Reading news requires some reasonable extrapolation and reading between the lines. When a president says, “I’ll give everyone $5000,” you would have to be pretty dense to not realize that they’re just using that as a shorthand for, “I’ll use all my power and influence to help pass a law through Congress to give everyone $5000 stimulus checks, or I’ll find a way to direct existing appropriations for it.” If Trump just says, “I’ll give everyone $5,000,” what reasonable conclusion can you possibly reach other than it’s him proposing an act of Congress? He’s certainly not going to pay for it out of his pocket.

They don’t say that entire thing because that would be insane. Real people don’t talk that way; you can summarize and speak in shorthand. You don’t need to spell everything out in excruciating detail.

Presidents always run for office promising this or that. They rarely take the time to spell out the entire legislative process.

For example, consider this article from 2008 and the following Obama quote:

“I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country,” Obama told a conference of Families USA, a health care advocacy group.

By your logic, this was a felony. He wants to establish universal healthcare, a benefit to every American. And he just said he would like to do it. He made no mention of specific laws. So by your logic, this was a bribe.