the-- the tomb of a moche king, and he had seven gold crowns on his skull when we excavated him; the very topmost crown was in the shape of a bat. >> oh, wow. >> and so we called him batman. [laughter] and so-- >> i'm sure when you find something like that, it's just got to be electric, when you're like--i mean, to discover something that incredible. >> oh, we were absolutely amazed and we also had to contact the peruvian army so that