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Spinning the CBO Rep...: Spinning the CBO Report The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the Republican health care bill has been released — so let the spinning begin. Democrats overstate what the CBO said about the impact on those who now have health insurance, while the White House budget director oversells  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Health Care Spin...: Health Care Spin An Obama-Biden TV ad says Sen. John McCain’s health care plan would be the “largest middle-class tax increase in history.” A McCain-Palin/RNC radio ad says Obama’s plan “will rob 50 million employees of their health coverage.” Both are false. We lay out the details of each candid (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Heckling’ at State...: ‘Heckling’ at State of the Union Addresses A day after several Republicans interrupted President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address with loud jeering, a Democratic leader said he couldn’t “remember a Democrat ever heckling a president in a State of the Union.” But the Democrats have voiced displeasure with a Re (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s ‘Smidgen’ of...: Obama’s ‘Smidgen’ of Truth on Energy Efficiency President Obama criticized “the other side” for failing to provide “a smidgen of an idea” for energy efficiency. But it turns out, there is only a smidgen of truth to the president’s criticism. The president was speaking in New York at a March 1 fundraising event when he brought  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Scott’s Prisoner Rel...: Scott’s Prisoner Release Plan? The Florida Police Benevolent Association takes a half-baked proposal to an illogical conclusion in a new TV ad that invites Floridians to think that Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott wants to shutter state prisons and free hardened criminals. The ad — “Rick Scott is  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Numbers, Jan...: Biden’s Numbers, January 2023 Update Here’s how the United States has fared since President Joe Biden took office two years ago: This is our fifth edition of “Biden’s Numbers,” which we first posted in January 2022 and updated on April 14, July 21 and Oct. 14. It is designed to provide an accurate statistical measur (Source: FactCheck.org)

Barbour Inflates Oba...: Barbour Inflates Obama’s Job Losses Haley Barbour grossly exaggerated the nation’s job losses under President Barack Obama in a March 14 speech in Chicago. Speaking to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Republican governor of Mississippi urged his audience to look at the Obama administration’s record "in the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Legal Implications o...: Legal Implications of Outing the Whistleblower In one heated exchange during day three of the impeachment hearings, Rep. Adam Schiff cut off a line of questioning to protect the whistleblower’s identity, saying the whistleblower has “a statutory right to anonymity.” But the law he cited does not explicitly prohibit members of (Source: FactCheck.org)

We Wondered Where Th...: We Wondered Where They Went… Someone whose work we criticized a fair bit in 2004 and 2006 explains why, perhaps, so little was heard from MoveOn.org and other groups in 2008 in this piece fromNational Public Radio. Money was scarce, but other factors — such as the presence of factcheckers — may have had an i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Special Counsel Q&A...: Special Counsel Q&A On May 17, the Justice Department announced the appointment of former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel to investigate any possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. President (Source: FactCheck.org)

Aaron Rodgers’ Inacc...: Aaron Rodgers’ Inaccurate COVID-19 Claims Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, made headlines when he contracted COVID-19 and then defended his decision not to get vaccinated with a string of false and misleading claims that fact-checkers have frequently debunked. The public learned on Nov. 3 tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

DEA Chief Wrong on M...: DEA Chief Wrong on Medical Marijuana The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration claimed that smoking marijuana has “never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine.” That’s false: though information is limited on the topic, several studies have found smoked marijuana has medical benefits and mostl (Source: FactCheck.org)

White House Uses ‘Jo...: White House Uses ‘Job-Years,’ Not Jobs, to Tout Infrastructure Law Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris lauded the bipartisan infrastructure legislation for creating good-paying jobs for “millions” of Americans. But they meant millions of job-years, not millions of additional jobs. In fact, estimates of how many additional j (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Sequester Blame...: The Sequester Blame Game President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner emerged from their White House meeting on sequestration blaming each other for the automatic spending cuts and misrepresenting the other side’s position: Obama met with congressional leaders at the White House on the day that  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Media Fund Twists th...: Media Fund Twists the Truth More Than Michael Moore This anti-Bush radio ad is among the worst distortions we’ve seen in what has become a very ugly campaign. It states as fact some of the most sensational falsehoods that Michael Moore merely insinuated in his anti-Bush movie Farenheit 9/11. The ad was released Oct. 25 by The Medi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Space Ad: Wrong on P...: Space Ad: Wrong on Pay, Misleading on Taxes Democratic Rep. Zack Space of Ohio has kicked off his TV campaign with an ad that falsely accuses Republican challenger Bob Gibbs of voting to raise his legislative pay and misleads voters about Gibbs’ record on taxes.  Since June 8, Space has been running a TV ad called "Check Y (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Muddles Econom...: Trump Muddles Economic Indicators In a news interview and a speech in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump misleadingly suggested that rising stock value could reduce the national debt. One budget expert told us that notion was “just silly.” In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Trump noted that the coun (Source: FactCheck.org)

Online ‘Stimulus Loa...: Online ‘Stimulus Loan’ Offers Are Not Related to Government Programs Three stimulus payments have been sent to Americans to ease the economic impact of the pandemic. Social media posts are now sharing a false claim about a new, $40,000 federal stimulus loan. But it’s a marketing ploy. The bottom of the web page says, “This is not a government prog (Source: FactCheck.org)

Republican Health Ca...: Republican Health Care Spin Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and House Speaker Paul Ryan engaged in partisan spin in talking about the Republican health care bill. The American Health Care Act was passed by the House on May 4, and both Price and Ryan appeared on Sunday talk shows a few days lat (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on Judge J...: The Facts on Judge Jackson’s Sentencing in Child Porn Cases The first two days of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have been preoccupied, in large part, by a contentious debate over the judge’s sentencing in child pornography cases. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have accused Jackson of di (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Hits Turbulen...: Romney Hits Turbulence With Boeing Case A Mitt Romney ad running in South Carolina distorts the truth by claiming that the National Labor Relations Board told Boeing Corp., “You can’t build a factory in South Carolina because South Carolina is a right-to-work state.” That misstates the facts. The NLRB’s acting general  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Proposed ‘Assault We...: Proposed ‘Assault Weapons Ban’ Includes Grandfather Clause, Contrary to Social Media Posts The House passed a bill on July 29 that would make it a crime to knowingly “import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon.” Social media posts falsely claim “millions of people will become felons overnight” because of the bill. Under the bill, cur (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump o...: FactChecking Trump on Trade President Donald Trump distorted some facts about trade in a press conference announcing an agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement, or USMCA: Trump spoke in the Rose Garden at the White House on Oct. 1 about t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Social Media Posts C...: Social Media Posts Continue to Misidentify Justice Sotomayor in Dinner Photo Politico misidentified Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a photo of a Jan. 7 dinner of Democrats – the same day she participated remotely in oral arguments. Politico corrected the error on Jan. 8. But social media posts continued to wrongly claim Sotomayor attended the dinner and appear (Source: FactCheck.org)

No Hearsay Rule Chan...: No Hearsay Rule Change for Whistleblowers President Donald Trump and some of his defenders have advanced a bogus theory that whistleblower rules were changed to allow a complaint alleging misconduct by the president to be forwarded to Congress based only on secondhand information. There was no such change in law or polic (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Flubs Farmers...: Romney Flubs Farmers Claim Mitt Romney claims the Obama administration is telling farmers “what their 15-year-old sons and daughters can and can’t do on the family farm.” That’s not true. If anything, the Labor Department was considering telling farmers what their children can and cannot do on farms that o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Extras: Palin, Rubio...: Extras: Palin, Rubio, Apps and Chain E-mails From time to time we come across bits of political malarkey or other items that don’t quite rate a full article. Starting today, we’ll collect these tidbits in a new, occasional feature we call "Extras." Palin: "Who makes a decision like that?" In a Nov. 6 appearance at a no-came (Source: FactCheck.org)

Moisture-Absorbent T...: Moisture-Absorbent Tablet in Pregnancy Tests, Not ‘Hidden Plan B’ Pill Pregnancy tests contain a desiccant tablet to absorb moisture and keep the test dry before use. But posts on social media falsely claim the tablet is a “hidden plan B” pill. Companies that produce pregnancy tests include a warning on their websites not to consume the desiccant ta (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Tweets Baseles...: Trump Tweets Baseless Claims About Injured Buffalo Protester With no evidence, President Donald Trump promoted a conspiracy theory that Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old man who was hospitalized after being pushed by police during a June 4 protest in Buffalo, New York, was an “ANTIFA provocateur” who was trying to “black out” police equipment (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pelosi’s Misleading...: Pelosi’s Misleading ‘Job-Killer’ Claim House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says the Republican tax plans will be a “job-killer,” but most economic analyses of the plans suggest, on balance, modest job growth. The government’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has not yet completed its analysis of the plans’ eff (Source: FactCheck.org)

Country Singer’s Dea...: Country Singer’s Death Not Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Country singer Jake Flint died unexpectedly on Nov. 27, just hours after his wedding. Social media posts baselessly insinuate Flint died because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 37-year-old singer received his second dose more than a year before his death, and his representative said (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ads Attacking Dr. Oz...: Ads Attacking Dr. Oz A super PAC that supports Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick has been flooding the airwaves in the Keystone State with ads attacking his opponent, cardiac surgeon and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, as a “Hollywood liberal” and RINO, or Republican in Name Only. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Absentee vs....: Trump’s Absentee vs. Mail-In Ballot Spin President Donald Trump continues to draw false distinctions between mail-in and absentee ballots, claiming the former are rife with voter fraud while the latter — which he has used as president — require a voter to go through “a very strict process. The equivalent of going to a v (Source: FactCheck.org)

Student Loan Stretch...: Student Loan Stretching Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton mischaracterizes the Affordable Care Act’s impact on student loans, and a teachers union stretches Cotton’s voting record on the issue. Cotton says the ACA “nationalized the student loan industry” and implied students can’t get private loans from their lo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Rejected Gener...: Trump Rejected Generals’ Advice, Too Rep. Mike Rogers, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said congressional testimony this week showed that President Joe Biden ignored the advice of top generals about what to do in Afghanistan while former President Donald Trump “did listen to it.” That’s (Source: FactCheck.org)

The PricewaterhouseC...: The PricewaterhouseCoopers Premium Problem It makes for a pretty easy day of fact-checking when the very authors of a less-than-thorough analysis of a bill come out and say, you know, that study wasn’t exactly thorough. And we didn’t pay them to say that. America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main insurance industry lobby (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong About Ca...: Trump Wrong About Campaign Donations Twice in two days, President Donald Trump falsely tweeted that acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s wife received $700,000 in campaign donations from Hillary Clinton. The nearly $675,000 — not $700,000 — donated to Dr. Jill McCabe, who unsuccessfully ran for a Virginia state Senat (Source: FactCheck.org)

Harris’ Campaign Kic...: Harris’ Campaign Kickoff Claims Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris made a few false and misleading claims in two events that kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign. Harris this week joined a growing number of Democrats who say they will run for the party’s presidential nomination. After making her announcement in (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pakistan Attack...: Pakistan Attack McCain charged that Obama has said he would “attack Pakistan.” What he really said, on Aug. 1, 2007, was: “It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrori (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush’s Misleading At...: Bush’s Misleading Attack Video The Bush campaign sent an e-mail Feb. 12 to six million supporters with a link to an Internet video attacking Kerry for being “unprincipled.” The ad claims Kerry got “more special interest money than any other senator,” which is false. While it is true that Kerry got $640,000 ove (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Charl...: Video: Trump’s Charlottesville Revisionism In this fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org examine the comments that President Donald Trump made to supporters in Arizona about the violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. At an event in Phoenix on Aug. 22, Trump blamed the “dishonest” news media for che (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fact-Checking Is Mor...: Fact-Checking Is More Popular than Politicians New research shows that the public views political fact-checking journalism — the sort of thing we do here — far more favorably than it does most politicians. Fact-checking is also a measurably effective tool for correcting political misinformation regardless of whether or not a  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Misfires with...: Romney Misfires with EPA Anecdote Mitt Romney railed against the “Obama EPA” and “how the Obama government interferes with personal freedom” — using as his example an EPA action taken in 2007, under President George W. Bush. Furthermore, it was a Republican-nominated federal judge who made the initial ruling  — i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay On the Sunday before confirmation hearings kicked off for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, we heard several misleading comments having to do with her or nominations of earlier years. We also found no evidence to back up Sen. John Cornyn’s claim that the new health care law was  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s ‘Gross’ Exa...: Romney’s ‘Gross’ Exaggeration on ‘Obamacare’ Mitt Romney falsely claims government will “constitute … almost 50 percent” of the U.S. economy when the new federal health care law takes full effect. But Romney gets to 50 percent by erroneously counting all health care spending — private and public — as “effectively under gove (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sen. Manchin Often V...: Sen. Manchin Often Votes with Trump A Republican TV ad claims Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is “fighting the Trump agenda,” even though he has voted with the president nearly 61 percent of the time. In fact, Manchin has voted with Trump more often than any Democratic senator.   The ad was released by the Nation (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Foreign Militar...: U.S. Foreign Military Support Republican Donald Trump criticized U.S. military support for several countries — Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany and South Korea — during a discussion on nuclear proliferation at a CNN town hall in late March, saying “we can’t afford it.” We’ll answer the question: What exactly does (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Clinton on Ru...: Video: Clinton on Russia’s Nuclear Arms This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines an exaggerated claim that Hillary Clinton made in a TV ad about “cutting Russia’s nuclear arms” through a treaty signed when she was secretary of state. As we’ve written before, Clinton is overstating the impact of the 2011 New START (Strateg (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Resurrects Bog...: Biden Resurrects Bogus Talking Points Vice President Joe Biden resurrected years-old, Democratic talking points on the Affordable Care Act and oil production during a recent speech in New Hampshire: Biden hasn’t said if he will run for president in 2016, but he has been making visits to key early primary states, incl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Tweet...: Trump’s False Tweet About Michigan Absentee Ballot Applications President Donald Trump erroneously tweeted that Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state was “illegally” sending “absentee ballots to 7.7 million people” for this year’s primary and general elections. The state said it will send absentee ballot applications — not actual ballots — (Source: FactCheck.org)

Money on the Table...: Money on the Table Before he gave the Republican rebuttal to Tuesday night’s presidential address, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was making headlines by saying he would leave some of President Obama’s stimulus funds on the table. Other southern GOP governors, such as Haley Barbour of Mississippi and  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stimulus Jobs, Re-re...: Stimulus Jobs, Re-revisited Reports from journalists and the Government Accountability Office last month about problems with the data on Recovery.gov cast doubt on the site’s claim that more than 640,000 jobs had been created or saved by the Obama administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Mea (Source: FactCheck.org)

Presidential Approva...: Presidential Approval Numbers On April 12 and 13, President Donald Trump’s approval rating, according to the Rasmussen Reports, was 50 percent. At the same point in Barack Obama’s presidency, Obama’s approval rating per Rasmussen was 48 percent and 49 percent. But Trump inaccurately described his poll number  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Trade Mistwe...: Trump’s Trade Mistweet President Donald Trump claimed the U.S. has “large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada,” which isn’t accurate. The U.S. actually runs a small trade surplus with Canada, and the deficit with Mexico isn’t all that large, relatively speaking. He made the misleading claim in an ear (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is the Pandemic ‘Ove...: Is the Pandemic ‘Over’? Biden Says So, But Scientists Say That’s Up for Debate In a surprise moment in a “60 Minutes” interview, President Joe Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic “is over.” While he correctly acknowledged that the coronavirus was still a problem, epidemiologists say there’s no single agreed-upon definition for what constitutes the end of a pan (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Hasn’t ‘Stoppe...: Biden Hasn’t ‘Stopped Abortion,’ Contrary to Social Media Claim A leaked draft opinion suggests that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Shortly after the document was published, a meme began circulating that falsely claims President Joe Biden has “[s]topped abortion.” Politico published a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Spinning Clinton’s E...: Spinning Clinton’s Emails (Again) The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus claimed that FBI Director James Comey testified that Hillary Clinton “had no knowledge” of sending and receiving classified emails on her private server as secretary of state. That’s not what Comey said. Comey actually said there was ev (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Suspect Span...: Trump’s Suspect Spanish Flu Claims President Donald Trump recently said “close to 100 million people died” from the 1918 Spanish flu, and that “if you got it you had a 50/50 chance, or very close, of dying.” But 100 million is a high-end estimate of global deaths from that influenza pandemic, and we found no evide (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our Convention Cover...: Our Convention Coverage FactCheck.org will be covering both the Republican and Democratic conventions, beginning today in Cleveland. Lori Robertson, our managing editor, will be reporting from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, while the rest of our staff works remotely from the Philadelphia and Wash (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sorting Out Obama’s...: Sorting Out Obama’s Gun Proposal Politicians have offered confusing and conflicting information on guns in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings and President Obama’s announced plans for tighter gun controls:  In an emotion-filled speech on Jan. 5, President Obama announced a series of executive actions aimed (Source: FactCheck.org)

How Not To Use a Sur...: How Not To Use a Survey Republicans cite a new survey to claim health insurance premiums are up 90 percent in New Hampshire because of the Affordable Care Act. But that figure is based on just one insurance broker in the state. The 90 percent figure is included in a survey of 148 insurance brokers by Mo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Video Makes Fa...: Viral Video Makes False Claim About Global Oil Supply Oil is formed in a process that takes millions of years, and there is a finite amount on the planet, scientists say. But a TikTok video shared on Instagram falsely claims that there is an “unlimited” supply of oil, and people are being “taught” otherwise to keep them “in a fear s (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Energy Error...: Trump’s Energy Errors President Donald Trump clearly supports the oil and gas industry, but he made several false and misleading boasts about his impact on the energy sector. Trump spoke in Hackberry, Louisiana, on May 14 at the opening of Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG project, a liquefied natural gas e (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Record Jobs Loss?...: A Record Jobs Loss? Republican Senate candidate Rob Portman is attacking his Democratic opponent, Lee Fisher, for the loss of jobs in Ohio. Portman’s ad claims that under Fisher’s watch — he’s lieutenant governor — the state lost "a record number" of jobs "to other states." But this supposed "record (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Iowa Rally The 2020 presidential campaign is more than 1,200 days away, but President Donald Trump held yet another Make America Great Again rally — this time in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And, as he did in past campaign speeches, Trump spoke for a long time and reeled off numerous false and misle (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Obama Birth Chro...: The Obama Birth Chronicles, Chapter CCXCVIII The latest development in the saga of the so-called "birther" challenges to Barack Obama’s presidency comes from Hawaii, Obama’s native state. Yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle signed a law allowing state agencies to ignore requests for information if they determine the requests dupli (Source: FactCheck.org)

Republicans Inflate...: Republicans Inflate Cost of Taliban-Seized U.S. Military Equipment The Taliban seized an arsenal of U.S.-made military equipment when it overran the Afghan army, but not nearly as much as numerous Republicans have claimed. Several Republican members of Congress and former President Donald Trump have cited a grossly exaggerated figure of $85 bill (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Takes Trump Qu...: Biden Takes Trump Quote Out of Context In a speech that assailed President Donald Trump for a lack of “moral leadership,” Joe Biden falsely claimed that Trump “asserted that immigrants would, quote, ‘carve you up with a knife.’” Trump said that about MS-13 gang members, not immigrants. Biden, who is seeking the Democr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Unspinning Christie’...: Unspinning Christie’s State of the State In his State of the State address, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie exaggerated some figures and boasted about progress that doesn’t look so impressive when compared with national trends. Christie is a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, and the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pro-Israel Group Mis...: Pro-Israel Group Misleads Wisconsin Voters A Senate candidate says a pro-Israel group is airing a “false” TV ad about her record and urges stations not to run it. The ad does mislead voters in some — but not all — of its claims: The ad’s most contentious claim is that Baldwin “accused Israel of war crimes.” The Baldwin ca (Source: FactCheck.org)

Three False Claims A...: Three False Claims About the Federal Voting Rights Bill Claims mischaracterizing a federal voting rights bill have been circulating on social media. The proposed law would not “ban” state voter ID laws, bar states from removing ineligible voters from their rolls, or allow minors to vote. Proposed voting laws are advancing in state leg (Source: FactCheck.org)

Climate Science Slip...: Climate Science Slipping? In our article on Climategate, we cited overwhelming scientific consensus — represented in part by the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — pointing to a global rise in temperatures. But the IPCC’s credibility has been challenged since we wrote that article,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Likely Benefit...: Trump Likely Benefits from Tax Bills President Donald Trump claimed that the Republican tax plans in Congress would “cost me a fortune.” He has offered no proof of that, and it’s highly doubtful. Several provisions of the tax bills would benefit wealthy individuals like Trump. This isn’t the first time that the pres (Source: FactCheck.org)

CBO Offers Its Two C...: CBO Offers Its Two Cents on Federal Pay Federal workers overall get just 2 percent higher wages than private-sector employees holding similar jobs, but they receive 16 percent more in total compensation because of generous benefits. There are, however, great differences in wages and benefits depending on education leve (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Iow...: FactChecking the Iowa Senate Race Longtime Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin is retiring, and Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and Republican Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst are each hoping to be the one to replace him. Braley was once an early favorite to hold the seat for Democrats, but Ernst now has a slight lead in a very competit (Source: FactCheck.org)

Precision in Climate...: Precision in Climate Science

The Line: Scientists cannot precisely measure climate change nor the impact of human activity on climate change. The Party: Republican In the past, some Republicans have denied that global warming and climate change are occurring — calling the former a “hoax” and the latter “pse (Source: FactCheck.org)

Guns A-Blazin’...: Guns A-Blazin’ We’ve updated our Ask FactCheck item on Sonia Sotomayor and gun rights yet again. This time it’s to reflect the fact that the National Rifle Association has filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to hear its case challenging Chicago’s gun laws (which it lost this week in  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Faulty Research Pape...: Faulty Research Paper Leads to Unfounded Claims About Health of Atlantic Ocean Climate change has affected ocean ecosystems, scientists say. But an unfounded claim on social media that “plankton in the Atlantic Ocean is 90% gone” and the ocean is “now pretty much dead” is based on a faulty paper. The world’s oceans have changed over the last several decades (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: ‘Criminal Ali...: Video: ‘Criminal Aliens’ in the U.S. In this video, CNN’s Jake Tapper explains President-elect Donald Trump’s exaggerated claim that there are “probably 2 million” or “even 3 million” criminals living illegally in the U.S. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “estimates that 1.9 million removable criminal al (Source: FactCheck.org)

Medicare Scare Tacti...: Medicare Scare Tactics TV ads from a Democratic group warn seniors that “right now, your Medicare coverage is in danger,” claiming “deep, automatic cuts” could be made by “unelected Washington bureaucrats.” But those cuts, according to current estimates, wouldn’t be implemented until 2023, and they wou (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pawlenty’s Bailout B...: Pawlenty’s Bailout Blarney Once again we find that Tim Pawlenty has changed course on an issue that is something of a litmus test for Republican candidates. In this case, it’s government bailouts. On Jan. 16, he condemned all such bailouts, saying: "I don’t think the government should bail out Wall Street  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rubio Wrong on Terro...: Rubio Wrong on Terrorist List Sen. Marco Rubio vastly overstated the number of Americans on the federal government’s various terrorist watch lists. He said there are “700,000 Americans on some watch list,” but the number is actually in the tens of thousands. Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida running fo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Durbin (Again) Denie...: Durbin (Again) Denies Social Security’s Red Ink Sen. Richard Durbin says that “Social Security does not add one penny to our debt.” That’s false. It was wrong 21 months ago, when Durbin said it once before, and it’s even more off the mark now. The federal government for the first time in its history had to borrow money in 2010 (Source: FactCheck.org)

The 24 Million Talki...: The 24 Million Talking Point The Line: The Republican health care bill would throw 24 million people off the health insurance they have now. The Party: Democratic After the House passed a GOP health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, Democrats criticized the legislation by saying it would take awa (Source: FactCheck.org)

Another Misleading R...: Another Misleading Republican Attack In California A National Republican Congressional Committee television advertisement says California House Democratic Candidate Francine Busby “praised a teacher reported to have child porn saying he was always willing to lend a hand.” The ad calls that “dangerous,” but it fails to tell the wh (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay This week’s look at the Sunday talk shows features former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich — who was found guilty Aug. 17 of making false statements to the FBI. He appeared on "Fox News Sunday" to discuss his trial. Did Blagojevich make any false statements to Fox host Chris Wallace (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misleading B...: Trump’s Misleading Blame on Opioids President Donald Trump misleadingly cited a 23 percent decline in federal drug prosecutions between 2011 and 2016 to claim that the Obama administration ignored the opioid crisis. “So they looked at this scourge and they let it go by, and we’re not letting it go by,” Trump said.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s ‘Racist’ Re...: Romney’s ‘Racist’ Reference to Palestinian Culture Mitt Romney says he “did not speak about the Palestinian culture” at a fundraiser in Israel, where his remarks were denounced by a Palestinian leader as “racist.” It’s true that Romney didn’t directly disparage the Palestinian culture, but he did say “culture makes all the differ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Judicial Fight Promp...: Judicial Fight Prompts Dueling, Distorted Ads Millions are being spent on rival ads supporting and opposing two of President Bush’s most controversial judicial selections. Neither ad is completely accurate. An ad by the pro-Bush group Progress for America implies that Texas judge Priscilla Owen has been endorsed by a newspap (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Debate Claims...: False Debate Claims Put in Ads Two claims from the fifth Republican debate that we flagged as misleading are now being used in new TV ads. In his ad, Cruz claims that the Senate immigration bill “would have given Obama the authority to admit Syrian refugees, including ISIS terrorists.” The Cruz campaign launch (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush’s Re-Election C...: Bush’s Re-Election Campaign Begins on a Positive Note We found only one clear misstatement in the first batch of television ads from the President’s re-election committee. One ad claims that the recession started the month Bush took office. Economists date the start two month later. Bush-Cheney ’04, the President’s official re-elect (Source: FactCheck.org)

TV Ad Features Cherr...: TV Ad Features Cherry-Picked Comments from Rep. Ted Budd About Putin In late February, Republican Rep. Ted Budd described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “erratic,” a “thug” and “intelligent.” He also said Putin has “strategic reasons” for wanting to “protect” his country’s borders, but called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “evil” and pledged su (Source: FactCheck.org)

Vaccines Remain Larg...: Vaccines Remain Largely Effective Against Delta Variant, Counter to Claims From Fox News Guest Multiple studies show the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against the delta variant of the coronavirus, even if the potency of the vaccines is somewhat reduced. But a guest on Fox News falsely claimed the delta variant “really is not responsive at all, o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Who’s to Blame for H...: Who’s to Blame for Higher Gas Prices? With gasoline prices rising, Sen. Chuck Schumer placed the blame on President Donald Trump, and specifically his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. But experts say that decision has had only a modest effect so far on rising prices at the pump. One expert estimated the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Tweet Misrepre...: Viral Tweet Misrepresents NOAA Report on Rising Global Temperature The warming trend in global temperature continued in 2022, which was the sixth-warmest year on record, according to a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But a viral tweet — using just a small segment of a NOAA graph — wrongly claimed the agenc (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Record on To...: Obama’s Record on Toxic Cleanups Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt criticized former President Barack Obama for leaving “us with more Superfund sites than when he came in.” This is misleading for multiple reasons: Pruitt made his claim on Sept. 11 during an interview with the Washington Examiner: (Source: FactCheck.org)

Steve King on ‘Crimi...: Steve King on ‘Criminal Aliens’ Rep. Steve King wrongly suggested that “28 percent of the inmates in our federal penitentiaries” are immigrants in the country illegally. About 21 percent of federal inmates are non-U.S. citizens, but that includes immigrants who came to the U.S. both legally and illegally, accor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Tweets Flagged...: Trump Tweets Flagged by Twitter for Misinformation In the two days after Election Day, Twitter has added warning labels to nine of President Donald Trump’s election-related tweets, cautioning the messages “might be misleading.” They are misleading, and in some cases, false. They continue a monthslong effort by the president to so (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Misrepresent H...: Posts Misrepresent How Florida Arrived at Quick Election Results Florida law allows election officials to start counting early in-person and mail-in ballots before Election Day. But social media posts falsely claim Florida counted all of its more than 7 million votes in five hours on Election Day and states that took longer committed “voter fr (Source: FactCheck.org)

A ‘Risky’ Trio for S...: A ‘Risky’ Trio for Seniors? An ad approved by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska twists the facts about what three potential GOP opponents have said about Social Security and Medicare. A graphic in the ad says the three Republicans have “Risky Plans for Seniors.” The Nebraska Democratic Party began runn (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Mue...: FactChecking the Mueller Hearings While former special counsel Robert S. Mueller reiterated in congressional testimony what he said in his voluminous report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, politicians reiterated some claims about the inquiry and its findings. Muel (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Revives Claim...: Trump Revives Claim of ‘Oscillated’ Debate Mic in 2016 Hours after announcing that he would not participate in an Oct. 15 debate because the Commission on Presidential Debates said it would be virtual, President Donald Trump revived an old complaint that the commission deliberately “oscillated” his microphone during a 2016 debate wit (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Fact’ Lifted Out of...: ‘Fact’ Lifted Out of Context in Nebraska A super PAC ad rips a quote out of context in an attempt to portray Republican Senate candidate Ben Sasse — recently described as “Obamacare’s Nebraska Nemesis” — as an early supporter of the Affordable Care Act. The ad says that in 2010, Sasse called the Affordable Care Act  “an (Source: FactCheck.org)

That Patriotic Bikin...: That Patriotic Bikini Shot By now you’ve probably seen it – the purported pic of Sarah Palin wearing a red, white and blue bikini and toting a gun. At first glance, we suspected it was fake and someone’s idea of a joke. And guess what? It is. We tracked down the guy who took the original photo, a shot of h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mayberry Misleads on...: Mayberry Misleads on Medicare Would the sheriff of Mayberry mislead you about Medicare? Alas, yes. In a new TV spot from the Obama administration, actor Andy Griffith, famous for his 1960s  portrayal of the top law enforcement official in the fictional town of  Mayberry, N.C., touts benefits of the new health (Source: FactCheck.org)

Blackwell Blasts Fac...: Blackwell Blasts FactCheck In an interview on "The Daily Show," Family Research Council fellow Ken Blackwell disagreed with host Jon Stewart about whether the Obama administration has an unprecedented number of "czars." (This is part two of the interview, available only online.) Stewart: Not all the so-cal (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Photo of Russi...: Viral Photo of Russian Bomber Shows Incident from 2020 Amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, a misleading photo posted March 22 on Facebook shows an American fighter jet intercepting a Russian bomber near Alaskan airspace. But the incident was not related to the current situation in Ukraine; t (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Momentary “No”...: The Momentary “No” The third-party group Committee for Truth in Politics has released an ad accusing Sen. Barack Obama of favoring early release for sexual offenders. We like the group’s name — hey, that’s what we’re all about! But we find it pretty misleading in the case of this ad, which includes (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on Crowd S...: The Facts on Crowd Size White House counselor Kellyanne Conway claimed that “alternative facts” were employed by Press Secretary Sean Spicer when he tried to make the case that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.” Actually, Spicer  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mulvaney’s Spin on U...: Mulvaney’s Spin on Ukraine Aid White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney engaged in some serious political spin when he tried to deny what he said in a televised press conference: that the White House withheld security aid to Ukraine, in part, because the administration wanted Ukraine to investigate Demo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ocasio-Cortez Gets F...: Ocasio-Cortez Gets FDR History Lesson Wrong At a town hall meeting on the Green New Deal, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got her history wrong when she was asked what lessons she learned from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The freshman Democrat, who sponsored the Green New Deal in the House, said the New Deal w (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cold Facts on the Gl...: Cold Facts on the Globe’s Hottest Years Sen. James Inhofe misleadingly claimed that the statistics behind the globe’s likely hottest years on record — 2014, 2015 and 2016 — were “meaningless” because the temperature increases were “well within the margin of error.” Taking into account the margins of error, there’s stil (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay We found a few claims worthy of comment on the Sunday political talk shows. On NBC’s "Meet the Press," Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said that President Obama was being "misleading" when he boasted about General Motors and Chrysler repaying the government: "Meet the P (Source: FactCheck.org)

Prayer Day Still Not...: Prayer Day Still Not Cancelled Year after year, we see some of the same false viral claims circulating on social media and via email with little about them changing but the dates. Claims that President Barack Obama has cancelled the National Day of Prayer are a perfect example. We first addressed such claims i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gun Rights Group’s A...: Gun Rights Group’s Aim Is Way Off A conservative gun rights group is going after three congressmen with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association by falsely claiming they support President Obama’s gun control agenda. The National Association for Gun Rights, which takes a more conservative line on gun rights (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Renews Unfound...: Trump Renews Unfounded Claim on Debate Mic President Donald Trump wrongly claimed the Commission on Presidential Debates was “forced to publicly apologize for modulating” his microphone in the first 2016 general election debate. The bipartisan commission did not apologize for any willful tampering, but acknowledged “there (Source: FactCheck.org)

Does Military Surplu...: Does Military Surplus Reduce Crime? In lifting the Obama-era restrictions on police acquisition of surplus military equipment, Attorney General Jeff Sessions misleadingly cited studies to claim that President Obama “went too far” and undermined public safety. Sessions said the studies showed that surplus military e (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump and the ‘New H...: Trump and the ‘New Hoax’ Democratic presidential candidates harshly criticized President Donald Trump for using the term “hoax” in connection with the coronavirus outbreak. There’s no question that the president described the disease as the Democrats’ “new hoax” at a political rally on Feb. 28 in South C (Source: FactCheck.org)

GAO Report: U.S. Sou...: GAO Report: U.S. Source For “Large Portion” of Mexican Crime Guns According to a new report issued by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the United States is the source for a “large proportion of the firearms fueling Mexican drug violence”: GAO, June 2009: Available evidence indicates a large proportion of the firearms fueling Me (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misquotes Pelo...: Trump Misquotes Pelosi In an early morning tweet, President Donald Trump falsely attributed a quote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The quote was actually a Fox News reporter’s characterization of Pelosi’s words. Trump then distorted what she actually said. Nancy Pelosi just stated that “it is dangerous (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Vaccines Re...: COVID-19 Vaccines Reduce, Not Increase, Risk of Stillbirth

There is no link between COVID-19 vaccination and an increased risk of stillbirth, despite such claims online. In fact, vaccination has been shown in multiple studies to reduce the risk of stillbirth by protecting pregnant people and their babies from the coronavirus. No vac (Source: FactCheck.org)

Begich’s Bogus Tax B...: Begich’s Bogus Tax Boast Sen. Mark Begich makes the bogus claim in two ads that he “voted against President Obama’s trillion-dollar tax increase.” Actually, he voted against a GOP resolution that set forth Obama’s spending levels for fiscal year 2013 but without the president’s policy language. The Democ (Source: FactCheck.org)

A False Attack on a...: A False Attack on a Palin-backed “Mama Grizzly” One of Sarah Palin’s annointed "Mama Grizzlies" is under attack in Georgia — for not being conservative enough to suit Republican primary voters. But we find the attack is misleading and makes false claims. In the race to be governor of Georgia, the Palin-backed candidate  is Sec (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bachmann Botches Pov...: Bachmann Botches Poverty Stats Rep. Michele Bachmann was wrong on two counts when she claimed today’s poverty rate is “only slightly below where it was in 1964” and that the small improvement in the rate “came with a $20 trillion price tag.” First, the official poverty rate in 1964 was 19 percent, and it was 1 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Widespread Claims Mi...: Widespread Claims Misrepresent Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines As the virus that causes COVID-19 has evolved, the vaccines have become less effective in preventing symptomatic infection while remaining highly effective in preventing severe disease and death. This shift has been misrepresented by anti-vaccine influencers who falsely claim tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

CDC Data Contradict...: CDC Data Contradict Julián Castro’s Texas COVID-19 Claims Cases of COVID-19 are increasing in Texas, but it doesn’t have the “highest COVID positivity rate and case count in the nation” — contrary to what Democrat Julián Castro recently tweeted. Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio and secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban  (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRSC Eliminates the...: NRSC Eliminates the Positive Making an endorsement seem like a condemnation isn’t an easy deception to pull off — but the National Republican Senatorial Committee has done it.  In an ad attacking Democratic Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, the NRSC uses a series of highly selective quotes from a Denver Post pie (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clunker Claims and C...: Clunker Claims and Cadillac Plans The AFL-CIO is running a print ad this week arguing that "the House bill gets it right" on health care. The Senate bill? Not so much, says the labor federation. Its beef is with the tax in the Senate Finance Committee bill on high-cost (a.k.a. "Cadillac") health care plans.  Unio (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rubio’s Immigration...: Rubio’s Immigration Evolution Sen. Marco Rubio claimed during a Sunday talk show interview that the immigration bill he is pushing is not a change of position for him since his 2010 campaign. But it is. Two years ago, Rubio derided an “earned path to citizenship” as another word for “amnesty” and told an inte (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading Attack on...: Misleading Attack on Binnie in N.H. Senate Race An attack ad goes too far when accusing GOP Senate candidate Bill Binnie in New Hampshire of supporting abortion rights "to avoid the expense of disabled children," and claiming Binnie is "excited about imposing gay marriage" on the state. These and other charges in the ad are ro (Source: FactCheck.org)

Recovery Stats Get R...: Recovery Stats Get Rougher We reported yesterday that the federal government’s Recovery.gov Web site, which purports to track jobs created or saved with stimulus money, was citing new jobs in nonexistent congressional districts. Today a new report from the Government Accountability Office brings news that  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democrats Exaggerate...: Democrats Exaggerate Shutdown Costs Some Democrats have taken to exaggerating the cost of the federal government shutdown, suggesting that it cost the economy nearly 1 million jobs, and claiming that it cost taxpayers $30 billion. Neither statement is accurate. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota stated in an Oct.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Wuhan Lab and th...: The Wuhan Lab and the Gain-of-Function Disagreement A disagreement between Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci has put $600,000 of U.S. grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology back into the spotlight, while making “gain-of-function” research a household term — all amid calls for more investigation into the origi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Retweets Dated...: Trump Retweets Dated, Racially Charged Post President Donald Trump retweeted a video, which had been posted under the misleading heading “Black Lives Matter/Antifa,” of a Black man shoving a white woman into a stopped subway car. The incident occurred on Oct. 23, 2019, and there is no indication that the man in the video w (Source: FactCheck.org)

Summit Extras: Medic...: Summit Extras: Medical Malpractice Yesterday we filed our lengthy report on the Blair House health care summit. But there were a few claims we didn’t have a chance to investigate, such as this exchange on medical malpractice. A key Republican proposal for any health care overhaul effort is so- called "tort reform" (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Tapper on Tru...: Video: Tapper on Trump’s Smear of Omar In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines a false tweet promoted by President Donald Trump that purports to show Rep. Ilhan Omar “partying” and “celebrating” on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The video was actually from a Congressional Black C (Source: FactCheck.org)

Smith Spins NASA Fun...: Smith Spins NASA Funding Rep. Lamar Smith said that, after national security agencies, “NASA received the most favorable budget request from the Trump administration.” True, but President Donald Trump’s 2018 proposal would still cut NASA’s budget by about 3 percent compared with the agency’s enacted budg (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Mississippi Mud...: More Mississippi Mud A super PAC backing Sen. Thad Cochran in the Mississippi GOP primary falsely claims state Sen. Chris McDaniel has “the worst attendance record in the state Senate,” and exaggerates the importance of votes he missed: The ad, titled “Life,” is the latest from the Mississippi Conser (Source: FactCheck.org)

Merck, Pfizer COVID-...: Merck, Pfizer COVID-19 Antivirals Different From Ivermectin Merck and Pfizer are each developing a new oral antiviral drug that might prevent or treat COVID-19. The pills are very different from the antiparasitic medication ivermectin, contrary to claims online that they are “suspiciously similar” or that the companies are “repackaging” i (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Geo...: FactChecking the Georgia Senate Runoffs Two months after Election Day, control of the U.S. Senate in the 117th Congress comes down to two races in Georgia on Jan. 5. None of the four candidates on the ballot garnered 50% of the vote on Nov. 3, which forced separate runoffs. In one of the contests, Georgia’s senior sena (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Evidence-Fre...: Trump’s Evidence-Free Attempt to Link Scarborough to Aide’s Death President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought without evidence to link MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to the death of one of his staffers in 2001, when he was a Republican congressman. The medical examiner found that the death was accidental, due to a heart problem that caused the aid (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: FactChecking...: Video: FactChecking Clinton Stump Speech This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper, working with FactCheck.org, highlights four claims Hillary Clinton made in a speech in Hampton, Illinois, on Sept. 5. The claims in this week’s video were all covered in our Oct. 3 article “Clinton on the Stump.” All of Tapper’s videos, including las (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: FactChecking...: Video: FactChecking the First Debate Several claims from the first presidential debate are highlighted in this video from FlackCheck.org, our sister site for political literacy.  For more information on these false and misleading statements, and others made during the debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Repu (Source: FactCheck.org)

We Need Help to Win...: We Need Help to Win a Webby This year, the Webby Awards are celebrating 20 years of honoring excellence on the Internet, and FactCheck.org is again one of the nominees. To help us win the People’s Voice Webby for best Political Blog/Website, use your email address to sign up and vote, or use your Twitter, F (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Spin from Cli...: Sunday Spin from Clinton Surrogates Two of Hillary Clinton’s high-profile surrogates made false and misleading claims on the Sunday talk shows the day after she officially kicked off her campaign: On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Mook flat-out rejected host John Dickerson’s claim that “polls have shown” that “voters do n (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama, Fox News and...: Obama, Fox News and the Free Press Former President Barack Obama stood up for a free press in his first political speech of the 2018 campaign season, but he engaged in a bit of revisionist history when it came to his administration’s dealings with Fox News. “It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say that we  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Campaign Aide’...: Trump Campaign Aide’s Dubious Claim on Protecting the President A senior adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign made the dubious claim that Trump was “probably the most protected person on Earth,” because his visitors “must submit to a COVID test” and “people don’t physically get close” to him. But experts say the White House testing st (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong About Wi...: Trump Wrong About Wisconsin Election Results President Donald Trump got his election history wrong when he said that Ronald Reagan lost Wisconsin, and that before his 2016 win, no GOP presidential candidate had won the state since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. Trump is forgetting that President Eisenhower won Wisconsin again i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stacey Abrams on Vio...: Stacey Abrams on Violent Crime, Defunding the Police Stacey Abrams, who faces Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in a rematch this fall, correctly accused Kemp’s TV ad makers of “conveniently” editing her comments about defunding the police, but she falsely claimed that the state’s violent crimes went up 55% in 2020. The actual increase was a (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Reelection Remarks President Joe Biden announced on April 25 that he would run for reelection in the 2024 campaign. In his video announcement and a speech later that day to a union group, Biden repeated several claims we’ve fact-checked before: In his reelection announcement video, Biden once again (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ads Attacking Dave M...: Ads Attacking Dave McCormick The campaign of Dr. Mehmet Oz and a super PAC supporting him are running ads that seek to paint his chief rival in the Pennsylvania Senate Republican primary, Dave McCormick, as a “friend” of China who outsourced Pittsburgh jobs and is out of step with former President Donald Tru (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s WHO A...: Video: Trump’s WHO Announcement In this video, we look at some of the claims that President Donald Trump made when he announced his administration would halt funding for the World Health Organization.  The video reviews these statements that the president made in his April 14 announcement:  For more information (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Faulty ‘Rigg...: Trump’s Faulty ‘Rigged’ Reasoning Donald Trump said he’s worried about a “rigged” general election, citing “precincts where there were practically nobody voting for the Republican” in 2012. Voting experts said such outcomes in certain urban districts were entirely plausible given the demographics. Trump’s comment (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s ‘Nothing to...: Trump’s ‘Nothing to See Here’ Spin The Trump administration has offered some “nothing to see here” spin in response to the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. But President Donald Trump and White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have twisted some facts to fit that narrative: It has b (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Vaccination...: COVID-19 Vaccination Doesn’t Increase Miscarriage Risk, Contrary to Naomi Wolf’s Spurious Stat Studies have repeatedly found that COVID-19 vaccination does not increase the risk of miscarriage. Bogus claims that 44% of pregnant women in the ​​Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial miscarried rely on a faulty tally of miscarriages that counted each miscarriage twice and inc (Source: FactCheck.org)

Does Glyphosate Caus...: Does Glyphosate Cause Cancer? Q: Does the herbicide glyphosate cause cancer?  A: There is evidence to suggest it may cause cancer at very high doses, but not at the low doses typically found in foods.  A FoodBabe.com article says glyphosate has been found in prepared foods. Vani Hari (FoodBabe) cites a couple (Source: FactCheck.org)

Flawed Attack on Jef...: Flawed Attack on Jeff Flake A campaign ad attacking Republican Sen. Jeff Flake falsely says that he hasn’t worked with President Donald Trump to “repeal Obamacare.” Flake voted for the three different Senate proposals to repeal parts of the health care legislation that former President Barack Obama signed i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gen. Milley Has Long...: Gen. Milley Has Long Combat History, Contrary to Social Media Posts Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. But posts on social media falsely claimed Milley “never served in combat.” Milley has an “extensive background of combat experience,” according to the U.S. Army, incl (Source: FactCheck.org)

A New Front in the ‘...: A New Front in the ‘War on Women’ Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Ed Gillespie distorted some economic facts on “Meet the Press” when he accused President Obama of creating a U.S. economy that is “hostile” to women. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently appointed Gillespie to serve as a s (Source: FactCheck.org)

Hawaiian Whopper...: Hawaiian Whopper An ad by Republican Senate candidate Linda Lingle in the Aloha State is telling a real whopper — about us. Her ad says that FactCheck.org rated a claim made by her opponent as “the worst political deception of the year,” and it shows our logo with a headline reading “Whopper of t (Source: FactCheck.org)

What the Mueller Rep...: What the Mueller Report Says About Russian Contacts After the 2016 election, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was asked if there was “any contact in any way between [Donald] Trump or his associates and the Kremlin or cutouts they had.” Pence answered, “Of course not. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign?” Of course, (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Distort Possib...: Posts Distort Possible Sentencing for Trump in Manhattan Indictment Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on April 4 to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records to conceal alleged hush money payments. Social media posts misleadingly claim Trump is “facing up to 30+ years” in prison if convicted. But legal exp (Source: FactCheck.org)

Here We Go Again: Di...: Here We Go Again: Distorted TV Ads For Campaign 2006 With 15 months to go before election day 2006, the National Republican Senatorial Committee unleashed an attack ad in West Virginia in an attempt to soften up Democratic Senator Robert Byrd for an eventual GOP challenger. Byrd responded immediately with a TV ad of his own. Both a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Anti-Kerry Ad Highli...: Anti-Kerry Ad Highlights Changes On Welfare, Death Penalty A Club for Growth PAC TV ad released July 26 accurately cites Kerry’s changing positions over the years on welfare reform, the death penalty for terrorists, and gasoline taxes. But it also falsely implies that he’s voted to raise taxes 350 times, a claim we’ve de-bunked before. A (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video Wrong About Fa...: Video Wrong About Fauci, COVID-19 A video from conservative commentator Liz Wheeler falsely claims the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, repeatedly “lied” to the American public about the COVID-19 pandemic. She also misleads about COVID-19 vaccination prioritization and distorts the findi (Source: FactCheck.org)

What Did Trump Say a...: What Did Trump Say at Immigration Meeting? What exactly did President Donald Trump say at a Jan. 11 White House meeting on immigration? At the meeting, Lindsey Graham, a Republican, presented a bipartisan plan to remove the threat of deportation for the 689,800 people who were illegally brought to the United States as chi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Medicare Prescriptio...: Medicare Prescription Drug Provisions of Inflation Reduction Act The reconciliation bill passed by Congress includes several provisions affecting prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. Democrats and Republicans offer opposing views on how the legislation will affect seniors. We’ll explain what the bill would do. “We are making the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Follow the Debate wi...: Follow the Debate with FactCheck.org LONG ISLAND, N.Y. – The first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton is tonight at Hofstra University, and we will be there to fact-check what they say. Here’s how viewers can get the facts when the candidates make false and misleading st (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Loophole Log...: Obama’s Loophole Logic The White House is claiming that the top 1 percent of all earners would pay 99 percent of the capital gains tax increase proposed by the president. But that claim rests on some debatable logic. According to the Obama administration’s way of figuring, a lot of Americans would sudd (Source: FactCheck.org)

Does House Budget Pl...: Does House Budget Plan Cut Taxes or Not? Rep. Paul Ryan says the House Republican budget plan does not cut taxes. White House senior adviser David Plouffe says not only does it cut taxes, but it “showers huge additional tax cuts on the wealthy.” Who’s right? It depends on the details of the final plan, but a nonpartisan (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Falsehoods of th...: The Falsehoods of the ‘Plandemic’ Video The first installment of a documentary called “Plandemic” stormed through social media this week, promising viewers on its website that the film will “expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system.” The video appeared across platforms (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s MS-13 Miss...: Trump’s MS-13 Miss President Donald Trump blamed the Obama administration for allowing “bad MS 13 gangs to form in cities across U.S.” due to “weak illegal immigration policies.” The MS-13 gang was formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s and had spread across the country years before Barack Obama was el (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Trade with Cana...: U.S. Trade with Canada Not ‘Smaller’ Than With Mexico In announcing a tentative agreement with Mexico, President Donald Trump called Mexico “a very large trading partner” and said negotiations would now begin with Canada, which he called a “smaller segment.” But U.S. trade with Canada was about $57 billion larger than trade with Mex (Source: FactCheck.org)

$42,000 a year...: $42,000 a year McCain has claimed yet again that Sen. Obama “voted twice for a budget resolution to increase taxes on individuals making $42,000 a year.” As we’ve reported, a single taxpayer making more than $41,500 would have seen a tax increase, but a couple filing jointly would have seen no  (Source: FactCheck.org)

On Logical Fallacies...: On Logical Fallacies We’re always pleased when our readers write to us with questions or comments that really make us think. Here, for example, is reader K.S., who writes: Perhaps it was intended facetiously, if so I apologize for this “correction.” However, in your piece on ACORN you concluded with  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Straining the Facts...: Straining the Facts on Federal Spending A TV ad by a conservative group gives some factually challenged answers to its own rhetorical question, “How exactly does President Obama spend your tax dollars?” The American Future Fund, a conservative group started by Republican activists in Iowa, announced on April 24 that it (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Vaccination Goal President Joe Biden this week boasted on Twitter about his promise to administer 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, “With the progress we’re making I believe we’ll not only reach that, we’ll break it.” But as some critics have noted, it was a pretty low ba (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Statem...: Trump’s False Statement About Counting Ballots in Pennsylvania At a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that a Pennsylvania court had permitted election officials “to take as long as they want” to count mail-in ballots. In fact, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled that the ballots mailed by Elec (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Judicial Jug...: Obama’s Judicial Juggling President Obama incorrectly claims that the Senate has taken three times longer to confirm his court nominees than those of his predecessor, George W. Bush. The president made the claim recently as he announced that he would nominate three judges to fill vacancies on the federal  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush’s Iraq Speech:...: Bush’s Iraq Speech: Long On Assertion, Short On Facts Standing before a crowd of uniformed soldiers, President Bush addressed the nation on June 27 to reaffirm America’s commitment to the global war on terrorism. But throughout the speech Bush continually stated his opinions and conclusions as though they were facts, and he offered  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Santorum Wrong on Ma...: Santorum Wrong on Marriage Rick Santorum claimed that the Obama administration told an abstinence education group that it could “no longer promote marriage” to at-risk youth “as a way of avoiding poverty.” That’s not true, according to the group Santorum mentioned. At the Republican presidential debate on  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Big Spender?...: Big Spender? McCain once again attacked Obama for proposing new spending, putting the figure at more than $860 billion. But at the same time, McCain himself began the debate by proposing a new spending program, to buy up troubled mortgages directly from homeowners and replace them with 30-yea (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s $4,000 Tax...: Romney’s $4,000 Tax Tale Mitt Romney falsely claims in a series of TV ads that President Obama “will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000.” That’s nonsense. The ads cite a conservative group’s study, but even the group itself doesn’t say Obama will raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers. It says his (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tax Facts: Lowest Ra...: Tax Facts: Lowest Rates in 30 Years Politicians talk about the burden of taxes incessantly. Now comes a rare chance to check the facts. And the fact is that federal tax rates had fallen to the lowest in 30 years when President Barack Obama took office — and fell again in his first year in office. This news comes fr (Source: FactCheck.org)

How the Supreme Cour...: How the Supreme Court Could Rule on ACA Case The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the latest legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act today. There are a range of possible outcomes in the case, from the court not ruling on the merits to the court nullifying the entire ACA. With Associate Justi (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Soft’ on Rape? Nons...: ‘Soft’ on Rape? Nonsense In one of the most blatantly false attack ads of the political season, an outside Republican group blamed a former assistant district attorney now running for attorney general in Pennsylvania of going “soft” with plea deals in two rape cases she never actually handled. In one cas (Source: FactCheck.org)

What Priorities USA...: What Priorities USA Action Doesn’t Tell You A pro-Obama super PAC’s new TV ad portrays Mitt Romney as a past and future threat to middle-class families. The statements it makes about Romney’s business dealings and tax proposals contain some truth — but don’t tell the whole story: Romney’s Tax Plan Priorities USA Action, a  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Scandalous Ad in New...: Scandalous Ad in New Hampshire Race A conservative group accuses Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in a TV ad of “profiting from her votes in Congress.” But the scandal is how the group distorts the facts. The ad says that “Shaheen’s wealth has surged while in public office,” but her family’s estimated net worth has actually dec (Source: FactCheck.org)

Beer, a Cure for Gin...: Beer, a Cure for Gin Addiction? Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said William Wilberforce, a late 18th century British politician, “pushed the sale of beer” to successfully combat “drunkenness related to gin” in England. But Wilberforce wasn’t even born until after the so-called gin epidemic had ended in the earl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stimulus Spending a...: Stimulus Spending a Factor, But Far From Whole Story on Inflation Economists cite several reasons for high inflation in the United States, starting with the unprecedented circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But TV ads in midterm races across the country blame one culprit: stimulus spending by President Joe Biden’s administration. Th (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Ala...: FactChecking the Alaska Senate Race Sen. Mark Begich has portrayed his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, as soft on sex offenders and tough on women’s rights. Sullivan has accused the Democrat of hurting taxpayers and ignoring veterans. Both candidates and their allies have twisted the facts. The Alaska Senate rac (Source: FactCheck.org)

Death of Betty White...: Death of Betty White Leads to Swirl of Falsehoods on Social Media TV actress Betty White passed away at age 99 on Dec. 31. Following her passing, various falsehoods appeared on social media about White, including claims that she died after getting a COVID-19 booster shot and that she was the sister of former first lady Barbara Bush. White died  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Facts Don’t Support...: Facts Don’t Support GOP Corruption Claim A Republican TV ad accuses Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri of profiting from “a corrupt Washington subsidy” — failing to mention that what’s being subsidized is housing for low-income people. The ad also fails to note that the very news article on which it is based f (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Fake Hayes Q...: Obama’s Fake Hayes Quote President Obama unjustly criticized a dead Republican president — Rutherford B. Hayes — by putting words in Hayes’ mouth that he never uttered. Obama, speaking about his energy policies at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Md., said: Obama, March 15: There always have b (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Falsehood-Fi...: Trump’s Falsehood-Filled Speech on the Election Before all of the votes in the 2020 election were counted, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed victory, calling for “all voting to stop” and claiming continuing to count legally cast votes would “disenfranchise” the people who voted for him. Shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, (Source: FactCheck.org)

Explaining the Missi...: Explaining the Missing Context of Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 Presentation On Jan. 6, 2021, about 140 police officers were assaulted during the Capitol riot, and 326 participants — more than 100 armed with weapons — have been charged. But Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson has used recently released video from that day to misleadingly minimize the viol (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Inherited More...: Trump Inherited More Ventilators Than Have Been Distributed Contrary to President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he inherited a Strategic National Stockpile with “empty” or “bare” cupboards, the federal government had more ventilators in stock than it ended up distributing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FactCheck.org has learned. The SN (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pence’s ‘Politically...: Pence’s ‘Politically Correct’ Obama VA Claim In an address to veterans, Vice President Mike Pence said “VA hospitals were removing Bibles” and “banning Christmas carols” under the last administration, and “will not be religion-free zones” under this administration. But VA hospitals have never been “religion-free zones.” And (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’...: Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’ Doesn’t Affect All Muslims Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison tweeted that the Supreme Court “ratified Donald Trump’s ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims entry into the United States.” That is a Trump quote from the presidential campaign. But his actual executive actions didn’t go that far. Trump most rece (Source: FactCheck.org)

Braley’s VA Hearing...: Braley’s VA Hearing Attendance Under Attack A veterans advocacy group is making false and potentially misleading claims in a TV ad attacking U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley on his commitment to military veterans. The 30-second spot, from Concerned Veterans for America, began airing on July 25 and is part of a $2.4 milli (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Numbers...: Biden’s Numbers A year ago, Joseph R. Biden took office as the 46th president of the United States — inheriting an economy weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but with effective vaccines to finally deal with it. To mark Biden’s first year in office, we take stock of how the U.S. has performed und (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Obama-...: Trump’s False Obama-ISIS Link Donald Trump claims that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “founded ISIS.” But the origin of the Islamic State terrorist group dates back to the Bush administration. Trump points to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011, under Obama, as “th (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Inaugural Address Returning to a time when inaugural addresses promised unity and hope, but few facts, the newly sworn-in President Joe Biden delivered a traditional speech at his inauguration that offered little for fact-checkers. When he did offer us some facts to check, the 46th president of th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Spin Detectors: Help...: Spin Detectors: Help Us Monitor the Conventions Political conventions are like shopping malls of political spin — one-stop bazaars brimming with suspect claims from politicians. And we want you to do a little window-shopping for us this year. Spin Detectors is asking readers to help us monitor both political parties in Tampa a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fudging on the Fisca...: Fudging on the Fiscal Cliff Deal In a Web video, President Barack Obama leaves out some key facts about the fiscal cliff deal, possibly leaving the wrong impression about its impact on taxpayers and the deficit: All the president’s talk about preserving middle-class tax cuts in the just-passed bill to avert the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Posts Make Unf...: Viral Posts Make Unfounded Claims After Newsom Gets COVID-19 Booster After getting the COVID-19 booster on Oct. 27, California Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled a trip and did not participate in any official public events for 12 days. Social media posts claimed, without evidence, that Newsom was suffering serious side effects from the booster. But his st (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Misleading B...: Biden’s Misleading Boast on Medicare Premium Drop President Joe Biden boasted of a decrease in premiums for Medicare Part B as the “first” reduction “in more than a decade.” That’s true. But he neglected to mention the drop follows a large increase the prior year, partly due to anticipated Alzheimer’s drug expenses, which didn’t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Video Spouts B...: Viral Video Spouts Baseless Claim About Early Voting in Arizona Millions of Arizona voters requested ballots to vote early in the 2022 election. Early voting results cannot be released until after the election, and ballot security measures prevent widespread voter fraud. Yet a viral video advises Republicans not to vote early, making the base (Source: FactCheck.org)

Baby Formula Shortag...: Baby Formula Shortage Fuels Misleading Partisan Claims A shortage of baby formula has provoked misleading partisan claims that suggest President Joe Biden is responsible for the “bare shelves.” But the shortage has been caused by a recall and plant shutdown by a major manufacturer and ongoing supply-chain issues due to the pandemic.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Baseless Ass...: Trump’s Baseless Assimilation Claim Donald Trump made a baseless claim that assimilation among Muslim immigrants in the U.S. is “pretty close” to “nonexistent.” Trump offered no support for his claim, but the Pew Research Center, which conducted detailed surveys in 2011, concluded that “Muslim Americans appear to b (Source: FactCheck.org)

Counting Errors...: Counting Errors McCain said that Obama had voted 94 times for higher taxes or against tax cuts. He’s getting warmer — the first time we dinged him for this one, he said Obama voted 94 times to increase taxes, which is way off. This is still misleading, though. The real breakdown includes: 23 vot (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pelosi Did Not ‘Defe...: Pelosi Did Not ‘Defend’ Soleimani House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani as “provocative and disproportionate.” But, contrary to the president’s contention, she did not “defend” Soleimani. In fact, we were not able to find any examples of  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Attack-Ad Alchemy...: Attack-Ad Alchemy In the Virginia race for governor, Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli is running a TV spot that practices the dark art of political alchemy — turning facts into falsehoods. And it does so while claiming to be telling “the truth.”  This ad started airing Aug. 25, only two days af (Source: FactCheck.org)

Vaccine Ingredient S...: Vaccine Ingredient SM-102 Is Safe The COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna uses an ingredient called SM-102 to deliver the mRNA that carries instructions for how to develop antibodies against the novel coronavirus. A widely shared video is now spreading the falsehood that SM-102 is harmful, but the warning label it show (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kansas State Art Fun...: Kansas State Art Funding Distorted as ‘Drag Shows for Children’ in Governor’s Race The Kansas state government awarded grants to two nonprofit arts organizations to fund a visiting artist and operating expenses, according to state contracts and one of the groups. Republican efforts to link the funding to all-ages drag shows don’t hold up to scrutiny.  The dustu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Botches Virgin...: Biden Botches Virginia Election History Seeking to deflect the significance of Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s loss in the Virginia governor’s race to Republican Glenn Youngkin, President Joe Biden wrongly claimed that “no governor in Virginia has ever won when … he or she is the same party as the sitting president.” In fac (Source: FactCheck.org)

DSCC Falsely Attacks...: DSCC Falsely Attacks Daines on Social Security In a TV ad, a Democratic committee falsely claims Sen. Steve Daines of Montana is “pushing a plan” that could “end Social Security benefits by 2023.” He’s not. The ad is confusing Daines’ support for eliminating the Social Security payroll tax only for the rest of 2020 with a gov (Source: FactCheck.org)

Contrary to Trump’s...: Contrary to Trump’s Claim, A Pandemic Was Widely Expected at Some Point At a White House briefing March 19, President Donald Trump said, “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion.” But that’s simply not the case. Among others, the U.S. intelligence community warned in its annual threat report for 2019 that “that the United  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Stump Speeches...: Trump Stump Speeches: Health Care Editor’s Note: For weeks, President Donald Trump has been campaigning in states that are key to the Republican Party’s chances of maintaining control of the House and Senate. We have reviewed seven speeches he gave from Oct. 10 to Oct. 22. This is part of a series of stories on h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misleads on Co...: Trump Misleads on Corker President Donald Trump misleadingly claimed Sen. Bob Corker “gave us the Iran Deal.” Corker, who opposed the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration, helped craft a bipartisan bill that allowed the House and Senate to review the agreement. The review act pas (Source: FactCheck.org)

FlackCheck.org Video...: FlackCheck.org Video: Spotting Bogus Claims “That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.” That’s the title of a special report we published in 2008 encouraging readers to be highly skeptical of any chain emails that landed in their inboxes. “Assume all such messages are wrong, and you’ll be righ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Exaggerated...: Trump’s Exaggerated Judicial Boasts President Donald Trump recently boasted about the unusually high number of judicial appointments he has made so far, but in doing so he exaggerated and mischaracterized some of the facts: Trump’s comments came during a Nov. 6 press conference to celebrate the now more than 150 fe (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rush’s Ruse in Misso...: Rush’s Ruse in Missouri In a campaign-funded radio ad to Missouri voters, Rush Limbaugh claimed the state’s lieutenant governor “banned taxpayer-funded travel for politicians” when he led the state Senate. Not really. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is Limbaugh’s friend, spearheaded a moratorium on paying tr (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Spin on Clinton...: More Spin on Clinton Emails Hillary Clinton directly addressed questions in recent interviews about her exclusive use of a personal email account and server to conduct government business as secretary of state. But her answers only reveal part of the story: The Democratic front-runner for her party’s presid (Source: FactCheck.org)

Voting Record Tug-of...: Voting Record Tug-of-War in Montana The Montana Democratic Party and Republican Senator Conrad Burns can agree on little, and particularly not on the meaning of his voting record. They say he voted against armor for humvees in Iraq, he says he voted for it. He says he voted for increased veterans’ benefits, they sa (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRA’s Ominous But Mi...: NRA’s Ominous But Misleading Appeal The National Rifle Association employs images in a series of TV ads of an intruder breaking into the home of a mother home alone with her baby to make the case that several Democratic candidates have “voted to take away your gun rights.” But the implication of the jarring imagery (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Far More Le...: COVID-19 Far More Lethal Than a Cold, Contrary to Suggestion in Viral Video En español COVID-19 has killed more than 805,000 people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet a viral video on social media suggests the disease is the same as a “common cold.” COVID-19 is in the same family of some cold viruses, but its po (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts About ‘Cross R...: Posts About ‘Cross Reactants’ Misrepresent Accuracy of COVID-19 PCR Tests Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests for COVID-19 are highly accurate. People on social media, however, are circulating lists of germs that they baselessly claim will cause such tests to be falsely positive. In reality, it’s the opposite. The lists include pathogens that have (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Claims...: FactChecking Claims About Asylum Grants and Immigration Court Attendance While discussing ways to quickly determine if people who cross into the U.S. through Mexico are eligible for asylum, Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio claimed that “only about half of them even show up for their court cases” and “only 15% of them qualify” for asylum. But govern (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Misquotes GOP...: Obama Misquotes GOP Congresswoman President Obama misrepresented the position of Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx on college debt. The president quoted Foxx as saying that she had “very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt.” But Foxx was speaking explicitly about those with very large amou (Source: FactCheck.org)

All Those in Favor…...: All Those in Favor… Keeping up with ads about the pending health care overhaul legislation, pro and con, is like trying to fill one’s glass from the proverbial fire hose. Today, we bring you three ads from groups that are urging passage of the bill, each of which needs a little context or correction (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Early Statem...: Biden’s Early Statements About the Coronavirus President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have made competing claims about Biden’s early statements on the coronavirus. Following the disclosure of comments he made to journalist Bob Woodward in March about downplaying the coronavirus, Trump has tried t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Plan B Pills Still L...: Plan B Pills Still Legal in Tennessee and Missouri, Contrary to Social Media Claims Proposed legislation in Tennessee and Missouri would not regulate Plan B contraception pills, and experts say state “trigger laws” that would take effect if Roe v. Wade were overturned will not ban methods of birth control. But social media posts falsely claim that both states ha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Article, RNC Tweet D...: Article, RNC Tweet Distort Biden’s Comments on Teachers During an event honoring teachers, President Joe Biden said students are “not somebody else’s children; they’re like yours when they’re in the classroom.” Biden’s words were misrepresented in the National Review, which inaccurately claimed Biden said children “don’t belong to par (Source: FactCheck.org)

Spinning Premium Rat...: Spinning Premium Rates Both sides in the great Obamacare debate are distorting the facts about premium rates on the soon-to-open health exchanges to make their case for or against the law: Much has been made of what Americans can expect to pay for insurance on the state-based and federal exchanges crea (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cruz Distorts Rubio’...: Cruz Distorts Rubio’s Stance on Gay Marriage Sen. Ted Cruz says Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump believe that the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage “is the settled law of the land and we must … surrender and move on,” accusing them of “repeating Barack Obama’s talking points.” Cruz goes too far in Rubio’s case, and Tr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Not Just the Facts...: Not Just the Facts Here at FactCheck.org, we’re always excited to see news organizations devoting time to fact-checking. So we were pleased to see that the Associated Press had decided to fact-check Sarah Palin’s new memoir, "Going Rogue." Putting 11 reporters on the task strikes us as overkill, bu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Donald Trump Jr.’s E...: Donald Trump Jr.’s Evolving Statements We now know that Donald Trump Jr., during the presidential campaign, met with a Russian lawyer offering information that was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” And we now know that the president’s eldest son was less-than-forthcoming in his previous stat (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Jake Tapper B...: Video: Jake Tapper Breaks Down Debate Claims In this week’s video, CNN’s Jake Tapper breaks down three false claims in the first of two Democratic debates on June 26:  For all of our debate coverage, see our stories “FactChecking the First 2020 Democratic Debate,” and “FactChecking Round Two of the Democratic Debate.”  CNN’ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Ad Falsely Impl...: Bush Ad Falsely Implies Kerry Would Repeal Wiretaps of Terrorists A Bush ad released May 25 accuses Kerry of “playing politics with national security” and implies he would repeal “wiretaps, subpoena powers and surveillance” against terrorists under the USA Patriot Act. The wording of the ad could leave some viewers with the impression that Kerr (Source: FactCheck.org)

CDC Data Thus Far Sh...: CDC Data Thus Far Show COVID-19 Vaccination Safe During Pregnancy Federal vaccine monitoring systems have identified no safety concerns with the COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant people. Preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that miscarriage is not more frequent than expected in vaccinated people. Online posts, however,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Defense of H...: Trump’s Defense of His ‘University’ Businessman Donald Trump has made false and misleading claims in response to attacks on “Trump University,” a now defunct program that offered tips on real estate to paying customers. Trump, who is campaigning for the Republican Party’s nomination for president, made each of thos (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading Ads from...: Misleading Ads from the DCCC The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is airing ads across the country to boost Democrats’ chances of taking control of the House. But we found several ads that ran afoul of the facts. The DCCC, an official party committee, is the second biggest spender behind the Congr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Durbin’s ‘His...: Video: Durbin’s ‘History’ of Distortions In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines efforts by Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue to discredit Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin’s account of President Trump using profanity to disparage African countries at an immigration meeting in the Oval Off (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Rep. Ellison...: Video: Rep. Ellison on Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’ This week’s video from CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org explains Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison’s tweet that the Supreme Court “ratified Donald Trump’s ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims entry into the United States.” Ellison was referring to a direct quote from a Trump c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Instagram Post Misre...: Instagram Post Misrepresents FDA Document About Monitoring Vaccine Safety A Food and Drug Administration presentation on monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines listed possible adverse events the agency might track. But an Instagram post misrepresents the document, falsely claiming it shows the vaccines are known to cause harmful side effects — incl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Job Boast...: Trump’s Job Boast At an Oval Office ceremony, President Donald Trump boasted that Charter Communications “has just committed to investing $25 billion” and creating 20,000 jobs in the U.S. — the latest example of companies, he said, that are investing in the U.S. “following my election victory.” Bu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fetterman Working on...: Fetterman Working on Legislation While in Hospital, Contrary to Social Media Claims Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman checked into a hospital on Feb. 15 to be treated for clinical depression following his recent stroke. Social media posts falsely claim that Fetterman is “brain dead” and that he hasn’t been seen in public. Fetterman has been shown working from the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Inflates Tax B...: Trump Inflates Tax Benefits President Donald Trump misleadingly inflated the benefits of the tax overhaul when he claimed it provides “$3.2 trillion … in tax cuts for American families.” It actually totals about $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for all taxpayers, including corporations. Trump shows only one side o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did Obama Flip-Flop...: Did Obama Flip-Flop on Gun Control? Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, incorrectly claimed Obama pulled a bait-and-switch, promising during the campaign not to take away anyone’s guns, but now supporting an assault weapons ban. Obama is not now seeking to take away anyone’s e (Source: FactCheck.org)

Solar Hyperbole?...: Solar Hyperbole? Three weeks after the Trump administration imposed a 30 percent tariff on imported solar energy cells and panels, the president claimed that “a lot of places are opening up” to “make solar panels again.” Two weeks later, he said that “we’re opening up at least five plants,” and b (Source: FactCheck.org)

Deaths from a Health...: Deaths from a Health Care Bill? House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said “hundreds of thousands of people will die” if the Senate health care bill becomes law. But what does the research say about the impact of health insurance on mortality rates? There are several studies backing up the idea that those who  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Durbin’s Debt Proble...: Durbin’s Debt Problem Sen. Dick Durbin incorrectly claimed that the U.S. borrows money "primarily from China" to fund the federal government. China owns about 8 percent of the total U.S. debt. The Illinois Democrat made the claim during a June 19 interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." Durbin, June 19: K (Source: FactCheck.org)

ObamaCare by the Num...: ObamaCare by the Numbers The Republican National Committee claims that 8.2 million Americans can’t find full-time jobs “partly due to ObamaCare.” But that figure is the total number of part-time workers in the U.S. seeking full-time work. The RNC also claims 6 million retirees “will lose prescription dru (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Hollow Claim...: Trump’s Hollow Claim about ‘Inner Cities’ President Donald Trump claimed that his administration is “spending a lot of money on the inner cities.” But there has been little change in spending so far, and his first budget proposes to cut or eliminate funding for some programs that benefit cities. For example, Trump’s prop (Source: FactCheck.org)

Oops! Clark Falsely...: Oops! Clark Falsely Accuses Kerry & Edwards on Taxes Talk about going into battle based on bad intelligence. Clark lashed into Kerry and Edwards Feb. 4 for doing something they never did: voting in favor of President Bush’s tax-cut bills “for the very rich.” In fact, neither senator supported either the 2001 or the 2003 Bush tax-cu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Partisan Spin on Ben...: Partisan Spin on Benghazi The Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Benghazi committee each distorted the facts during TV appearances to discuss the committee’s work: Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, and Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the committee, appeared on (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Snowballing...: Trump’s Snowballing China Travel Claim In early March, President Donald Trump said that restrictions he placed on travel to and from China “saved a lot of lives,” a claim that grew to “probably tens of thousands” and “hundreds of thousands” by early April. But we found no support for such figures. The few studies that (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘New’ Taxes Aren’t N...: ‘New’ Taxes Aren’t New It’s back! That false chain email about the “new” tax increases that aren’t new is circulating again. The taxes weren’t new when we wrote about them in 2014 or 2015, and they weren’t “all passed under the Affordable Care Act.” It’s also still false that “not one Republican voted  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Confusion at the Bor...: Confusion at the Border In recent days, contradictory claims have been made about border issues, including the living conditions for migrants being housed at U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facilities: For months, there has been a rising number of migrants, many of them from Central America (Source: FactCheck.org)

Midterm Mudslinging...: Midterm Mudslinging Not Yet Over An ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee continues the relentless effort to tie Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu to President Barack Obama, who is not very popular in Louisiana. But the ad stretches the facts on several points. Wait, you say, aren’t the midterm electi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Borde...: Video: Trump’s Border Wall Spin This week’s fact-checking video by CNN’s Jake Tapper concerns several claims by President Donald Trump to justify his national emergency declaration for a border wall.  Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. is “on track to APPREHEND more than one million people coming across the So (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactCheck.org Faceli...: FactCheck.org Facelift You may have already noticed, but our website is undergoing some changes — both inside and out. We have redesigned our site for optimal viewing across all platforms, and we have switched to a larger Web hosting service to improve speed. The most obvious change is our new look. We (Source: FactCheck.org)

You Ask, We Answer...: You Ask, We Answer That’s the idea behind our Ask FactCheck feature on themain site. This week, we looked into a suspicious quote allegedly from President-elect Barack Obama, speaking about urgent gun policy changes. The reader who sent it to us wasn’t convinced it was legitimate, and our reporting (Source: FactCheck.org)

*NOTICE: FactCheck.o...: NOTICE: FactCheck.org Will Continue After Election Many of our visitors have asked “what will happen to FactCheck.org after the election?” And now we have an answer. We’re going to continue, though at a reduced pace for a while. Expect no more than about one article per week for now, while we focus our efforts on re-thinking what (Source: FactCheck.org)

Smith Wrong About NS...: Smith Wrong About NSF Funding The head of the House science committee falsely claimed the National Science Foundation funds “more than twice as many graduate students in the social and behavioral sciences as in computer science, mathematics or material science.” In fact, 21.5 percent of the 22,821 graduate st (Source: FactCheck.org)

Socialized Medicine?...: Socialized Medicine? Palin said that Obama’s plan would be “government run” and would mandate health care. The first claim is false, as we’ve said before. Obama’s plan would increase the offerings of publicly funded health care, but would not replace or remove private insurance, or require people to  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Falsehoods Flying in...: Falsehoods Flying in Connecticut Senate Race Linda McMahon falsely claims in a TV ad that Rep. Chris Murphy “voted to raise  middle-class Social Security taxes.” The ad cites two votes on end-of-year tax deals — but neither bill would have increased the payroll tax that funds  Social Security: The ad also rehashes the shopw (Source: FactCheck.org)

Herschel Walker Cite...: Herschel Walker Cites Outdated Crime Figures in False Attack on Raphael Warnock Since Democrat Raphael Warnock of Georgia has been in the U.S. Senate, homicides and rapes in Atlanta have not increased by nearly as much as Republican Herschel Walker said in a Fox News interview. Atlanta Police Department crime data show that, as of Sept. 3, homicides were up  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Whatz Up, Whatz Up W...: Whatz Up, Whatz Up With the ‘Whoomp’ Video? We don’t usually hit up gossip site Gawker for our fact-checking. We’re an academic group, and we’re serious and stuff! But we can’t ignore the site’s set-up and take-down of one of the weirder Internet rumors we’ve ever seen. As most of the Internet knows by now, Gawker both pop (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ads Distort Oz’s Pos...: Ads Distort Oz’s Position on Abortion, Taxes and Social Security Ads from two Democratic-aligned super PACs distort Dr. Mehmet Oz’s positions on taxes, Social Security and Medicare, and abortion. The Pennsylvania Senate race between Oz and Democrat John Fetterman to replace Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who is not seeking reelection, has been th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gillibrand Misleads...: Gillibrand Misleads on Trump’s Bump Stock Ban Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand claimed President Donald Trump failed to keep his promise after a mass shooting in Las Vegas to ban bump stocks. Trump may not have moved as quickly as Gillibrand would have liked, but Trump did enact a bump stock ban, which went into effect in March. At a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kushner Distorts Sco...: Kushner Distorts Scope of Russia Interference Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report concluded that “[t]he Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” — contrary to Jared Kushner’s claim that Russia’s effort amounted to little more than “a couple Facebook ads.” The rep (Source: FactCheck.org)

Flawed Paper on COVI...: Flawed Paper on COVID-19 Vaccines, Deaths Spreads Widely Before Retraction The COVID-19 vaccines have been shown in trials and real-world application to be safe and effective. But a paper shared widely online claimed that vaccines cause two deaths for every three lives saved. Experts say the analysis misinterpreted data and was flawed — and it has now b (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Droug...: Video: Trump’s Drought Claims This week CNN’s Jake Tapper takes a look at Donald Trump’s misleading claims about California’s drought and water management issues. At a May 27 rally in Fresno, California, Trump suggested “there is no drought” in California because the state has “plenty of water.” But Californi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Q&A on the Rare Clot...: Q&A on the Rare Clotting Events That Caused the J&J Pause Update, Dec. 20: On Dec. 16, a committee advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines over the J&J vaccine because of the risk of a rare but serious blood clotting disorder coupled with low platelets. The CDC  (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Short Piece on Oba...: A Short Piece on Obama’s Peace Speech Yesterday President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, and made some remarks that could use a bit of context and explanation. Obama said that "billions have been lifted from poverty." Though he didn’t provide a time frame, he was discussing the effects o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Carson’s Missteps on...: Carson’s Missteps on Sexual Orientation Ben Carson claimed that being gay is “absolutely” a choice, and as proof he said “a lot of people” go into prison and change their sexual orientation while incarcerated. There is no evidence to support these claims. Though no conclusive answers are available about how people arri (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Tax Plan and...: Trump’s Tax Plan and ‘the Rich’ In promoting his plan to overhaul of the nation’s tax system, President Donald Trump claimed “the rich will not be gaining at all with this plan.” But the tax proposal his administration outlined in April would heavily benefit high-income taxpayers, and Trump hasn’t revealed any  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Distorts Clint...: Trump Distorts Clinton’s Gun Stance Donald Trump distorts the facts when he says “Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away” and “abolish the Second Amendment.” Clinton’s gun violence prevention proposal would impose restrictions, including a ban on semi-automatic “assault weapons,” but it does not call for bann (Source: FactCheck.org)

Doubling Down in Wes...: Doubling Down in West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall’s latest TV ad doubles down on the deceptive claim that Republican Evan Jenkins has pledged to “take away” black lung benefits from coal miners. In the latest ad, a coal miner by the name of Jackie Counts Jr. says, “When I hear Evan Jenkins say that he’s gonna ta (Source: FactCheck.org)

VA Could Fire Worker...: VA Could Fire Workers Before Trump Signed Law As President Donald Trump often tells it, the Department of Veterans Affairs could not fire unruly or underperforming employees before he signed a bill overhauling the agency’s procedures in 2017. He’s wrong about that. Going back to 2006, the VA fired more than 2,000 employees e (Source: FactCheck.org)

Murkowski vs. Tea Pa...: Murkowski vs. Tea Party, Round 2 Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the Tea Party Express are at it again. Murkowski, who is running for reelection as a write-in candidate after losing the GOP nomination to a tea party-backed candidate, has asked Alaska TV stations not to air a Tea Party Express ad that she calls "f (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our Clinton Nightmar...: Our Clinton Nightmare CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton’s stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker’s nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about. Republicans will find plenty of Clinton’s scorching (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders Adviser Make...: Sanders Adviser Makes False Claim A senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders said that Sanders’ presidential campaign has “never” used Hillary Clinton’s “image or her name in an ad.” That’s false. In early March, the Sanders campaign announced the release of a radio ad in Michigan that referred to his “opponent” in  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Facts on Trade...: Facts on Trade At a rally on Sept. 20, President Donald Trump returned to a regular applause-line, promising the crowd in Las Vegas, “We’re renegotiating the worst trade deals ever made by any country at any time.” The idea that the U.S. has long been taken advantage of in trade deals with othe (Source: FactCheck.org)

FlackCheck.org Video...: FlackCheck.org Video: Keystone XL Pipeline Our sister site, FlackCheck.org, sifts through some claims and counterclaims about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and presents the facts. The video is based on our March 10 article “Pipeline Primer.”    (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ad Serves Up a Dose...: Ad Serves Up a Dose of Exaggeration The Washington Post reported on March 9 that Employers for a Healthy Economy, a coalition of business groups that includes the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, plans to spend up to $10 million running an ad about the effects of health care l (Source: FactCheck.org)

Senator Misleads on...: Senator Misleads on ‘Absurd’ Science Sen. Rand Paul misrepresented two studies supported by federal grants, while advocating legislation he introduced to change the federal grant funding process. In both cases, Paul, a 2016 presidential candidate and Republican from Kentucky, confused the means the researchers used  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Paul’s ‘Head-Scratch...: Paul’s ‘Head-Scratching’ Stats Sen. Rand Paul was wrong when he said that 60 percent of law students and 55 percent of medical students are women. The share of female students at law and medical schools in the United States is 47 percent each and hasn’t varied much in 10 years. The Kentucky Republican also rep (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Oil Reserve Cre...: U.S. Oil Reserve Created for Supply Disruptions, Not Strictly Military Use The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was set up as an emergency source of oil to keep supplies flowing in the event of unexpected disruptions. It’s not just designed “for when we get attacked and need the fuel to keep our Air Force in the air,” as social media posts falsely claim (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Tax Cut Clai...: Trump’s Tax Cut Claims Donald Trump misleadingly touts tax cuts of 30 percent for “working people” or 35 percent for “a middle-class family with two children,” adding that Hillary Clinton “wants to raise your taxes up to the sky.” That distorts both Trump’s and Clinton’s plans. Some families could inde (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dueling Ads in Virgi...: Dueling Ads in Virginia Race A TV ad from Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who’s running on the Democratic ticket in one of the nation’s two gubernatorial races this year, misleadingly describes his opponent’s role in utility rate increases over the last several years. The Deeds campaign’s ad, "Power," asks (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Bear Facts...: The Bear Facts Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has said at least twice that climate change is causing bears in the Sierra Nevada mountains to change their hibernation patterns. There is no evidence that climate change is actually having such an effect. On July 29, Reid, a Democrat from Nevada (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on the GOP...: The Facts on the GOP Health Care Bills House Republicans passed their replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act on May 4. The Senate Republicans introduced their version of the bill June 22 and a revised version July 13. How do the American Health Care Act in the House and the Better Care Reconciliation Act in the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jeb Bush Gets ‘F’ on...: Jeb Bush Gets ‘F’ on School Spending Jeb Bush has repeatedly — and falsely — claimed that the United States spends “more per student than any country in the world.” Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland all spend more than the U.S. on elementary and secondary education. The former Florida governor most recently made th (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Obama’s Promise,’ P...: ‘Obama’s Promise,’ Part II And now, the rest of the story on that misleading “Obama’s Promise” ad from Crossroads GPS. Besides the almost totally false claim that we covered earlier, the ad also: On May 17 we dissected the ad’s claim that the president had increased taxes on families making under $250,000  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Nadler Misrepresents...: Nadler Misrepresents Mueller Testimony Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler selectively cited former special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s testimony to misleadingly claim that Mueller said he didn’t indict President Donald Trump only because he couldn’t indict a sitting president. Mueller clarified in his July 24 congressiona (Source: FactCheck.org)

Thin Allegations of...: Thin Allegations of ‘Dead People’ Voting Several of President Donald Trump’s supporters have claimed or suggested — without providing evidence — that a substantial number of votes were fraudulently cast by “dead people” in Pennsylvania. Election experts say that while this occasionally happens, most often with votes cas (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misguided De...: Trump’s Misguided Debate Bias Claim Donald Trump wrongly labeled the debates “rigged” because the Commission on Presidential Debates’ “head guy used to work for Bill Clinton.” The nonpartisan debate commission is co-chaired by a former Clinton aide and a former Republican National Committee chairman. “And by the wa (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kamala Harris Spins...: Kamala Harris Spins Facts on Truancy Law Sen. Kamala Harris acknowledges that a 2010 state truancy law she sponsored resulted in some parents being jailed. But she misleadingly claims that jailing parents was an “unintended consequence” of the law. In fact, the law added Section 270.1 to the California Penal Code to all (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRSC’s Dual Attack o...: NRSC’s Dual Attack on Warnock and Ossoff A TV ad from a Republican group accuses the Democratic candidates in Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections of having “radically dangerous” ideas on the criminal justice system and the environment. But there’s more to their positions than what the ad suggests. The ad was released (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRA Misrepresents Po...: NRA Misrepresents Police Survey, Legislation On the day the Senate voted down a series of gun control bills, the National Rifle Association made false and misleading claims in opposing a measure to expand background checks. Survey Doesn’t Say That The NRA’s online ad monopolized the Washington Post‘s homepage, filling the r (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCain and the 1967...: McCain and the 1967 Forrestal Fire There is a nasty claim making the rounds in virulently anti-McCain circles, accusing him of responsibility for the terrible 1967 disaster aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. That claim is bunk, and we said so in our Sept. 5 Ask FactCheck item, “Did McCain crash five planes (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democrat Makes Misle...: Democrat Makes Misleading ‘Defund the Police’ Claim A senior aide to President Joe Biden misleadingly claimed that congressional Republicans “defunded the police” when they voted against the American Rescue Plan Act. House and Senate Republicans didn’t support the legislation, but it wasn’t a vote to cut or eliminate federal fundi (Source: FactCheck.org)

AFP Distorts Begich’...: AFP Distorts Begich’s Carbon Tax Stance The conservative Americans for Prosperity claims Democratic Sen. Mark Begich “is on record supporting a carbon tax … that will cost the average family over $2,000 annually.” Not true. Begich hasn’t backed a carbon tax proposal, and the $2,000 figure is based on general assumption (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bogus Drunk Driving...: Bogus Drunk Driving Attack in Nevada A misleading Republican attack ad accuses Nevada’s Democratic candidate for Senate of putting “deadly drunk drivers back on the roads.” She didn’t.  This scary-looking ad was released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Aug. 27. It shows a driver sipping a drink be (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pence on Employment...: Pence on Employment Record Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana claimed his “common-sense Republican leadership” is responsible for record employment in his state. But, in fact, Indiana’s job growth has lagged slightly behind the national trend in Pence’s three-and-a-half years as governor. Furthermore, several stat (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cherry-Picking Seaso...: Cherry-Picking Season in Illinois Republican Bruce Rauner falsely claims in a TV ad that Illinois leads the Midwest in “job losses” under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. In fact, Illinois has experienced job growth — albeit small — since Quinn took office. The Illinois governor’s race is one of the most closely watche (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Tax Tale...: Obama’s Tax Tale During a Super Bowl XLV pregame interview with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, President Barack Obama claimed that he "didn’t raise taxes once" during his first two years in office. Cigarette smokers and fans of indoor tanning may be among those to disagree with that statement. O’Reil (Source: FactCheck.org)

Post Misrepresents D...: Post Misrepresents Details of Postmortem Study of Vaccinated Patient A controversial radio show host and blogger misrepresented findings of a published case report to conclude that an 86-year-old man died as a result of being vaccinated against COVID-19. The case report’s lead author said the man died of bacterial pneumonia and “there was not any  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Post Misleads on Jap...: Post Misleads on Japan’s Policy for Donating Blood After COVID-19 Vaccination Japan only recently adopted guidelines for accepting blood donations from those who have received COVID-19 vaccines. The guidelines are intended to give donors time to get over any side effects from the vaccine. Without providing that context, a social media post misleadingly cla (Source: FactCheck.org)

Partisan Posts Misre...: Partisan Posts Misrepresent IRS’ Voluntary Program Proposal on Tip Income The IRS has proposed a voluntary program that employers could choose to use in order to manage the taxes owed on employees’ tips. The program would replace similar existing programs. But some partisan social media accounts have wrongly suggested that the program indicates either  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Attack on Giffords C...: Attack on Giffords Comes Up Short An attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by a group called Conservatives for Congress hoodwinks viewers with selectively edited clips from a House hearing earlier this year. The TV ad, which has been running in the Tucson market, lampoons the Arizona Democrat for asking Gen. David Pe (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Last Word? We Wi...: The Last Word? We Wish. We at FactCheck.org are grateful to the Obama birth certificate conspiracy theorists for hundreds of thousands of page views to our "Born in the U.S.A." article from last November, and to our other items debunking some of their more outrageously false claims. We’re less grateful  (Source: FactCheck.org)

RSV Surge in Childre...: RSV Surge in Children Likely Caused by ‘Immunity Gap,’ Not COVID-19 Vaccine Hospitals across the country are seeing a spike of respiratory syncytial virus infections among children. Experts say the spike is most likely caused by an immunity gap created by the lack of exposure to the virus over the past couple of years. There’s no evidence the pediatric C (Source: FactCheck.org)

Examining Shutdown C...: Examining Shutdown Claims from Democrats The weekslong partial government shutdown has led to around 800,000 federal employees not working or working without pay. It also has led to some false or questionable claims from Democrats about the shutdown’s impact on a host of federal services. The partial shutdown began on D (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sequester Spin...: Sequester Spin The Sunday talk shows included exaggerated claims from both sides about the debate over automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect March 1: Barring a last-minute deal, the automatic spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act are scheduled to take effect March 1. Under (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Make False Com...: Posts Make False Comparisons Between COVID-19 Immunity From Infections and Vaccines Vaccination and infection both provide protective immunity to COVID-19, particularly against severe disease. But gaining immunity through infection is far riskier than vaccination. Posts citing a new Lancet study omit that important context and also misleadingly claim the study s (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Ad Mischaracteri...: GOP Ad Mischaracterizes Michigan Candidate’s Response to 2020 Protests A day after a protest in Grand Rapids inspired by the murder of George Floyd turned violent, Democratic House candidate Hillary Scholten of Michigan pleaded for “peaceful” protests and urged demonstrators “to not resort to violence and destruction.” Yet, a six-second Facebook ad  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Baseless Acc...: Trump’s Baseless Accusation of Mueller ‘Crime’ President Donald Trump — without evidence — accused special counsel Robert Mueller of illegally deleting the text messages of two people who had been assigned to the Russia investigation. Trump made his remarks about Mueller during a June 26 interview with Fox Business Network’s  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Spins Flynn Fa...: Trump Spins Flynn Facts President Donald Trump has been spinning the facts about Michael Flynn’s resignation Feb. 14 as national security advisor: The Washington Post broke the story late on Feb. 9 that Flynn “privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dueling Ads in the K...: Dueling Ads in the Kentucky Senate Race The Kentucky Senate race — likely pitting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell against Democratic challenger, and former Marine fighter pilot, Amy McGrath — is playing out on the airwaves. But the recent TV ads don’t always square with the facts. McGrath, who unsuccessfully ran (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Bungles Talkin...: Biden Bungles Talking Point on Debt Joe Biden mistakenly claimed Americans own 85 percent of U.S. Treasury securities during his visit to China. Americans own 54 percent of the U.S. public debt — that is, the amount of debt held by the public. They own 69 percent of the total debt, which includes money the U.S. gov (Source: FactCheck.org)

Was Mueller’s Appoin...: Was Mueller’s Appointment ‘Unconstitutional’? In his latest attack on the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump tweeted, “The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!” This amounts to Trump’s opinion, and is a matter of debate among constitutional scholars. The Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Still Spinning Wisco...: Still Spinning Wisconsin Voters In Wisconsin’s pivotal race for governor, both sides are still spinning voters. Walker’s Jobs Record Walker’s hopes for remaining on the national stage are riding on a lead in the polls so narrow that it’s within the statistical margin of error, and the race is rated as a toss-up (Source: FactCheck.org)

Flawed Variant Infor...: Flawed Variant Information Fuels Baseless COVID-19 Theory A conspiracy theory online baselessly suggests that the World Health Organization and other groups preplanned the variants of the novel coronavirus — citing a dubious timeline. But the timeline doesn’t square with the reality of when variants have been identified and designated t (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Weekend Press Briefings President Donald Trump made several false, misleading and exaggerated claims in press briefings he held Aug. 7 and 8 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, spinning the facts on COVID-19 and the economy, among other topics: The HEROES Act, or the Health and Econom (Source: FactCheck.org)

AHIP on the Attack:...: AHIP on the Attack: 50 Percent of What? Almost immediately after releasing an incomplete report on the supposed increase in premiums that the Senate’s health care overhaul bill would trigger, the health insurers’ trade group took to the airwaves with a TV ad claiming the bill would shortchange millions of seniors.  Thi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Happy Fall!...: Happy Fall! It’s officially here today. Or it was as of 15:43 GMT (that’s 11:43 a.m., if you’re on the East Coast). While you were (we hope) enjoying the last weekend of summer, we here at FactCheck.org were still on the case. On Friday over at our main site, we wrote all about Barack Obama (Source: FactCheck.org)

Outside Attacks in M...: Outside Attacks in Massachusetts New ads from outside Democratic groups attacking Massachusetts Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez distort his positions on Social Security and taxes. A recent poll found that Gomez is trailing his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ed Markey, by seven points, but national Democratic groups ar (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush, Clinton Play B...: Bush, Clinton Play Blame Game in Iraq Who’s responsible for withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq at the end of 2011? Jeb Bush says President Obama is to blame for the “premature withdrawal” of all U.S. troops. Hillary Clinton’s campaign reminded Bush that his brother, President George W. Bush, signed an agree (Source: FactCheck.org)

Santorum’s Climate C...: Santorum’s Climate Consensus Claims Rick Santorum made two false claims regarding the scientific consensus on climate change: Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, appeared on Bill Maher’s show on HBO. Maher said that Santorum does not believe climate change is a r (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mailers Mislead on ‘...: Mailers Mislead on ‘Obamacare’ Opt-Out Amendment A conservative group misleads Kansas voters in campaign mailers that claim a failed proposal to amend the state’s Constitution would have allowed residents to opt-out of “Obamacare.” No state law can do that. The U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause explicitly states that federal (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is Romney to Blame f...: Is Romney to Blame for Cancer Death? A grieving widower in a new pro-Obama TV spot says his wife  contracted cancer and died “a short time after” Mitt Romney closed the  steel plant that employed him and left “my family” without health  coverage. That’s not quite so. We find this ad from Priorities USA Action to be  (Source: FactCheck.org)

The ‘Obamaquester’...: The ‘Obamaquester’ The Line: “The president’s sequester.” The Party: Republican (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Distort Soros’...: Posts Distort Soros’ Comments on a DeSantis Candidacy Billionaire George Soros said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “is likely to be the Republican candidate” in the 2024 presidential race. But social media posts edited Soros’ remarks to falsely claim he endorsed the governor. Soros’ full remarks show that he does not support DeSantis for (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Twists Record...: Trump Twists Record on Inspectors General Defending his decision to fire a fourth inspector general this year, President Donald Trump has misleadingly compared his record to past presidents, claiming, “I think every president has gotten rid of probably more than I have.” According to a recently released Congressional Res (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pelosi Parsing Words...: Pelosi Parsing Words on ‘Employer Mandate’ Nancy Pelosi was playing a semantic word game when she claimed there “was not a delay of the mandate for the businesses” in the new health care law. That was in fact the effect of a decision announced recently by the Treasury. The Treasury announced on July 2 that it was delaying (Source: FactCheck.org)

Manufacturing Jobs ‘...: Manufacturing Jobs ‘Roaring Back’? Vice President Mike Pence touted the latest jobs report as proof that “manufacturing is roaring back.” The previous administration made a similar claim, but experts then and now said it’s premature to declare a manufacturing renaissance. The economy added 196,000 manufacturing jo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Barrasso’s Subsidy S...: Barrasso’s Subsidy Speculation Sen. John Barrasso engaged in wild speculation in claiming that lower-income subsidies will cost $900 billion a year under the federal health care law. He assumes that all employer-based insurance in the United States will disappear. In an op-ed for Roll Call, the Wyoming Republi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Yes, Trump Said Bush...: Yes, Trump Said Bush ‘Lied’ Donald Trump on Fox News denied that he ever accused President George W. Bush of lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “I didn’t say lie,” Trump said. “I said he may have lied.” That’s false. Trump at least twice — most recently in a debate last month — said Bush “lied (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Surges Amon...: COVID-19 Surges Among Unvaccinated in Florida, Contrary to Baseless Claims Florida health officials have reported a 60% rise in COVID-19 cases, and hospitals are reporting that 95% of COVID-19 patients are not fully vaccinated. But a Facebook post makes the baseless claims that Florida’s numbers are not going up, and that all COVID-19 patients recently  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fish Stories...: Fish Stories Even when a fisherman catches a big one, the fish tends to grow each time the story is told. Politicians are like that, too, especially when Election Day approaches. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave us recent examples of that kind of hyperbole. Pe (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cornyn’s ‘Generous’...: Cornyn’s ‘Generous’ Immigration Claim Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the U.S. is “the most generous country in the world when it comes to legal immigration.” It’s true that the U.S. gives permanent legal status and citizenship to more immigrants than other industrialized nations, but it also has the third largest popula (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jack Kingston’s Summ...: Jack Kingston’s Summer Re-Run Rep. Jack Kingston repackages several deceptive claims about his opponent’s business record in a new TV ad that has all the charm of a summer re-run. The ad attacks David Perdue on layoffs, stimulus funds and — that old campaign staple — government bailouts. Kingston, an 11-term  (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Border Security...: More Border Security Spin in Arkansas An ad from Sen. Mark Pryor inaccurately claims that Rep. Tom Cotton “voted to cut funding for the border protection.” The claim is based on Cotton’s support for an alternative House Republican budget that generally called for deep cuts to spending, but did not say whether those c (Source: FactCheck.org)

California Not Poise...: California Not Poised to ‘Legalize Infanticide’ A California bill would do away with mandatory investigations of stillbirths. Opponents misleadingly claim it would “legalize infanticide.” The bill would prevent prosecution in cases of “perinatal death due to a pregnancy-related cause.” But authorities would investigate if ther (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday...: Groundhog Friday This week’s Groundhog Friday — a wrap-up of political claims we’ve debunked before — includes assertions about illegal immigration, tax returns, jobs, wages, the Iraq War and the trade deficit. Click on the links to our original stories for more information about each claim. New  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Planned Parenthood a...: Planned Parenthood and the Democrats The president of Planned Parenthood says the group is willing to talk to Republicans about threats to its federal funding “because [at] Planned Parenthood, we’re nonpartisan.” In fact, the group’s political action committee gave 98 percent of its campaign contributions in the 201 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Student Loan...: Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Gaffe President Joe Biden wrongly said that he got student debt forgiveness “passed by a vote or two.” There was no vote. Biden simply announced that the Department of Education would provide debt relief, and the plan is facing a legal challenge. Biden, who once described himself as a  (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on Judge J...: The Facts on Judge Jackson’s Defense Work for Gitmo Detainees In the first day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on March 21, Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn echoed a party talking point, saying that Jackson used her “time and talent not to serve our nation’s veterans or other vulnerable groups, but to  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Biden’s False...: Video: Biden’s False Claim on Tax Cuts In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines a false claim by former Vice President Joe Biden that “all of” the tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump “went to folks at the top and corporations that pay no taxes.”   “$2 trillion tax cut last year. Di (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Inflates GDP G...: Trump Inflates GDP Growth In an interview with The Sun in England, President Donald Trump claimed “the GDP since I’ve taken over has doubled and tripled.” It hasn’t. Not even close. Trump’s false claim was made to support his argument that the U.S. shoulders an increasing amount of the burden for NATO bec (Source: FactCheck.org)

Medicaid’s Doctor Pa...: Medicaid’s Doctor Participation Rates In seeking to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has said “one out of every three physicians in this nation aren’t seeing Medicaid patients.” House Speaker Paul Ryan said “more and more doctors just won’t take Medicaid.” It’s (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Bobblehead’ Scott B...: ‘Bobblehead’ Scott Brown? A misleading liberal ad attacks Sen. Scott Brown as a yes-man for “Wall Street and the national Republican agenda.” The truth is that Brown was one of only three Republican senators to vote for the controversial Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. And the M (Source: FactCheck.org)

Crist, Rubio Ad War...: Crist, Rubio Ad War Florida Gov. Charlie Crist once looked like he’d surely get the GOP nomination in the race to replace outgoing Sen. Mel Martinez. But it’s the former Florida state House speaker, Republican Marco Rubio, who’s currently positioned as the front-runner. With several months to go bef (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Wilson-Plame-Nov...: The Wilson-Plame-Novak-Rove Blame Game The disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Wilson’s identity has triggered a partisan blame game complete with distortions and misstatements by both sides. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said the agent’s husband Joe Wilson falsely claimed Vice President Cheney author (Source: FactCheck.org)

MoveOn.org: Caught R...: MoveOn.org: Caught Red-Handed Applying A Double Standard MoveOn.org Political Action attacks three Republican House members in TV ads saying they were “caught red-handed” supporting money spent on Halliburton contracts and wasteful Iraq projects. But a majority of Democrats voted the same way on most of the same measures, usually overw (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pawlenty’s Political...: Pawlenty’s Political Climate Change Likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty's views on cap and trade aren't what they used to be. Pawlenty told "Fox News Sunday" on Jan. 16 that he "never did sign a bill relating to cap and trade" when he was governor of Minnesota, but that's not true. He also said: "I've op (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ryan Revises History...: Ryan Revises History on Medicare Reform Rep. Paul Ryan revises history when he says his Medicare plan is "in keeping with the Bill Clinton bipartisan committee" proposal in 1999. Contrary to the impression left by Ryan, the commission's final report failed largely along partisan lines. Clinton opposed it, and all four  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump, Russia and th...: Trump, Russia and the U.S. Election President-elect Donald Trump again discounted the possibility that Russia was behind the hacking of U.S. political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee’s servers, despite evidence to the contrary. All 16 government intelligence agencies and at least three pr (Source: FactCheck.org)

What Zika Means for...: What Zika Means for Americans During floor addresses urging Congress to act on President Obama’s $1.9 billion request for emergency funds to combat the Zika virus, a number of senators made claims that were either misleading or lacked context: Prior to 2015, Zika outbreaks had occurred in regions of Africa, S (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did the Polio Vaccin...: Did the Polio Vaccine Cause Cancer? Q: Did people develop cancer because of the polio vaccine? A: There are no known cases, and it’s very unlikely. In the 1950s and 1960s, people did receive polio vaccines contaminated with a virus that causes cancer in rodents. But research suggests this virus doesn’t cause cance (Source: FactCheck.org)

Health Care Deregula...: Health Care Deregulation? Biden said that McCain wrote in a magazine article that he wanted to do for the health care industry what deregulation had done for Wall Street. That’s taking McCain’s words out of context, as we’ve written before. Biden is referring to a phrase from a journal article under McCai (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mudslinging in Arkan...: Mudslinging in Arkansas Judicial Race An outside group with a history of running dubious ads in judicial races claims Tim Cullen, a candidate for the Arkansas Supreme Court, argued in a legal brief “that child pornography was a ‘victimless crime.’ ” Not exactly. Cullen’s brief does not explicitly say child pornograph (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mislabeling a ‘Liber...: Mislabeling a ‘Liberal Insider’ The anti-tax group Club for Growth Action is attacking an Indiana Republican candidate for the House, Kip Tom, as a “liberal insider.” We find the evidence doesn’t support that claim.  Tom is a multimillionaire corporate farm executive from Northeast Indiana’s 3rd Congressional D (Source: FactCheck.org)

Half the Story on He...: Half the Story on Health Care Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has introduced his "Healthy Americans Act" before, aiming to bring about universal health coverage. This year he’s trying again, facing not only legislative hurdles in gaining support for the plan but a critical — and misleading — ad campaign b (Source: FactCheck.org)

Apprehensions Not ‘O...: Apprehensions Not ‘On Track’ to Exceed 1 Million President Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. is “on track to APPREHEND more than one million people coming across the Southern Border this year.” That’s not the case, based on the number of apprehensions so far this fiscal or calendar year. Through the first five months of fiscal (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bogus Theory Misinte...: Bogus Theory Misinterprets FTX Support for Ukraine The bankruptcy of FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has sparked an unfounded claim that its former CEO had conspired with Ukraine and Democratic politicians to launder U.S. aid money. FTX helped make crypto donations available to Ukraine; it wasn’t taking  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Fanci...: Video: Trump’s Fanciful Plane Tale This week’s fact-checking video by CNN’s Jake Tapper looks at a fanciful story that President Donald Trump tells about President Barack Obama’s last scheduled meeting with the Philippines president. In Manila at the tail end of a 12-day Asian trip, Trump claimed that Obama’s plan (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did Kerry Oppose Tan...: Did Kerry Oppose Tanks & Planes? Not Lately Bush’s campaign chairman Marc Racicot on Feb. 22 accused Kerry of “voting against the weapons systems that are winning the War on Terror” and says Kerry was for “canceling or cutting funding for the B-2 Stealth Bomber, the B-1B, the F-15, the F-16, the M1 Abrams, the Patriot Miss (Source: FactCheck.org)

Warren: GE Pays No T...: Warren: GE Pays No Taxes Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren evoked corporate tax punching bag General Electric Co. in a recent ad, claiming the corporate giant pays “nothing – zero – in  taxes” to make a point about misplaced values. But that’s not accurate. We should preface this by saying  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Please Support Our W...: Please Support Our Work in 2020 This has been another busy year for us. The Russia investigation ended, and the impeachment began. Democratic presidential candidates — by the dozens — started their quest for the nomination. They debated in June (twice), July (twice), September, October and November. And they wi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Tweets Faulty...: Trump Tweets Faulty Black Approval Claim President Donald Trump’s approval ratings among African Americans have declined, not “doubled,” as the president claimed in a recent tweet. The source of Trump’s boast appears to be a misreading of data from the online polling firm SurveyMonkey. Weekly surveys conducted by that o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Was Papadopoulos a ‘...: Was Papadopoulos a ‘Low-Level Volunteer’? A day after the FBI announced that George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s campaign, had pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, the president tweeted: “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be (Source: FactCheck.org)

Paul Distorts Islami...: Paul Distorts Islamic Views of Bombings Sen. Rand Paul said “20 percent of the Islamic public in England” thought the 2005 subway bombings in London “were okay.” That’s inaccurate. It’s true that 20 percent expressed sympathy for the “feelings and motives” of the bombers, but only 1 percent thought the bombing was “rig (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19: The Unvacc...: COVID-19: The Unvaccinated Pose a Risk to the Vaccinated Q: How do people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 pose a risk to people who have been vaccinated? A: An unvaccinated person who is infected with COVID-19 poses a much greater risk to others who are also unvaccinated. But vaccines are not 100% effective, so there is  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Doubling Down on Fal...: Doubling Down on Falsehoods Republican presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump were challenged on false claims they made during the second Republican debate, and both doubled down with more misinformation. During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Carly Fiorina said she has “seen the footage (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jailhouse Gang?...: Jailhouse Gang? Republican Senator Rick Santorum’s newest ad features a Bob Casey campaign meeting – inside a prison cell. Referring to the men in the room as Casey’s “campaign team,” the ad accuses “many of Casey’s largest contributors” of being convicted felons or under federal investigation.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did Lugar ‘Bail Out’...: Did Lugar ‘Bail Out’ NYC? Club for Growth exaggerates when it claims Sen. Richard Lugar voted to bail out New York City "back in the 1970s" at a cost of $9.4 billion. Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis when Congress passed the famous 1975 New York City bailout. He did vote for a 1978 bill that provided the c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video Makes Baseless...: Video Makes Baseless Claim About Insurance Coverage of Vaccinated Frenchman COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be safe and effective in trials and real-world conditions. Yet an online video baselessly claims a French life insurer refused to pay benefits for a man who died after receiving the vaccine because the insurer deemed it “a medical experiment.” (Source: FactCheck.org)

Increase in COVID-19...: Increase in COVID-19 VAERS Reports Due To Reporting Requirements, Intense Scrutiny of Widely Given Vaccines Expanded reporting requirements and intense scrutiny of the hundreds of millions administered COVID-19 vaccine doses have driven record reporting of potential side effects to one of the government’s vaccine safety monitoring systems. Social media posts, however, have misleadingly (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday...: Groundhog Friday This is it — our last Groundhog Friday for this election year. We’ll bring back these wrap-ups of repeated claims during future campaigns. But for now, here’s our final look of 2016 at the president and president-elect rehashing talking points we’ve debunked before. President-ele (Source: FactCheck.org)

Grimes Ad Misses the...: Grimes Ad Misses the Mark on McConnell Thought you’d seen it all this political season? An ad from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes criticizes Sen. Mitch McConnell for his vote on a bill that President Obama praised, and even thanked McConnell by name for supporting. The Grimes ad says McConnell “even voted to end the (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Rally in Ohio President Donald Trump’s latest campaign-style rally was in Youngstown, Ohio, where the president made some false and misleading claims about military spending, immigrants and job creation: Trump, who has been in office for a little more than six months, has already started to ru (Source: FactCheck.org)

Lowest Unemployment...: Lowest Unemployment Rate in the Midwest? Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says his state has “the lowest unemployment rate in the Midwest.” But that depends on the definition of “Midwest.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics in March ranked Indiana’s 5.9 percent unemployment rate seventh lowest among 12 Midwestern states — tied with  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Both Sides Spinning...: Both Sides Spinning Jobs Report The recently released jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provided an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans alike to spin the facts in their favor. In a May 10 speech about the economy, Biden repeated a misleading talking point about job growth during his time as  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Russian...: FactChecking Russian President Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin made several false and misleading claims during his press conference in Finland with President Donald Trump and in an interview with Fox News. Putin spoke after he and Trump held a summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16. We don’t typically fact-c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our Annual Fundraisi...: Our Annual Fundraising Appeal There has been a lot of talk lately about us living in a post-truth world — so much so that Oxford Dictionaries selected “post-truth” as its international word of the year for 2016. Post-truth, adj., relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influent (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Inaugural Bo...: Obama’s Inaugural Bobble President Barack Obama made one factual error in his first speech in office when he said, immediately after being sworn in: Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. It is true that Obama is counted as the 44th president, but he’s only the 43rd person to take the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Faking News in the I...: Faking News in the Illinois Governor Race A Republican candidate in Illinois is running TV ads using fake headlines. Jim Oberweis launched the ads against the frontrunner in the state’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Judy Baar Topinka. He accuses her of being part of a “culture of political corruption.” Besides Oberweis’ fak (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video Doesn’t Show ‘...: Video Doesn’t Show ‘Suitcases’ of Illegal Ballots in Georgia The Trump campaign is falsely claiming that surveillance camera footage captured election workers in Georgia adding thousands of illegal ballots that were brought into an Atlanta facility in suspicious “suitcases” on election night. The campaign presented the video to Georgia sta (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Uninsured in Ken...: The Uninsured in Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes disagreed at their Oct. 13 debate on how many Kentuckians had gained health insurance through the state exchange. McConnell disputed that the state website has insured 521,000 people. Grimes, meanwhile, said those half a m (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP’s Phantom Job Lo...: GOP’s Phantom Job Losses Ooops! Republicans — eager to show that President Obama’s oil and gas drilling policies “cost jobs” — have been using a number they now admit was more than three times  too high. Even after they corrected their error (after we pointed it out), they started using a figure that is  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Radio Ads Accuse Ker...: Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks The newly established group People of Color United (PCU) began running a series of radio ads August 2 that challenges John Kerry’s record on “helping and hiring Blacks.” Some of the content is misleading. One ad blames Kerry for ensuring that jobless workers won’t be eligible for (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading Attack on...: Misleading Attack on Strickland An ad from a super PAC attacking Democratic Senate candidate Ted Strickland in Ohio misleads on several counts: The ad comes from Fighting for Ohio Fund, which backs Strickland’s Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Rob Portman. It attacks Strickland on his record as Ohio governor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Navajo Didn’t Suppor...: Navajo Didn’t Support Shrinking Bears Ears Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke claimed the Navajo people who “live close” to Bears Ears National Monument “were all in support” of President Donald Trump’s decision to shrink the protected land. But tribe representatives told us that’s false. In fact, the Navajo Nati (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: The Second De...: Video: The Second Debate In this video, we highlight six claims from the second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Oct. 9 in St. Louis.  We posted shorter videos of each of the six debate claims on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. We obtained the video clips from the Internet A (Source: FactCheck.org)

Help Us Reach Our Fu...: Help Us Reach Our Fundraising Goal It was a busy campaign season for us at FactCheck.org. We wrote 154 articles tagged “Election 2014.” We covered contested House races from Nebraska to West Virginia, Senate races from Alaska to Louisiana, and gubernatorial campaigns from Florida to Wisconsin. That doesn’t include (Source: FactCheck.org)

False: Video taken by school staffer shows scores of banned books being removed from a middle school in Broward County, Florida. Social media users are sharing a video they say shows the consequences of Florida’s recent efforts to crackdown on the teaching of race and gender issues in public schools. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

Obama’s Blurry Red L...: Obama’s Blurry Red Line A year ago, President Obama declared that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad would cross a “red line for us” and might trigger a U.S. military response. Now, the president says it wasn’t his red line, but rather a line set by the international community  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tax-and-Spend Twitte...: Tax-and-Spend Twittering On July 14, House Democrats released their health care bill and Republicans were quick to criticize it. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took to Twitter, typing out: “The liberal health bill introduced by pelosi is a disaster. $1.5 trillion in new spending. Tax increases on vir (Source: FactCheck.org)

The DACA Population...: The DACA Population Numbers President Donald Trump said he has “heard” varying numbers on the DACA population — from 650,000 to 3 million. In fact, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said there were 689,800 active DACA recipients as of Sept. 4, 2017. DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Chi (Source: FactCheck.org)

No Evidence Kim Jong...: No Evidence Kim Jong Un Rebuffed Obama’s ‘Begging’ Prior to his historic meeting with Kim Jong Un in North Korea, President Donald Trump made the unfounded claim that Barack Obama tried many times to meet with Kim, but was rebuffed. Obama administration officials and experts on U.S.-North Korea relations say that’s not true, and  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kathy Griffin Shares...: Kathy Griffin Shares Satirical Trump Tweet, But Not Everyone Is in on the Joke Dozens of former President Donald Trump’s supporters gathered outside his Florida home to protest a recent FBI search of the building. The activity triggered a satirical tweet falsely attributed to Trump’s eldest son, purportedly telling supporters to disperse, and saying, “We ha (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCaskill’s Russian...: McCaskill’s Russian Flub Sen. Claire McCaskill called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign for failing to disclose during his Senate confirmation hearing that as a senator he met twice with the Russian ambassador in 2016. As a point of contrast, McCaskill said, she had “no call from, or meeting wi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama-Rouhani Photo...: Obama-Rouhani Photo Is Not Real A word of caution to ad makers: Don’t believe everything you see online, even images “in circulation widely on the internet.” Restoration PAC learned that lesson the hard way when it used an image of President Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Fundraising P...: Romney Fundraising Pitch Skews Stats In a March fundraising letter to Floridians, Mitt Romney skews economic statistics under President Barack Obama. Among the letter’s claims: Our thanks to Charles Bertram of Crawfordville, Fla., who uploaded the letter to our Spin Detectors website, through which we ask our reader (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s ‘Rigged’ Cla...: Trump’s ‘Rigged’ Claim Trump is fond of the word “rigged.” The primary process, the economy, the justice system that did not charge Hillary Clinton with a crime: all rigged. Trump now says he’s a political trendsetter, claiming Bernie Sanders and then “everybody” followed his lead and started using the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Plane False...: Plane False The conservative Web site Judicial Watch has made public e-mails to and from the Department of Defense regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s travel requests. The organization claims in a press release that these e-mails show Pelosi "issue[s] unreasonable requests for mili (Source: FactCheck.org)

What We’ve Learned F...: What We’ve Learned From Impeachment Inquiry While the House has been conducting an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have kept their focus on the White House-released memo on Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president, claiming that simply reading the “transcript” is  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Grimes Inflates McCo...: Grimes Inflates McConnell’s ‘Gridlock’ Tally Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Democratic opponent exaggerates when she claims in a TV ad that McConnell “blocked the Senate over 400 times” since 2007. The Senate failed to approve cloture motions to end filibusters on 120 occasions — not “over 400 times” — since McConnell became minori (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dueling Ads in Virgi...: Dueling Ads in Virginia Race, Part 2 Last week, we wrote about a TV ad from Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate to be the state’s governor, which misleadingly described his opponent’s role in utility rate increases over the last few years. Deeds’ Republican challenger, former Virginia Attorney (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Mislead on Ill...: Posts Mislead on Illinois SAFE-T Act and Elimination of Cash Bail Illinois’ new criminal justice law, known as the SAFE-T Act, would eliminate cash bail but allow a judge to detain anyone who is deemed a danger to others or a flight risk. Social media posts misleadingly claim that anyone arrested for serious crimes, including second-degree murd (Source: FactCheck.org)

Businessman’s Social...: Businessman’s Social Media Post Distorts Facts on Definition of a Pandemic A businessman’s post on Instagram and Facebook wrongly claims that the U.S. government “changed the definition of pandemic” in 2004, suggesting that COVID-19 would not have qualified under the old definition. There’s no evidence for those claims — and COVID-19 is by all means a p (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s GDP Puffery...: Trump’s GDP Puffery President Donald Trump wrongly described the estimated 2.6 percent growth in the nation’s gross domestic product for the second quarter as “a number that nobody thought they’d see for a long period of time.” In fact, real GDP growth was higher than 2.6 percent in eight of the las (Source: FactCheck.org)

Here We Go Again: Bu...: Here We Go Again: Bush Exaggerates Tax Cuts President Bush stumbled Feb. 19, saying the average tax cut is $1,089. The White House corrected that figure to $1,586. But the fact is that most Americans won’t see anywhere near either of those amounts. As we’ve said before when disputing equally misleading lowball figures give (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Choice: Vetera...: False Choice: Veterans vs. Immigrants An ad from Rep. Bill Cassidy attacks his Democratic opponent, Sen. Mary Landrieu, for not “fully funding veterans benefits,” even though he voted for the House version of a bipartisan budget bill that included those very same cuts. Cassidy even defended those reductions in a nati (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRA Misfires on Fede...: NRA Misfires on Federal Gun Registry The head of the National Rifle Association misfires when he claims the president’s proposal to require background checks for all gun sales will result in a “massive federal registry” of firearms. Current law bars federal agencies from retaining records on those who pass backgroun (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rubio Inconsistent o...: Rubio Inconsistent on Medicare Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida offered a wildly inconsistent view of what constitutes a "cut" from Medicare. Rubio claimed that Rep. Paul Ryan’s  budget plan "doesn’t cut Medicare" but that the federal health care law does. Actually, Ryan’s plan leaves in place many of  the Medicare (Source: FactCheck.org)

Police Shootings Not...: Police Shootings Not at a Record Level Donald Trump wrongly said that “they’re shooting our police at record levels.” The record for police firearm deaths, and deaths of officers overall, in recent decades was set in the 1970s. He went on to say those shootings were up 50 percent or “much higher than that from last ye (Source: FactCheck.org)

Senate Majority PAC...: Senate Majority PAC Not Telling Whole Story A Democratic ad says former Sen. Scott Brown “delivered” for “big banks” in the Senate, citing two legislative changes he sought that benefited the industry. But the ad lacks important context: Both changes were to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act — a (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Bogus Voter Fra...: More Bogus Voter Fraud from Trump Donald Trump falsely claimed that “John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, was quoted in WikiLeaks as saying, illegal immigrants could vote as long as they have their driver’s license.” Podesta said no such thing. Trump made the claim at a rally in Delaware, Ohio, the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Auto I...: Trump’s False Auto Industry Claims Continuing a yearslong trend, President Donald Trump made false and misleading comments about new auto plants in Michigan, and the industry at large — boasting in recent campaign rallies about accomplishments that aren’t true. The number of motor vehicle and parts manufacturing j (Source: FactCheck.org)

DeSantis vs. Disney...: DeSantis vs. Disney Q&A In late April, during a special legislative session, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hastily signed a bill abolishing several decades-old independent districts in the state, including the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which is the self-governing home to the Walt Disney World Resort (Source: FactCheck.org)

Virginia Lt. Gov.-El...: Virginia Lt. Gov.-Elect Sears Distorts Facts on COVID-19 Vaccines In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Virginia Lt. Gov.-Elect Winsome Sears spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that we have previously debunked. CNN Host Dana Bash, Nov. 21: So, why is it OK to mandate childhood vaccines in Virginia for so many diseases, but n (Source: FactCheck.org)

Time to Retire GOP T...: Time to Retire GOP Talking Point Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell falsely claimed that “the average person is about $3,000 or $4,000 a year worse off today than when President Obama came to office.”  Real median personal income under Obama was down about $400 as of 2014, the most recent Census data availab (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Video Misleadi...: Viral Video Misleadingly Questions Safety of Nasal Swabs A chemical widely used to sterilize medical devices is also used for nasal swabs in COVID-19 testing. But a viral video misleadingly suggests that the swabs are dangerous — saying that the chemical causes cancer and can alter DNA. Experts say the chemical’s use in this context do (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Is Sending Aid...: U.S. Is Sending Aid to Independent Groups in Afghanistan, Not the Taliban The U.S. is providing humanitarian aid through several independent organizations in Afghanistan, but not through the Taliban government. Yet an online article falsely claims that the Biden administration will “send the Taliban millions in US dollars,” and repeats a debunked claim (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Amnesia...: Trump’s Amnesia Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied that he had ever called female adversaries some of the words Fox News host Megyn Kelly listed at the first GOP debate — “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.” In fact, he has used all of those terms. During the first  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Juices the Gen...: Obama Juices the Genome Numbers In announcing his new “Precision Medicine Initiative” on Jan. 30, President Obama repeated an outdated and questionable number for the Human Genome Project’s return on investment, and oversold just how cheap sequencing a single person’s full genetic code has become. The Human Gen (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is It ‘Illegal’ for...: Is It ‘Illegal’ for Sebelius to Buy Exchange Plan? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says “it’s illegal” for her to obtain insurance on the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Cory Gardner — a Colorado Republican who asked Sebelius why she isn’t in the exchange — accused her of lying. Turns out,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Health Care and Hand...: Health Care and Handguns What do these two things have in common? Not much, except that we published two stories on the topics Monday evening at FactCheck.org. First, we looked at an Obama-Biden ad that took McCain’s words on his health care plan and banking regulation out of context: Out of Context on H (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democratic Group’s A...: Democratic Group’s Ad Revives “AWOL” Allegation Against Bush An ad unveiled Sept. 8 by the Democratic-leaning group “Texans for Truth” features a former officer in the Alabama Air National Guard saying neither he nor his friends saw George W. Bush at their unit in 1972, when Bush was temporarily assigned there. The TV spot adds little to w (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘What Evidence Do Yo...: ‘What Evidence Do You Have?’ It’s a simple question, one that we ask candidates, campaigns and political committees all the time: “What evidence do you have?” We almost always get an answer. But that has not been the case with Donald Trump’s campaign, which typically does not respond to fact-checkers or prov (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kudlow’s Claim About...: Kudlow’s Claim About COVID-19 Spread Despite early warnings about how damaging COVID-19 could be for Americans, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow defended his late February statement that the U.S. had “contained” the virus, saying on May 3 that the novel coronavirus “spread exponentially in ways that virtual (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: FactChecking...: Video: FactChecking Round Two of July Debate This video covers some of the claims the candidates made on July 31 during round two of the second Democratic debate in Detroit.  For our complete analysis, read “FactChecking July’s Round Two Debate.” (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Blurs Facts on...: Trump Blurs Facts on London Embassy President Donald Trump distorted the facts about the construction of a new embassy in London, wrongly implying it ended up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The new embassy, at a cost of $1 billion, was entirely paid for by the sale of the long-term leases for th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s Jobs Record...: Romney’s Jobs Record Is Best (or Worst) A campaign ad that praises Mitt Romney’s performance as governor of Massachusetts presents a slanted view of his record on jobs, unemployment and taxes. To every claim, there is a “yes, but” qualifier. The Romney ad, called “Strong Leadership,” is another in the campaign’s theme  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s Sorry ‘Apol...: Romney’s Sorry ‘Apology’ Dig TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney revived a favorite attack from early in his campaign, accusing President Obama of beginning his presidency on an “apology tour” in foreign countries. Although it has been a consistent applause line, the claim doesn’t hold up when matched with Obama’s act (Source: FactCheck.org)

HealthCare.gov Estim...: HealthCare.gov Estimates May Be Misleading Browsers beware: The estimated monthly premiums on HealthCare.gov may be misleading. The troubled federal website allows visitors to anonymously surf the site for exchange plans sold in their areas and provides them with estimated prices for each health plan. (Just click on the “ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rev. Graham and the...: Rev. Graham and the Signs of Armageddon On ABC’s “This Week,” the Rev. Franklin Graham was wrong when he said that earthquakes, wars and famines are occurring “with more frequency and more intensity.” The preacher, who is the son of the Rev. Billy Graham and president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associatio (Source: FactCheck.org)

West Virginia’s Bitt...: West Virginia’s Bitter End Democrats and Republicans alike are misleading voters to the bitter end in West Virginia’s special election for governor. The West Virginia gubernatorial election has been one of the most dishonest campaigns of the year, as we wrote in “West Virgina Race Goes to the Dogs” on Sept (Source: FactCheck.org)

Poliovirus Found in...: Poliovirus Found in New York City Wastewater, Not Tap Water Wastewater surveillance is a public health tool that can track the spread of pathogens. The virus that causes polio was detected in New York City sewage as part of such monitoring efforts. Social media posts, however, have incorrectly claimed the virus was found in tap water. Sim (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Twitter ‘Truth’ President Donald Trump says social media is “my form of telling the truth.” In fact, there are many well-documented examples of Trump — as a candidate and as president — spreading false information on Twitter. Trump made his remark in an Oct. 29 interview with Laura Ingraham on F (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Mistweets #Obama...: GOP Mistweets #Obamacare Survey Results House Speaker John Boehner, among other Republicans, wrongly tweeted that a recent “study” found “74% of small businesses will fire workers, cut hours under #Obamacare.” Actually, no more than 13 percent of the small businesses surveyed said that. On July 16, the U.S. Chamber of  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Funding for Veterans...: Funding for Veterans Up 27%, But Democrats Call It A Cut In the Feb. 15 Democratic debate, Kerry suggested that Bush was being unpatriotic: “He’s cut the VA (Veterans Administration) budget and not kept faith with veterans across this country. And one of the first definitions of patriotism is keeping faith with those who wore the unifo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s ‘Greatest Id...: Trump’s ‘Greatest Idea’ for a 2014 Law In his midterm campaign rallies, President Donald Trump has repeatedly made the preposterous claim that he came up with “the greatest idea” for “veterans choice” — a program that was launched in 2014 during the Obama administration. He also claimed it took “44 years” to get the l (Source: FactCheck.org)

Scott Pruitt and Coa...: Scott Pruitt and Coal Jobs The Environmental Protection Agency head said that the “coal sector” added 7,000 jobs in May and “almost 50,000 jobs” since the fourth quarter of last year. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an increase of just 400 coal mining jobs in May and 1,300 since December. EPA Ad (Source: FactCheck.org)

Donnelly’s Hearings...: Donnelly’s Hearings Attendance Record Several Republican TV ads attacking Sen. Joe Donnelly have claimed the Indiana Democrat has “missed 1 in 5 committee hearings” since he took office in 2013. Actually, Donnelly attended nearly 95 percent of public committee and subcommittee hearings during that time. The “1 in 5”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: FactChecking...: Video: FactChecking Trump Stump Speech In his latest video collaboration with FactCheck.org, CNN’s Jake Tapper highlights claims regularly made by Donald Trump in his speeches on the campaign trail. Tapper focused on these four claims from a speech in Fort Myers, Florida, on Sept. 19. These and other claims were cover (Source: FactCheck.org)

SciCheck Featured on...: SciCheck Featured on Podcast About COVID-19 Misinformation Directed at Latinos FactCheck.org staffer Catalina Jaramillo was featured on the latest episode of “A Better Life?,” a podcast that explores how COVID-19 has made immigrants’ lives harder. Jaramillo, a bilingual journalist and native of Chile, joined FactCheck.org in January as a writer, copy editor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Inflated Claims in N...: Inflated Claims in North Carolina Budget Battle A conservative group omits some important details in a TV ad attacking North Carolina’s lame-duck Democratic governor and praising the Republican-controlled state General Assembly during a partisan budget battle. Our thanks to John Totten of Port Charlotte, Fla., who uploaded the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Inflates Defen...: Obama Inflates Defense ‘Cut’ President Obama's claim "that we've already cut" $400 billion in defense spending is misleading. The president was referring to a Defense Department report that identified $178 billion in "efficiencies" over five years — which the administration says will save $400 billion over 1 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Ad Is “Troublin...: Bush Ad Is “Troubling” Indeed A Bush Cheney ’04 ad released April 1 repeats several misleading claims that FactCheck.org has de-bunked before. It also adds something new, saying Kerry repeatedly opposed tax breaks for married couples and families — breaks that Kerry has repeatedly and consistently said he wou (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cherry-Picking Salar...: Cherry-Picking Salary Data in Oregon An ad from Republican Monica Wehby cherry-picks data to make the case that Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is “paying the women on his staff thousands less than their male counterparts.” Actually, in 2013, women earned about 97 cents for every dollar earned by men in Merkley’s office, w (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our Sixth Straight W...: Our Sixth Straight Webby Award The 2019 Webby Award for News & Politics website goes to … FactCheck.org. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences announced all the winners April 23. This is the sixth consecutive year — and 10th overall — that we have won the award voted on by a panel of judges. T (Source: FactCheck.org)

Liberal Ad Misleads...: Liberal Ad Misleads with Poll Numbers The liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change has released a new ad backing President Obama’s "plan to reform health care." According to the ad, "a new poll shows that 62 percent of Americans support" the plan.  But that’s misleading. The poll in question, conducted for  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Q&A on RSV Maternal...: Q&A on RSV Maternal Vaccine and Antibody Candidates to Protect Infants Nearly all children get sick from respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, by the age of 2, and last year, there was a notable surge in RSV-associated hospitalizations. But the Food and Drug Administration is now considering approval of a vaccine and a monoclonal antibody aimed at pr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump 100 Percent Wr...: Trump 100 Percent Wrong on Egyptian ‘Vote’ Donald Trump falsely claimed that 99 percent of Egyptians voted to end the peace treaty with Israel. There was no such vote, although a recent poll found that 54 percent do support ending the treaty. What a week for Donald Trump. It started with Trump claiming victory in forcing  (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Whacks Weiland O...: GOP Whacks Weiland Over Payroll Taxes A Republican TV ad says Senate candidate Rick Weiland is going across South Dakota saying “he’s one of us” when “Weiland supports higher payroll taxes.” Not for all, he doesn’t. The “one of us” reference could lead viewers to believe that Weiland would raise payroll taxes for eve (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cassidy’s Health Car...: Cassidy’s Health Care Premium Spin Sen. Bill Cassidy claims he has a way to prevent the Senate tax plan from raising health insurance premiums. He doesn’t. In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, the Louisiana Republican acknowledged that some in his party — including Sen. Susan Collins — have concerns about p (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jeb Bush on Poverty,...: Jeb Bush on Poverty, Economic Growth Republican Jeb Bush on “Fox News Sunday” made economic claims about poverty and growth from tax cuts that don’t measure up to the facts: The former governor of Florida, who is running for president, sought to clarify his controversial remarks about Democrats appealing to black vo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Memes Make False Equ...: Memes Make False Equivalence Between Clinton, Trump and Payments to Women Former President Bill Clinton settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with Paula Jones in a case that was a matter of public record. Former President Donald Trump made a secret payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, which may lead to criminal charges against him. Social media posts fa (Source: FactCheck.org)

No Evidence Flu Vacc...: No Evidence Flu Vaccine Increases Strep A Infections, Contrary to Online Claims Several European countries have reported an early spike of group A strep infections, mostly among children, including cases of rare but deadly bacterial infections. There is no evidence the increase is being caused by nasal spray flu vaccines, as social media posts baselessly sug (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Claim that Assault Weapons Ban Worked President Joe Biden claims the 10-year assault weapons ban that he helped shepherd through the Senate as part of the 1994 crime bill “brought down these mass killings.” But the raw numbers, when adjusted for population and other factors, aren’t so clear on that. There is, however (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Vaccines We...: COVID-19 Vaccines Were Available Before Biden Took Office, Contrary to False Tweet When Joe Biden was sworn in as president, two COVID-19 vaccines had already been authorized and millions of people nationwide had been vaccinated against the disease. But in a May 12 tweet touting economic progress made under Biden, the White House falsely claimed that “there was (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Father-In-Law’s At...: A Father-In-Law’s Attack Ads It’s not every day you see a guy sinking over a million dollars into political ads to attack his son-in-law’s opponent. But the truth-stretching in the ads? That’s all too common. The revelation that an in-law is the money behind a relentless campaign, featuring several attack ad (Source: FactCheck.org)

Huntsman, Lincoln an...: Huntsman, Lincoln and Hallmark Jon Huntsman wrongly paraphrased Abraham Lincoln as saying: "[W]e are a great country because we are a good country." Lincoln assuredly never said that. The expression is similar to a common political bromide that Ronald Reagan and others have attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump, Biden and the...: Trump, Biden and the Defense Production Act Leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden repeatedly has criticized President Donald Trump for failing to make timely use of his powers under the Defense Production Act to compel companies to manufacture medical supplies that are expected to be needed to treat those inf (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pfizer CEO Got the C...: Pfizer CEO Got the COVID-19 Vaccine The CEO of Pfizer posted a photo of himself getting the second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine on March 10. But an Aug. 5 tweet from Newsmax reporter Emerald Robinson misleadingly suggested he isn’t vaccinated. She updated the tweet hours later, acknowledging the CEO’s post — but af (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Pulls Quotes o...: Trump Pulls Quotes on ACA Out of Context In support of his argument that the Affordable Care Act “doesn’t work” and provides “lousy healthcare,” President-elect Donald Trump quoted Bill Clinton as saying the law is “crazy” and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton as saying that the law “is no longer affordable.” But both comments (Source: FactCheck.org)

NFL Player Damar Ham...: NFL Player Damar Hamlin’s Cardiac Arrest Triggers Unfounded Social Media Claims Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field and suffered a cardiac arrest moments after taking a hit to his chest during a tackle. While it’s not yet known why his heart stopped, some experts say his condition is most likely due to a heart rhythm problem as a result  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Carnahan Ad Gets VH1...: Carnahan Ad Gets VH1-Inspired Treatment Are you a fan of VH1’s revolutionary "Pop-Up Video" program? And a political junkie? (And maybe even a St. Louis Rams fan?) Well, we have a treat for you. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch website, stltoday.com, has launched a fact-checking effort called "Pop-Up Politics." Last week, r (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Wild, Basele...: Trump’s Wild, Baseless Claims of Illegal Voting In remarks resembling an attack on democratic elections, rather than a presidential speech, President Donald Trump doubled down on his campaign pledge: “The only way we can lose, in my opinion, is massive fraud.” In his Nov. 5 comments, he offered no evidence for the “illegal vot (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kerry’s Dubious Econ...: Kerry’s Dubious Economics In his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention July 29 Kerry repeated a claim that the economy is creating jobs that pay $9,000 a year less than those they replace. He bases that on disputed analysis from a liberal think tank. In fact, economists disagree about wh (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s False Claim...: Biden’s False Claim About McDonald’s During a virtual campaign event with members of the Service Employees International Union on July 22, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden falsely said that McDonald’s required its employees to sign noncompete contracts preventing them from going to work for othe (Source: FactCheck.org)

Brown ‘Lying’ About...: Brown ‘Lying’ About Abortion Stance? An abortion rights group says that Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is “straight-up lying” in a new ad that says he is “pro-choice, and he supports a woman’s right to choose.” That’s wrong. Brown has consistently said he is a supporter of abortion rights dating back t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Colorado PAC Attacks...: Colorado PAC Attacks Democratic candidates in Colorado’s Senate primary are attacking each other’s acceptance of PAC money — but one is being misleading, while the other fails to tell the full story. First out of the box was Andrew Romanoff, accusing incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet of taking "nearly a  (Source: FactCheck.org)

McConnell and Part D...: McConnell and Part D Premiums This week, while President Barack Obama was touting the $250 rebate checks the government would begin sending to seniors to cover some prescription drug costs, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was warning that many more seniors would be paying higher premiums. It’s true, as (Source: FactCheck.org)

Insurance Coverage:...: Insurance Coverage: Obama’s Air Ball During an impromptu press conference with the White House press corps on Feb. 9, President Barack Obama claimed that more people are getting their health insurance this year from the government than through the private sector. But that’s not even close to being true. If this had  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Hollow Keyst...: Trump’s Hollow Keystone Threat President Donald Trump boasted that TransCanada Corp. “dropped” a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the U.S. after he threatened to “terminate” the company’s Keystone XL pipeline. That’s false. TransCanada merely suspended its lawsuit in order to give the Trump administration  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Selling Insurance Ac...: Selling Insurance Across State Lines President Donald Trump said that by allowing insurers to sell plans across state lines, “your premiums will be down 60 and 70 percent.” We couldn’t find any study supporting such a decrease, and experts we consulted disputed the idea that overall average premiums would decline si (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Return of the Oi...: The Return of the Oil Slick McCain accused Obama of voting for a “Bush and Cheney” energy bill that gave away billions to oil companies. McCain is referring to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which Obama did in fact vote for. Sen. Clinton raised this same charge against Obama during the Democratic primaries. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Bungles Clemen...: Biden Bungles Clemency, Race Statistics During an NBC News town hall, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden botched statistics about clemencies during the Obama administration and the size of the Black population in Delaware. Former President Barack Obama did not grant clemency to “18,000 people,” as Biden claimed. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders Misleads on...: Sanders Misleads on Family Health Care Costs Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to make the misleading claim that “the average family of four spends $28,000 a year on health care.” That’s the projected average cost for employer-sponsored health insurance for “typical” families of that size, but the employee paid about 44% of tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sorting Murky Issues...: Sorting Murky Issues on the POW Swap A lot of gray area surrounds the political rhetoric about the White House’s decision to swap Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban figures detained at Guantanamo. Did the administration violate a decades-old policy of “not negotiating with terrorists”? Was it a simple swap of priso (Source: FactCheck.org)

Explaining Trump’s R...: Explaining Trump’s Russia Tweets President Donald Trump went on a tweetstorm about the Russia investigation. He accused his vanquished rival Hillary Clinton of obstruction of justice (without any evidence) and blamed others for his firing of FBI Director James Comey (even though Trump said he was planning to fir (Source: FactCheck.org)

Johnson Ad Omits Bar...: Johnson Ad Omits Barnes’ Condemnation of Attack on Police In the Wisconsin Senate race, an ad from Republican Sen. Ron Johnson selectively pulls comments made by his opponent, Democrat Mandela Barnes, from an interview days after a deadly attack on police in Dallas. The ad claims Barnes “rationalized violence” against police, but it ign (Source: FactCheck.org)

Warnock’s False Ad o...: Warnock’s False Ad on Taxes A TV ad from Democrat Raphael Warnock falsely says Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler “supports raising taxes on Georgia’s middle class.” That’s a reference to the 2017 Republican tax law that temporarily cut individual income taxes, but Loeffler supports making permanent provisions  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s ‘Patriotic A...: Biden’s ‘Patriotic Act’ A recent McCain-Palin ad titled “Patriotic Act” puts a new twist on some old false claims, then adds a misleading implication, just for good measure. Here’s the ad:  We can start with a list of what the ad does get right: Actually, that’s pretty much the whole list. The rest of t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Law and Orde...: Trump’s Law and Order Distortions President Donald Trump made false and misleading statements in an attempt to contrast his stance on law enforcement with that of Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in the presidential race: Trump made his claims from a White House balcony, addressing a crowd of supporters on the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Fox News Interview President Donald Trump, in a lengthy interview on Fox News, made several statements that were false, misleading or not supported by the evidence: In a wide-ranging interview that aired May 19 on “The Next Revolution,” Trump and the show’s host, Steve Hilton, discussed foreign pol (Source: FactCheck.org)

Closing Arguments of...: Closing Arguments of the Presidential Campaign After months of campaigning, President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made their final pitches to voters at campaign rallies in key swing states and on TV airwaves. Here we fact-check claims the candidates made in rallies on Nov. 1 and 2, and in a few  (Source: FactCheck.org)

John Lewis and the N...: John Lewis and the News McCain was a bit off the mark when he said Obama did not repudiate the remarks of Democratic Rep. John Lewis. Obama did release a statement that said he “did not believe” McCain “or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies.” B (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Baffling Twe...: Trump’s Baffling Tweet on Gorsuch President Donald Trump falsely claimed a Democratic senator “misrepresents” a conversation that the senator had with Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch. In fact, Gorsuch’s spokesman confirmed the senator’s account. Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge, has begun  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did Obama Declare Te...: Did Obama Declare Terrorist Threat ‘Gone’? In an interview on Fox News, former Vice President Dick Cheney went too far with his claim that President Obama “has stated repeatedly the terrorist threat is gone.” To be sure, Obama, at times, has declared al Qaeda to be “on the run,” “decimated” and “on their heels” — all phra (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCain Mentions Us...: McCain Mentions Us It wasn’t exactly in a favorable light, per se. On NPR’s “Morning Edition” today, anchor Steve Inskeep asked Sen. John McCain about balancing honor and winning in a campaign that Inskeep called “brutal.” In their conversation, Inskeep asked about a particular ad that we found to  (Source: FactCheck.org)

How to Spot Fake New...: How to Spot Fake News Fake news is nothing new. But bogus stories can reach more people more quickly via social media than what good old-fashioned viral emails could accomplish in years past. Concern about the phenomenon led Facebook and Google to announce that they’ll crack down on fake news sites, r (Source: FactCheck.org)

ACLU Ad On “Sneak-an...: ACLU Ad On “Sneak-and-Peek” Searches: Overblown The American Civil Liberties Union is running an ad alleging that the USA Patriot Act allows authorities to search homes “without notifying us . . . treating us all like suspects.” That’s not exactly true. Actually, notice still has to be given to the subject of such a search, ev (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Unemployment Bl...: More Unemployment Blues If you’re the glass-half-full type, you might think it’s good news that the nation’s unemployment rate was largely unchanged from May to June. It crept up just 0.1 percentage points to 9.5 percent. But that also means that the original projections from President Obama’s economic  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Misquotes Trum...: Biden Misquotes Trump on Gold Star Families On the subject of President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden misquoted Trump as saying, “I probably got it from Blue Star parents.” That’s not what Trump said. In an Oct. 8 interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he alw (Source: FactCheck.org)

In Florida Ad: Recyc...: In Florida Ad: Recycled Quote Still Wrong A TV ad from the conservative Americans for Prosperity recycles an old  — and inaccurate — clip of Florida Rep. Steve Southerland blaming the Affordable Care Act for a “$1,200 increase” in health care premiums for the average American family. That was wrong when Southerland said  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Early Reviews For Ca...: Early Reviews For Campaign 2006 Ads: ‘Sleazy,’ ‘False,’ ‘Rubbish’ Early reviews of Campaign 2006 may foreshadow an ugly Fall campaign. Republican attack ads in California’s June 6 special House election have been called “trash…a sleazy smear campaign…below the belt…rubbish.” And that’s from the San Diego Union-Tribune,  which endorsed Bush in 2 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Planned Parenthood a...: Planned Parenthood and Mammograms At the second presidential debate, President Barack Obama said that women “rely on” Planned Parenthood for mammograms. Actually, mammograms are not performed at the clinics; Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses conduct breast exams and refer patients to other facilities for mamm (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video Doesn’t Show E...: Video Doesn’t Show Election Fraud in Georgia Conspiracy theorists falsely claimed that a video of an election worker during the Georgia machine recount revealed fraud in the 2020 election. All it showed was an election worker performing a routine part of the process, according to election officials. A two-and-a-half-minute  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Has Autism Prevalenc...: Has Autism Prevalence Increased? President Donald Trump said there has been a “tremendous” increase in autism in U.S. children. There has been a large increase in the reported cases of autism, but scientists don’t know if this is due to a broadening of the disorder’s definition and greater efforts in diagnosis o (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRA Ad Falsely Accus...: NRA Ad Falsely Accuses Kerry The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund began airing a TV ad Oct. 26 falsely accusing Kerry of voting to ban deer-hunting ammunition. In fact, what Kerry voted for was a proposal to outlaw rifle ammunition “designed or marketed as having armor piercing capability.”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tackling Fake Footba...: Tackling Fake Football Stories Q: Did the NFL fine players who protested during the national anthem? Was a player fired for it? Are some players asking the league to host a month of anti-police activism? Will Fox Sports stop airing NFL games? A: No. Three of those stories were made-up, and one is a gross misr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Perry Misses Point o...: Perry Misses Point on Texas CO2 Cuts Rick Perry said carbon dioxide emissions in Texas were down because of “incentive-based regulation” during his time as governor. But the evidence shows a decline in manufacturing jobs and federal energy policies — not the state’s — are more likely to be the cause of the reduction (Source: FactCheck.org)

Distorting Quotes an...: Distorting Quotes and Voting Records We neglected to inform Wire readers yesterday that we published two new articles on FactCheck.org. (So much content to keep track of!) We looked at a new McCain-Palin ad that distorts quotes from the Obama campaign to make it sound as though Obama and Biden have made sexist remar (Source: FactCheck.org)

Social Media Posts M...: Social Media Posts Misrepresent Tennessee Bill Allowing Common Law Marriage A Tennessee bill is aimed at excluding same-sex couples from proposed common law marriage contracts. Social media posts misleadingly claim the bill would allow child marriage and “legalize pedophilia.” The bill initially omitted a minimum age, but was amended on April 6 to say in (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rep.-elect Green Wro...: Rep.-elect Green Wrong About Vaccines, CDC Fraud At a town hall event on Dec. 11, Rep.-elect Mark Green of Tennessee inaccurately claimed that vaccine preservatives might cause autism. He also repeated an unsubstantiated claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “fraudulently managed” data that showed a link bet (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Unfounded Le...: Trump’s Unfounded Leak Claim President Donald Trump made the unfounded accusation that former FBI Director James Comey illegally “leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media.” His claim appears to have been based on a news story that makes no such determination. The Hill reported on July 9 that four of seven  (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRCC Taxes Logic in...: NRCC Taxes Logic in North Carolina House Race A Democratic congressman who has reliably supported extending the Bush tax cuts is now being attacked by a GOP TV spot claiming he “voted for higher taxes on Social Security, small businesses, middle-class families, even marriage.” All those claims are false or, in the case of So (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCain, Palin and Ra...: McCain, Palin and Rape Kits A few weeks ago, we wrote about the pervasive rumor that Sarah Palin, when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, made women pay for their own forensic testing when reporting a rape. The verdict: This policy was enforced for at least some reported rapes in Wasilla, and in 2000, compla (Source: FactCheck.org)

NTSB Chair Contradic...: NTSB Chair Contradicts Posts That Wrongly Claim Trump to Blame for Ohio Train Wreck The National Transportation Safety Board’s chair said an Obama-era rule the Trump administration nixed would not have prevented the derailment of a train in Ohio, as some partisan commentators inaccurately claim. The rule requiring a new electronic braking system for certain trai (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Terrorism Sp...: Trump’s Terrorism Speech In a speech in Ohio on terrorism, Donald Trump repeated several fact-twisting and bogus claims he has made before: Trump misrepresented a TV interview he gave in January 2003 to claim that he opposed the Iraq War “from the beginning.” In that interview, Trump said polling showed  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FlackCheck Video: O’...: FlackCheck Video: O’Malley on Earned Wages Martin O’Malley, a Democratic presidential contender and former Maryland governor, claims that “70 percent of us are earning the same or less than they were 12 years ago.” That’s not correct, as this video from FlackCheck.org explains.    (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cruz-a-thon, Part II...: Cruz-a-thon, Part II We are still reviewing the 21-hour, overnight talk-a-thon by Sen. Ted Cruz, and we found some more claims about Obamacare that are false: The lengthy speech by Cruz — which started Sept. 24, ended Sept. 25 and was occasionally supplemented by some of his Senate colleagues — was d (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Wrong on Polic...: Biden Wrong on Police Deaths In an online interview promoted by the White House, Vice President Joe Biden made the false claim that “there were fewer police being murdered … when the assault weapons ban, in fact, was in existence.” But the FBI statistics on killings of law enforcement officers show no such t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Will Work for Small(...: Will Work for Small(ish) Businesses In his remarks to small-business owners March 16 at the White House, President Obama repeated a statistic we’ve heard from both Democrats and Republicans. (Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin used it this month on "Fox News Sunday.") Obama said small businesses are responsible (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Accuses Kerry o...: Bush Accuses Kerry of 350 Votes for “Higher Taxes.” Higher Than What? The President misled voters and reporters in a March 20 speech when he claimed that Kerry “voted over 350 times for higher taxes on the American people” during his 20-year Senate career. Bush spoke of “yes” votes for “tax increases.” But in fact, Kerry has not voted 350 times for (Source: FactCheck.org)

Evidence Points to S...: Evidence Points to Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines for Pregnant People Clinical trials and medical studies have indicated that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant people. But online posts misrepresent unverified reports submitted to vaccine monitoring systems in the U.S. and Europe to misleadingly suggest “920 women” lost babies because they (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pope Francis Continu...: Pope Francis Continues to be Active, Despite Unsupported Report of Declining Health Q: Is Pope Francis dying? A: There is no credible evidence that he is terminally ill. The viral claim is based on a single news story published Dec. 7 by Newsmax, a conservative news outlet, which attributed the information to an unidentified Vatican source. No other publication  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Wisconsin Senior Sca...: Wisconsin Senior Scare A Wisconsin Democrat’s ad falsely accuses his opponent of proposing to cut Social Security benefits for two-thirds of seniors. Actually, benefits would go up for the poorest one-third of current beneficiaries, and would be unchanged for most others.  Tom Nelson, who’s running for (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Great Lakes...: Trump’s Great Lakes Whoppers Falsely declaring that he has “always” been a supporter of the Great Lakes, President Donald Trump announced that he would fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with $300 million, telling a Michigan crowd he would finally get done something they “have been trying to g (Source: FactCheck.org)

Voting for a Health...: Voting for a Health Care Takeover? A relatively unknown conservative group called the League of American Voters has launched an ad attacking Democratic members of Congress for, in the words of the TV spot, voting in favor of “Obama and Pelosi’s health care takeover." But the ad is filled with misleading claims.    (Source: FactCheck.org)

And Here We Go: Atta...: And Here We Go: Attack Ad Cites Health Care Vote Republican businessman Scott Sipprelle, who is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey this fall, has launched one of the first TV ads attacking an incumbent on the recent health care vote.

In the 30-second spot, which is also the first TV ad of his campaig (Source: FactCheck.org)

Just the Fracking Fa...: Just the Fracking Facts Rick Perry said he would “create another 250,000 jobs by getting the  EPA out of the way” of natural gas drilling. But the EPA isn’t currently  in the way: The very study on which Perry relies assumes that all of  those jobs will result if current regulations are not changed. In  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Is Wrong About...: Trump Is Wrong About Fact-Checkers In a political rally in El Paso, President Donald Trump falsely suggested that fact-checkers didn’t hold then-President Barack Obama accountable for his false promise that if you like your health care plan or your doctor, you can keep them under the Affordable Care Act. We wrote  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Inhofe Misleads on B...: Inhofe Misleads on Bees Sen. James Inhofe made misleading claims in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency about the relationship between neonicotinoid pesticides and bees: Declines in honeybee populations across the U.S. and Europe have occurred since at least 2006. Pesticides, neonics in part (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stretching the Truth...: Stretching the Truth in Nebraska Club for Growth Action is out with another attack ad on Republican Senate candidate Jon Bruning, this time stretching to paint him as a “big taxer.” Earlier this month, the group exaggerated Nebraska Attorney General Bruning’s spending record. The latest ad says Bruning “once cal (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bad Bankruptcy Stat,...: Bad Bankruptcy Stat, Repeated Last week on our main site, we pointed out that President Obama used an incorrect statistic on bankruptcies caused by medical expenses in his address to Congress. And yesterday, he repeated it, as Jake Tapper at ABC News noted : Tapper: "The cost of health care now causes a bankr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump and Coa...: Video: Trump and Coal Jobs In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper discusses President Donald Trump’s remarks at his June 21 Iowa rally about coal mining jobs. As we wrote in our story, “FactChecking Trump’s Iowa Rally,” the president again claimed he has reversed the trend of coal mining job (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pro-Kasich Ad’s Misp...: Pro-Kasich Ad’s Misplaced Job Boast A new TV ad boasts that Ohio Gov. John Kasich has created 400,000 jobs in his state and will do the same for Michigan as president. But Michigan actually has gained more jobs than Ohio during Kasich’s time in office, both in raw numbers and in the rate of job growth. The pro-Kasi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kerry, Cotton Spar O...: Kerry, Cotton Spar Over Iran Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. Tom Cotton each claimed the other distorted the facts regarding the role of Congress in a possible international deal on Iran’s nuclear program: Cotton, a freshman senator from Arkansas, finds himself at the center of the Iran debate after h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bogus Attack in Coal...: Bogus Attack in Coal Mine Country A TV ad in West Virginia’s 3rd District falsely claims that Republican Evan Jenkins “vowed to repeal black lung benefits.” Jenkins vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, not end black lung benefits. A repeal of the ACA would make it more difficult for some miners and surviving  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Will Romney Increase...: Will Romney Increase Defense Spending By $2 Trillion? Paul Ryan insisted in the Oct. 11 debate that Mitt Romney  will not increase defense spending. Joe Biden interrupted Ryan twice to say  Romney will increase it by $2 trillion. Who’s right? The answer depends on another question: compared with what? Romney would spend $2 trillion  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Debunking Trump’s La...: Debunking Trump’s Latest Arizona Election Claims After a contractor hired by state Senate Republicans to look into the results of the 2020 Arizona election provided an update on its findings at a legislative hearing on July 15, former President Donald Trump issued a series of false and misleading statements about what it has un (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay Americans are worried about money – the government’s as well as their own – and the Sunday talk shows reflected that concern. We had a few bones to pick with their guests when it came to discussion of earmarks, the housing market and Social Security. And however one defines that  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mis-Tweeting in the...: Mis-Tweeting in the News In light of our article yesterday about false and misleading political claims on Twitter, we found this story on media mis-tweetment amusing: Mediaite.com: Just after 9:30 @ABCWorldNews twittered this:  BREAKING: President Obama will name Elena Kagan his nominee for the  Supreme  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Paul ‘Stood with Rea...: Paul ‘Stood with Reagan,’ But Not Long Ron Paul highlights his ties to Ronald Reagan in a web video, but fails to mention he disavowed Reagan's policies in 1987 — citing them as a reason for resigning from the Republican party that year. In a letter of resignation to the chairman of the Republican National Committee i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Social Media Posts U...: Social Media Posts Use Old Video of White House Official to Make False Claim About Stimulus Checks Three stimulus payments have been sent to Americans to help them weather the economic impact of the pandemic. Social media posts are using a video clip of a White House official to falsely claim a fourth payment will arrive soon. But the video is from March 2021, and a fourth pay (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump on the ACA and...: Trump on the ACA and the Uninsured In an interview with ABC News, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that “nobody ever deducts all the people that have already lost their health insurance” from estimates on how many have gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act, or stand to lose it if the law is repealed (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pence Links Iran’s S...: Pence Links Iran’s Soleimani to 9/11 Attacks Vice President Mike Pence tweeted that Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani “[a]ssisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan” of some of the terrorists who executed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To support his claim, a spokeswoman referred to a State Department document that said Iran, (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Fuzzy Medica...: Trump’s Fuzzy Medicare Math President Donald Trump on several occasions has taken credit for making Medicare “stronger.” In one instance, he said, “Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth.” In fact, Medicare’s finances have worsened since he took office, and economic (Source: FactCheck.org)

Indeed, Born in the...: Indeed, Born in the U.S.A. President Barack Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate today, yet another piece of concrete evidence that shows he was born in the United States. The White House said he received a special exemption from the Hawaii Department of Health, which keeps the lon (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama and ‘American...: Obama and ‘American Exceptionalism’ Bobby Jindal revived an old criticism about President Obama’s penchant for multilateralism, but he went too far when he said Obama “won’t proudly proclaim American exceptionalism.” At the U.S. Military Academy last year, Obama pronounced unequivocally: “I believe in American exce (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democratic PAC Disto...: Democratic PAC Distorts Facts in Virginia Senate Race A Democratic super PAC distorts some facts in a TV ad that compares the records of former Sen. George Allen and former Gov. Tim Kaine, who are running against each other for an open Senate seat in Virginia. The Majority PAC ad contains exaggerations on Medicare, federal deficit s (Source: FactCheck.org)

Exploring the Legali...: Exploring the Legality of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Q: Can employers, colleges and universities require COVID-19 vaccinations? A: Generally, they may require immunizations. But there is some uncertainty about the legality of mandating vaccines authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Does federal law (Source: FactCheck.org)

Joe Biden Lives!...: Joe Biden Lives! No, we haven’t forgotten that the Democrats have a VP candidate, too. While he hasn’t been making much news lately, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden has been busy out on the stump. We’ve caught him stretching the truth a bit. You can read all about Biden’s adventures in misquoting in our  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Pitch to Farmers In his much publicized visit to Iowa, President Donald Trump made a few false and misleading statements about agricultural exports: The president visited Iowa on June 11, the same day former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in the state. Trump, who won Iowa by 9.4 percentage p (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misquotes Clap...: Trump Misquotes Clapper on FBI ‘Spy’ In a morning tweetstorm on the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump misquoted James Clapper. Trump claimed the former intelligence director said, “Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign,” when, in fact, Clapper said the FBI did not spy on his campai (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Power to Par...: Trump’s Power to Pardon President Donald Trump tweeted that “all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon.” It’s true that the president has the constitutional power to issue pardons, but there are some limits to that power. Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution says a presiden (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stormy Daniels Said...: Stormy Daniels Said 2018 Letter Denying She Had Sex With Trump Is a ‘Lie’ Porn actor Stormy Daniels maintains that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006. Daniels said a letter she signed under pressure in 2018, claiming the affair “never happened,” was a “lie.” But some conservatives are misleadingly citing that letter as proof that Trump and Daniels w (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our New Look...: Our New Look As you may have noticed, FactCheck.org has a new look.   It’s been in the works for months, and it’s more than just a facelift.  We’ve added some new features. We’ve also tried to make our content  easier to read and easier to find. Here’s some of what you’ll find: We hope you’ll (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Instagram Pos...: Video: Instagram Posts Spread Texas Lawmaker’s False Claims on Vaccine Testing In this video, FactCheck.org and Univision Noticias teamed up to debunk false claims, spreading on social media, that were made by a state senator in Texas about vaccine safety.   All three of the COVID-19 vaccines administered in the U.S. went through clinical trials involving t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: The Ninth Dem...: Video: The Ninth Democratic Debate We examine four claims from the Feb. 19 Democratic debate in this video: For more on these claims and others in the debate, see our story “FactChecking the Las Vegas Democratic Debate.”    (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tillis: Education Bu...: Tillis: Education Budget Backer or Hacker? A North Carolina public school teacher says in a TV ad that she tells her students to “start with facts,” but she begins attacking Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis with an exaggerated claim about Tillis’ education “cuts.” In the NEA Advocacy Fund ad, the teacher says Tilli (Source: FactCheck.org)

Twisting Cochran’s R...: Twisting Cochran’s Record A TV ad from a tea party group plays word games in an attempt to align Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on health care, immigration and the federal debt: Cochran, who has served in the Senate since 1978, faces a c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Still on the Prowl A...: Still on the Prowl Against Palin The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is keeping the heat on Alaska Gov. (and former VP candidate) Sarah Palin for supporting “aerial hunting” of wolves in Alaska. As part of a new advocacy campaign on Palin’s environmental record, the group has enlisted actress Ashley Judd to na (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s ‘War on Wome...: Obama’s ‘War on Women’? On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has been hammering a statistic that “over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women,” evidence, he says, that President Obama’s policies amount to a “war on women.” Romney’s statistic is accurate, as far as it goes. But (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Repeats Mislea...: Biden Repeats Misleading Talking Point on Preexisting Conditions In praising the Affordable Care Act, President Joe Biden misleadingly warned of the consequences if Republicans ever repealed the law, saying that would mean “100 million Americans with preexisting conditions can once again be denied health care coverage by their insurance compan (Source: FactCheck.org)

Huckabee’s False Wit...: Huckabee’s False Witnessing Mike Huckabee made a number of twisted claims about President Obama’s recent reference to the Crusades and the Inquisition at the National Prayer Breakfast. In an appearance on Fox News on Feb. 9, the former Arkansas governor and 2016 Republican presidential prospect said the pre (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts About Zika...: The Facts About Zika Several members of Congress wrote to government officials about the recent Zika virus outbreak in Brazil and a suspected rise there in the number of microcephaly cases. But some of those letters overstated what’s known about these two phenomena. The senators were reacting to the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump, Sessio...: Video: Trump, Sessions on DACA In this week’s video with FactCheck.org, CNN’s Jake Tapper reviews how President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions characterize the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program. In announcing the phase out of the Obama-era DACA program, Sessions described DACA reci (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: FactChecking...: Video: FactChecking the First Debate In this video, we review some of claims made during the first Democratic debate on June 26 in Miami, Florida.  For more information, see our story “FactChecking the First 2020 Democratic Debate.” (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clinton and the Beng...: Clinton and the Benghazi Reports Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said all of the government investigations into the terrorist attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi concluded that “nobody did anything wrong.” That’s not exactly accurate. An independent accountability board appointed by Clint (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump, Carson on 9/1...: Trump, Carson on 9/11 ‘Celebrations’ Donald Trump’s widely discredited claim that Muslims in New Jersey were seen on TV cheering the 9/11 terrorist attacks — and Ben Carson’s initial support of Trump’s remarks — has resulted in even more false claims, as both candidates try to explain their statements: It was in a N (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Amazon Attac...: Trump’s Amazon Attack In his latest attack on Amazon, President Donald Trump made some unsupported and distorted claims about the U.S. Postal Service and its relationship with the giant online retailer: Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and is the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon. Both  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Soft on Crime?...: Obama Soft on Crime? With a handful of days to go before Election Day, the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania is going after Sen. Barack Obama with a mailer that claims the presidential nominee has “a record of being soft on crime.” Luckily, our fellow fact-checkers at PolitiFact.com are al (Source: FactCheck.org)

Suspect Claims from...: Suspect Claims from Obama’s ’60 Minutes’ Interview President Barack Obama made a couple of questionable claims during a recent interview with Steve Kroft of CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Kroft’s interview with Obama took place on Dec. 9 and aired on CBS on Dec. 11. ‘McCain’s Economist’ Touts Stimulus? Obama disagreed with Kroft that there  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Partisans Seize on E...: Partisans Seize on Edited Clip of CDC Director’s Comments on COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discussed a recent study that found that on the rare occasion when fully vaccinated people died from COVID-19, they often had multiple risk factors for severe disease. But her reference to vaccinat (Source: FactCheck.org)

Was Wesley Clark a R...: Was Wesley Clark a Republican? A New Hampshire voter e-mails us to ask: “I’m considering voting for Clark and am still researching him and his background . . . I’m concerned about different snippets that I hear about his Republican background. Have you done any articles on this – or plan to?” Now we have. And  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pro-Dixon Ad Uses ‘J...: Pro-Dixon Ad Uses ‘Joke’ About Drag Queens in a Misleading Attack on Whitmer Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said she was joking when she said in a June speech that there should be “a drag queen for every school.” During the speech, Nessel talked about her frustration with politicians who focus on “wedge issues” that “divide us,” such a (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘No Guarantee’ — Wit...: ‘No Guarantee’ — With Plan, or Without Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, whose ads we have faulted in the past, is airing a new spot that calls for dropping any federal insurance option from the health care overhaul bills. "Despite what the president or Congress say," the narrator tells us, "their health care propos (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is Bacon Better for...: Is Bacon Better for You Than Tilapia? Q: Is bacon better for you than tilapia? Does tilapia cause cancer and/or Alzheimer’s disease? A: No. These false claims, spread by multiple websites, are not supported by solid scientific evidence.   What is the truth about warnings that eating tilapia may cause cancer and/or A (Source: FactCheck.org)

Autopsy Study Doesn’...: Autopsy Study Doesn’t Show COVID-19 Vaccines Are Unsafe To date, the benefits of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination outweigh the risks, which include a rare but increased risk of myocarditis, or heart inflammation. Social media posts, however, are citing a German autopsy study to misleadingly suggest otherwise.  No vaccine or medical product i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kasich’s Post-Cold W...: Kasich’s Post-Cold War Defense Cuts A pro-Jeb Bush super PAC says John Kasich “voted with Nancy Pelosi to cut troop levels and military funding.” That’s true. But those votes in the early to mid-1990s came at a time in U.S. history — post Cold War — when the debate on Capitol Hill was not whether to reduce troops o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Thune’s Estate Tax D...: Thune’s Estate Tax Distortions In making his pitch to repeal the estate tax, Sen. John Thune grossly inflated an out-of-date statistic about the percentage of businesses forced to liquidate because of the tax. Thune claimed that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office “said a third of businesses who owe th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday, Gr...: Groundhog Friday, Groundhog Day Edition Politicians often make the same claims over and over again, leaving us fact-checkers empathizing with Bill Murray’s character in that 1993 classic “Groundhog Day.” This week was no different. To highlight the repeats we’ve debunked before, we launched a feature during the 2016 el (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Obama, Clinto...: Video: Obama, Clinton Not ISIS ‘Founders’ In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper refutes Donald Trump’s claim that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “founded ISIS.” Trump points to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2011, under Obama, as “the founding of ISIS.” But exp (Source: FactCheck.org)

No ‘Veto Power’ for...: No ‘Veto Power’ for Clinton on Uranium Deal The author of “Clinton Cash” falsely claimed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State had “veto power” and “could have stopped” Russia from buying a company with extensive uranium mining operations in the U.S. In fact, only the president has such power. At the time of the sale, Clin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Zelensky Remains in...: Zelensky Remains in Ukraine, Despite False Claims on Social Media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared in several recent videos that show he has remained in the country since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. But a post circulating on Facebook falsely claims he fled and recorded a video using a green screen to make it appear as though h (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Medicare Op-Ed In an op-ed for USA Today, President Donald Trump made a series of false and misleading statements about Medicare and health insurance in general: Trump wrote his op-ed under the headline “Democrats ‘Medicare for All’ plan will demolish promises to seniors.” And, as the headline  (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Great Premium De...: The Great Premium Debate Continues In the latest round of what’s-happening-to-health-care-premiums, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann wrongly claims that we’re seeing “huge increases” in employer-sponsored plans, while President Obama touts historically low health care inflation, which experts say is mainly due to  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dems’ ‘Halfway’ Hust...: Dems’ ‘Halfway’ Hustle Democrats claim their $10.5 billion in proposed cuts are "halfway" to the GOP’s $61 billion. We give that arithmetic an "F." President Barack Obama claimed during his March 5 radio address that "my administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Repub (Source: FactCheck.org)

Same Inaccurate Clai...: Same Inaccurate Claim on Oil Imports In a July 6 interview with Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, President Obama repeated his false claim that the U.S. “import[s] more oil today than ever before.” When Obama first said this in February during an address to a joint-session of Congress, we wrote that the president had (Source: FactCheck.org)

Helen Was Right … an...: Helen Was Right … and So Was Gibbs When we posted a FactCheck Wire item last week about a dispute between White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and longtime correspondent Helen Thomas, we were surprised that Gibbs didn’t know President Obama had taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago’s law schoo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Whoppers of 2...: Video: Whoppers of 2017 In this video, we highlight six whoppers — out of a long list — told by politicians in 2017. The president dominated our roundup of the worst falsehoods of the year, so he dominated this video as well.  Trump started his presidency with false claims about the size of the crowd at (Source: FactCheck.org)

Warming to Blame for...: Warming to Blame for Western Wildfires? Q: Did climate change cause the wildfires out West? A: Scientists say a hot and dry summer — conditions more likely in a warmer world — caused widespread wildfires in Western states. But land use changes also have played a role. As of early October, the National Interagency Fi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Press...: Video: Trump’s Press Conference On Jan. 11, President-elect Donald Trump held his first press conference in nearly six months. This video highlights four of the false or misleading statements from Trump. For more details on these and other claims that Trump made, read our full analysis.
(Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Press Conference In a nearly two-hour press conference, President Joe Biden stretched the facts and left out important context on vaccinations, funding for lead pipe removal, child poverty and more. Biden’s presser was on Jan. 19. In touting his administration’s progress on vaccinating Americans  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fabricated Fourth of...: Fabricated Fourth of July Tweet Was Not from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was among the many politicians who posted Fourth of July messages on social media. But a bogus, nonsensical July Fourth tweet purportedly from the congresswoman has been spread by partisan accounts. The post was meant as a spoof. Like many members of C (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dying from Lack of I...: Dying from Lack of Insurance A new study from researchers with the Harvard Medical School found that 45,000 deaths a year can be attributed to the lack of health insurance. Our readers ask: Really? And, they want to know, isn’t this finding actually from the single-payer advocacy group Physicians for a Natio (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Hillary...: FactChecking Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton has made it official: She will run for president in the 2016 race. Here’s a look back at some of the claims from Clinton that we’ve fact-checked over the years. There’s plenty more in our file on Clinton, which is like a trip down memory lane. But it has been a wh (Source: FactCheck.org)

Under FactCheck’s Ho...: Under FactCheck’s Hood: A Note on Methodology for our Palin – 20% Energy Piece Last Friday, we pointed out that a Palin-McCain talking point stating that Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy” was false. The actual figure was 3.5 percent. Within the story, we allowed (several times) that Palin and McCain may have misspoken (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama on Education I...: Obama on Education Investments President Obama says public investment in schools was “allowed to wither” as a result of the “trickle-down ideology” of recent decades. There’s no clear trend for public spending on education as a percentage of the U.S. economy, but public investment hasn’t withered. It has incre (Source: FactCheck.org)

RNC’s False E-mail...: RNC’s False E-mail Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman sent out a mass “Dear Republican” email urging support for Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, saying: “Before Ms. Miers was even announced many Democrat groups said they would oppose her.” That’s false. Some groups said they mi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump on Bord...: Video: Trump on Border Apprehensions In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org explain why President Donald Trump was wrong when he said southwest border apprehensions increased under past administrations. Trump made the claim during a July 28 speech to law enforcement officials in New  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Scalise Spins Facts...: Scalise Spins Facts on Security Aid Rep. Steve Scalise spun two keys facts about Ukrainian aid to defend President Donald Trump against accusations that Trump withheld that aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate the alleged Ukraine interference in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as former Vice President Joe Biden a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gore and Pruitt Deba...: Gore and Pruitt Debate Paris Targets Former Vice President Al Gore and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt made competing claims about whether the U.S. could have changed its emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, instead of pulling out of the deal. Legal experts side with Gore, who claimed the t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gephardt ‘Enron’ Att...: Gephardt ‘Enron’ Attack Misses the Mark Dick Gephardt has been attacking Howard Dean for giving “huge tax breaks” to Enron while cutting aid to Vermont ’s poor. But Gephardt has failed to show that Enron got any special treatment. The inducements that Dean approved for setting up so-called “captive” insurance companies (Source: FactCheck.org)

Halter’s Ad: Mislead...: Halter’s Ad: Misleading Senior Voters In the final week of Arkansas’ June 8 runoff campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is running a misleading ad against Sen. Blanche Lincoln that accuses her of "cutting Social Security" and threatening to cut Medicare and Social Security in the future (Source: FactCheck.org)

Perdue Distorts Nunn...: Perdue Distorts Nunn Campaign Memo Republican David Perdue says in a TV ad that Michelle Nunn, his opponent in the Georgia Senate race, “admits she’s too liberal” and that “her foundation gave money to organizations linked to terrorists.” Not exactly. The ad cites the source as “her campaign plan,” but that partic (Source: FactCheck.org)

Competing Keystone C...: Competing Keystone Claims Two senators on opposite sides of the Keystone XL pipeline debate are selectively spinning the facts to make their case: ‘Unlocking the Canadian Tar Sands’ Congress is now debating legislation that would strip the Obama administration of its power to decide the fate of the Keysto (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Touts GOP Turn...: Trump Touts GOP Turnout In making the case for his electability in the general election, Donald Trump said that when it comes to primary voter turnout so far “the Democrats are down 35 percent, whereas the Republicans are up over 70 percent.” Actually, both Republicans and Democrats are seeing higher pr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Health Care Premium...: Health Care Premium Costs In last week’s final debate, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama cited greatly different estimates for the average cost of health insurance, and a number of readers have asked us to sort it out. Obama: By the way, the average policy costs about $12,000. … McCain: The average cost  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump, Pence and Rea...: Trump, Pence and Reassessing Coronavirus In a little more than a month, President Donald Trump’s language about the coronavirus has shifted, from talk of 15 cases that “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero” to warning of as many as 2.2 million deaths in the country if no social distancing efforts (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democratic Spin on B...: Democratic Spin on Border Security Funds Democrats say the Trump administration is asking for more money for a border wall even though it has spent only 6 percent of the funds that Congress has appropriated for border security over the past two years. That’s misleading. About 60 percent has been awarded to contracts. Th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Does Santorum Care A...: Does Santorum Care About Unemployment? A new ad from the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future plays a game of gotcha politics. It grabs a comment from Rick Santorum — “I don’t care what the unemployment rate’s going to be” — out of context to frame an attack on the former senator’s record on economic issues. I (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong on China...: Trump Wrong on China Trade, Again As U.S. trade talks with China drag on, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. has “never taken in 10 cents from China” in tariffs, but “now we’re taking in billions and billions of dollars.” The U.S. has collected billions in customs duties on Chinese imports for y (Source: FactCheck.org)

Manafort Off Base on...: Manafort Off Base on Terrorist Claim Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, wrongly claimed that “the NATO base in Turkey” was attacked last week by “terrorists.” Middle East experts told us there wasn’t any such attack. One expert called Manafort’s remark a “total fabrication.” Manafort, appearing on CNN’ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Blasts Kaine f...: Trump Blasts Kaine for Syrian Refugee Plan Donald Trump falsely claims that Tim Kaine signed a letter recently asking to bring in even more Syrian refugees to the U.S. than Hillary Clinton has proposed. But Kaine recently only asked President Obama to honor his commitment to bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees. Trump made his (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Ad Faults Kerry...: Bush Ad Faults Kerry’s “Family Priorities” A television ad released July 16 by the Bush campaign attacks John Kerry’s priorities on “issues that affect our families.”  The ad correctly cites two Kerry votes, on parental notification of teen-age abortions and emergency “morning-after” contraception. This ad oversimplifies  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Unpacking Sanders’ ‘...: Unpacking Sanders’ ‘Climate Refugee’ Statistic In the last Democratic debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders said that the United Nations is projecting “hundreds of millions of climate refugees” in the “years to come” as a result of climate change. The U.N., however, doesn’t currently endorse a particular estimate, and the term “climate (Source: FactCheck.org)

DNC Ad Says Bush Los...: DNC Ad Says Bush Lost Manufacturing Jobs The Democratic National Committee released an ad Aug. 6 saying 2.7 million manufacturing jobs had been lost under Bush. That’s true, but ignores the fact that manufacturing jobs started their decline three years before Bush took office. The ad also says “Bush protects tax breaks  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clinton’s Exaggerate...: Clinton’s Exaggerated Wall Street Claim Hillary Clinton exaggerated when she claimed Bernie Sanders “took about $200,000 from Wall Street firms” through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DSCC did provide about $200,000 to support Sanders’ 2006 Senate race, but a relatively small percentage of the DSCC’s (Source: FactCheck.org)

Another Salvo from t...: Another Salvo from the Insurance Industry Just a few days after the release of an insurance industry-backed study that found premiums would go up under the Senate health care bill, another industry-backed report has been published. Both reach the same conclusion about premiums. Both fail to take into consideration certai (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Repeated Fal...: Trump’s Repeated Falsehood on Auto Plants In launching his reelection campaign, President Donald Trump repeated a claim about new auto plants that he made a year-and-a-half ago. It’s still not true, and it fits a pattern of Trump falsely boasting of unexpected or unusual gains in the auto industry. Trump said of the U.S. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bogus Claim Targets...: Bogus Claim Targets Bud Light Partnership with Transgender Influencer Bud Light partnered with a transgender social media influencer for a promotion during the NCAA March Madness tournament. Social media users responded with the false claim that the CEO of the company had resigned following a conservative backlash to the partnership. The claim orig (Source: FactCheck.org)

McDonnell’s Distorte...: McDonnell’s Distorted Attack Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s new ad claims that Democrat Creigh Deeds’ policies would bring $7,800 in higher taxes over four years for Virginia households. The ad would be devastating, if it were true.  Fuel for Frustration Deeds has never proposed  (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRCC’s Weak Case...: NRCC’s Weak Case In the March 13 special House election in Pennsylvania, a pair of Republican Party TV ads attack Democratic candidate Conor Lamb as a weak prosecutor who can’t be trusted. But the GOP’s evidence is flimsy and misleading. Both ads fault Lamb, a former federal prosecutor, for negot (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bogus Antifa Claims...: Bogus Antifa Claims Follow Capitol Riot Viral social media posts and a Republican House member have amplified claims wrongly identifying some right-wing figures at the U.S. Capitol riot as part of “antifa.” The claims feed into an unfounded conspiracy theory that anti-fascist activists in disguise orchestrated the even (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Border Blund...: Trump’s Border Blunders On the day he met with congressional leaders to discuss the budget stalemate, President Donald Trump repeated several false and misleading claims about the Southwest border and the wall he wants to build: Trump met on Jan. 2 with congressional leaders to discuss a partial governm (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Spin on ‘Bro...: Trump’s Spin on ‘Broken’ Testing While his administration has faced criticism for being slow to ramp up testing for coronavirus infections, President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the problem was with his predecessors, saying the administration “inherited a broken system” that it “rebuilt.” That’s mis (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ask SciCheck Files:...: Ask SciCheck Files: The Relationship Between Mental Health and Mass Shootings In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, some officials have cited mental illness as a reason for the unprovoked attacks. But as we’ve explained before, having a mental illness isn’t predictive of who will perpetrate a mass shooting. Back in 2019, we (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Ad Misleads on...: Trump Ad Misleads on Illegal Immigration President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign makes the misleading claim in a TV ad that he is “cutting illegal immigration in half.” In fact, apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2019 were more than double the total in fiscal year 2016 and almost triple the tota (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCain: $3 million t...: McCain: $3 million to study the DNA of bears? We’ve heard that one before. McCain’s been playing it for laughs since 2003. The study in question was done by the U.S. Geological Survey, and it relied in part on federal appropriations. Readers (and politicians) may disagree on whether a noninvasive study of grizzly bear popula (Source: FactCheck.org)

Mark Walker Voted Ag...: Mark Walker Voted Against Impeaching Trump, Contrary to a Misleading Ad Republican Mark Walker voted against former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in December 2019, and he was no longer a U.S. congressman when the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump a second time in January 2021. A misleading TV ad attacking Walker, who is run (Source: FactCheck.org)

Social Media Posts F...: Social Media Posts Falsely Attribute Statement on Gasoline Prices to Nonexistent ‘BP Oil Executive’ A supply and demand imbalance, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, led to a surge in gasoline prices. But an online statement attributed to a supposed “BP Oil Executive” blames gasoline prices on U.S. dependence on foreign oil. BP told us the statement did not come from  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay Pity the poor politicians and spinmeisters who had to don suits in the middle of a long weekend and populate the talk shows. They were up to their usual tricks, though: One Republican operative wrongly implied a crime by the White House; several guests talked about the debt or de (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Sta...: FactChecking the State of the Union President Joe Biden put his spin on some facts, particularly about the economy, in his Feb. 7 State of the Union address: In boasting about job growth, the president said that more jobs were created in his first two years than in four years under any president.  “Two years ago, t (Source: FactCheck.org)

New RNC Web Ad Blurs...: New RNC Web Ad Blurs History The Republican National Committee’s latest Internet ad says “the facts speak for themselves,” but it twists a few of them. It rewrites history when it claims Republicans “created the Department of Homeland Security,” which the White House actually resisted for nearly nine months  (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Bogus Border Cl...: More Bogus Border Claims During the ongoing family-separation controversy, President Donald Trump and others have made false or misleading statements on several immigration issues: In adopting a “zero tolerance policy” for those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, Trump is choosing to detain and c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misfires on De...: Trump Misfires on Debate Claim Donald Trump made the baseless accusation that the Hillary Clinton campaign was plotting to schedule two of three presidential debates on nights with NFL football games in order to limit viewership. The dates were set by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates long befo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Classified Documents...: Classified Documents Found at Former Biden Office, Drawing Comparisons to Trump The Justice Department is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the discovery of classified documents by personal lawyers for President Joe Biden inside his former office in November. The White House publicly acknowledged the federal review this week. In this story, we will rev (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misguided Tw...: Trump’s Misguided Tweet Seeking Wallace Apology for Noose ‘Hoax’ President Donald Trump misdirected blame when he questioned why NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace had not “apologized  to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid … only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX.”  Wallace, NASCAR’s only full-time  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Distorting Climate C...: Distorting Climate Change Threats, Solutions Two potential Republican candidates for president distorted the facts about climate change and casually dismissed well-established threats and potential solutions: Santorum’s ‘Do-Nothing’ Plan Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania who ran for president in 2012 a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gingrich No Fan of C...: Gingrich No Fan of Czars Newt Gingrich referenced an old claim spread by conservative commentator Glenn Beck about supposed White House "czars," saying he would "abolish all the White House czars" his first day in office if he were elected president. In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, the Repub (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tussling Over TARP...: Tussling Over TARP A recent TV ad from Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter claims that Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln "says she voted against bailing out Wall Street." That’s not what Lincoln said. The two are campaigning in the Democratic primary for the Senate. Halter’s ad refers to a Lincoln camp (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Auto I...: Trump’s False Auto Industry Tweets In a series of tweets aimed at the auto industry, President Donald Trump inaccurately said that his fuel efficiency plan would reduce the cost of cars “by more than $3000” and make them “substantially safer.” Even going by his administration’s analysis — which many experts doubt  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Boehner v. Ohio (Rep...: Boehner v. Ohio (Reprise) House Minority Leader John Boehner has again attacked the way his home state is spending its stimulus funds. And again, he’s wrong. At his weekly news conference, Boehner criticized the Ohio Department of Transportation for using millions of dollars in American Recovery and Recon (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Debate...: FactChecking Debate No. 2 We published several tidbits here on The Wire during last night’s presidential debate. Our full article contains a few more misleading statements and falsehoods that we needed a little more time to research. Check it out on our main site: FactChecking Debate No. 2 October 8, 2008 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Escalating E...: Trump’s Escalating Exaggerations on Blumenthal Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Marine Corps reservist during the Vietnam War, wrongly claimed years ago that he “served in Vietnam” and once spoke of the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans “when we returned.” Those misstatements are fair game for his political opponents to criticize. B (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Senior Scare in...: More Senior Scare in Montana Turning the tables on a traditionally Democratic attack line, a new ad from Republican Montana Senate candidate Steve Daines falsely accuses his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Walsh, of wanting to privatize Social Security. And both candidates trade jabs in competing TV ads on Me (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Science Trump Go...: The Science Trump Got Wrong in the Post Interview In a Nov. 27 interview with the Washington Post, President Donald Trump made a series of inaccurate statements. He questioned the cause of climate change, praised a nonexistent method for wildfire prevention and even recycled a long-debunked news story from the 1970s. The preside (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s News Conference President Donald Trump offered his spin on the first weeks of his administration, and made some familiar false claims, during his Feb. 16 press conference: Trump took questions from the media after announcing his new pick for labor secretary, R. Alexander Acosta, dean of the Flor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Counting Conundrum...: Counting Conundrum We’ve been questioning the Obama administration’s claim that the stimulus bill would "save or create more than 3.5 million jobs" since the president began saying it. In February, we pointed out that although several economists made such a projection, they all said there was a lot (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Distort Questi...: Posts Distort Questionable Study on COVID-19 Vaccination and EMS Calls Studies have found that COVID-19 increases the risk for heart complications, and that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks for males and females in all age groups. Social media posts, however, have misinterpreted and publicized a criticized study that claims to (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Guide to Johnson &...: A Guide to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine Editor’s note, May 17, 2023: The J&J vaccine is no longer available in the United States. Vaccine name: Ad26.COV2.S Design type: Adenovirus viral vector  Dose number: 1 dose, with a “booster” dose recommended for all adults at least two months later. At least two months after get (Source: FactCheck.org)

Republican Group Sel...: Republican Group Selectively Edits Biden Tax Remark A Republican group’s TV ad uses an out-of-context video clip of Joe Biden saying if he is elected president, “your taxes are going to be raised, not cut.” That was Biden’s response to one person at a 2019 campaign rally who said he or she had done “very well” financially as a res (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Revises NRA Hi...: Biden Revises NRA History on Background Checks Vice President Joe Biden exaggerates when he waxes nostalgic about the “good old days” — a time when “everybody, including the NRA, thought background checks made sense.” Biden’s office says he was referring to the NRA’s support for background checks in the early 1990s and its st (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Scranton Town Hall At a town hall event in the swing state of Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump made several false and misleading claims, some of which we have repeatedly debunked before. He further embellished his talking points on trade with China, claiming China “didn’t do anything with us” b (Source: FactCheck.org)

State of the Union A...: State of the Union Anecdotes Debunked It is customary for presidents to invite guests to the State of the Union address to provide anecdotal evidence that supports the president’s policies. But it turns out President Donald Trump’s speech included misleading descriptions of two such guests. We didn’t write about eith (Source: FactCheck.org)

Congressman’s Slippe...: Congressman’s Slippery Cell Phone Claim A congressman’s Web video goes too far when it portrays a program that subsidizes cell phone service for very low-income persons as a government giveaway that is costing taxpayers billions. The video also misleadingly claims Arkansas Rep. Tim Griffin is “reforming” the program. H (Source: FactCheck.org)

Q&A on Second COVID-...: Q&A on Second COVID-19 Boosters for Older People Update, May 23: Citing a steady rise in cases and a “substantial increase in hospitalizations for older Americans,” the CDC said on May 19 that all people over the age of 50 and the immunocompromised “should” get a second booster. At the end of March, the Food and Drug Administra (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s ‘Breakfast Club’ Interview In a May 22 radio interview, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made a number of false, misleading or exaggerated claims. Biden made all of those claims during a roughly 18-minute segment on “The Breakfast Club” radio program. But it was a controversial comment (Source: FactCheck.org)

No ‘Special Subsidy’...: No ‘Special Subsidy’ for Congress Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger is misleading his constituents by saying that he will decline the health insurance offered to members of Congress next year because it includes a “special subsidy” from the president that “exempted” Congress from the Affordable Care Act. Congress  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders’ PTSD Statis...: Sanders’ PTSD Statistic Sometimes politicians are right, but their campaigns can’t prove it. And we do. That’s what happened when we decided to take a look at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ talking point that 500,000 veterans came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic bra (Source: FactCheck.org)

New Obama Ad Repeats...: New Obama Ad Repeats Old Distortions A new Obama campaign ad repeats old distortions in a homestretch appeal to voters. The ad — running in the swing states of Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia — begins with the image of a man in a voting booth. “In here, it’s just you. No ads, no debates, just you,” the narrator beg (Source: FactCheck.org)

Newt’s Faulty Food-S...: Newt’s Faulty Food-Stamp Claim Newt Gingrich claims that “more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history.” He’s wrong. More were added under Bush than under Obama, according to the most recent figures. The former speaker made that claim Jan. 16 in a Republican d (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Shaky $5,000...: Trump’s Shaky $5,000 Boast President Donald Trump is on shaky ground when he claims that annual income for the typical household is up by an inflation-adjusted $5,000 since he took office. That turns out to be based on an erratic series of estimates drawn from a government survey that isn’t even designed t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Another Black Hole...: Another Black Hole A secretive, Republican-leaning group has spent an estimated $3 million on a TV ad making the false claim that government spending is "not creating jobs."

The ad first appeared Sept. 7 and was still running nearly a month later. The ad shows a man in a business suit digging (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong About Ob...: Trump Wrong About Obama Documents In response to a sweeping document request from a congressional committee looking into potential criminal activity, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that in the face of similar congressional inquiries, his predecessor, President Obama, “didn’t give one letter.” The Obama ad (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Press Confer...: Trump’s Press Conference Donald Trump made several false and misleading statements in an hour-long press conference — on Bernie Sanders, Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton’s emails and more. In the press conference, Trump was right about one top Democrat, Vice President Joe Biden. Trump pointed out that Bid (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading GOP Healt...: Misleading GOP Health Care Claims Republicans in Washington seem to be shifting into overdrive to keep a health system overhaul from passing Congress before the August recess. Yesterday, July 22, brought two more deceptive assaults (that we know of) on the pending bills, one from Minority Whip Eric Cantor and the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s News...: Video: Trump’s News Conference Donald Trump held his first solo press conference as president on Feb. 16. This video examines some of the claims that Trump made about his anti-terrorism executive order, his Electoral College victory, his record on jobs and Russia’s ownership of U.S. uranium. Read our article,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Preemptive and Fal...: A Preemptive and False Attack in Wisconsin A conservative group falsely paints former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as a “champion of Obamacare.” In fact, Thompson criticized the new health care law at the time of its passage, calling it “the beginning of a government-controlled health care system.” Lately, he has called  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Attacks on Sa...: Romney Attacks on Santorum’s Turf Mitt Romney has put the brakes on a TV ad attacking Rick Santorum — one that highlights the blistering defeat the former Pennsylvania senator suffered in his 2006 reelection bid — as Santorum spends time with his ailing daughter. But with Santorum’s people announcing plans to hea (Source: FactCheck.org)

Joe Biden’s Producti...: Joe Biden’s Productivity Piffle Vice President Joe Biden falsely claimed that U.S. workers “are three times as productive as any worker in the world.” He’s not even close. By the standard measure for productivity, American workers ranked third in the world behind Norway and Ireland in 2011. Biden also stated th (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Whoppers of 2004...: The Whoppers of 2004 As election day neared, both candidates continued to twist and falsify in their final TV ads — and in a blizzard of expensive mail as well. Bush continued to accuse Kerry of proposing government-run health care and more taxes for middle-income persons, and of voting in the past t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Mislead About...: Posts Mislead About Status of 2021 North Carolina Abortion Bill A bill introduced in the North Carolina House of Representatives last year said anyone getting an abortion should be “held accountable” for murder. The bill received little support and did not advance. But social media posts misleadingly claimed the state is considering a proposa (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump, Giuliani Dist...: Trump, Giuliani Distort Facts on IG Report President Donald Trump and one of his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, distorted the findings of a new report about the forensic recovery of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok, a former FBI senior counterintelligence agent, and Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer: The president is re (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misleading V...: Trump’s Misleading Ventilator Counter-Punch at Cuomo Hitting back at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pleas for the federal government to provide more ventilators, President Donald Trump misleadingly claimed Cuomo rejected a 2015 recommendation to purchase 15,000 ventilators and instead “established death panels” and “lotteries.”  Cont (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kerry Stays Positive...: Kerry Stays Positive, Avoids Specifics A Kerry ad released June 1 offers a string of glittering general statements without a single specific factual claim. It has Kerry saying, for example, “We’re a country of the future….we’re a country of optimists, we’re the can-do people.” You won’t catch us disputing that opinion (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Stretches Evid...: Biden Stretches Evidence for Universal Pre-K President Joe Biden has made sweeping claims about evidence that he says supports his universal pre-kindergarten plan. There is plenty of research on specific targeted programs, but there isn’t much on universal programs. And the research that does exist, in many cases, is more n (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Attacks Romney...: Trump Attacks Romney with Baseless Viral Claims Several days after Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican vote to convict President Donald Trump of abuse of power in the impeachment trial, the president used his Twitter account to spread dubious and unfounded viral claims about the Utah senator. We asked the White House for  (Source: FactCheck.org)

What’s Romney’s Plan...: What’s Romney’s Plan for Preexisting Conditions? The Obama campaign has repeatedly said that Mitt Romney was wrong when he claimed at the first debate that “preexisting conditions are covered under my [health care] plan.” We mostly agree. Romney’s comments implied that he would keep the provisions of the Affordable Care Act tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Initiative Fun...: Biden Initiative Funds Drug Overdose Prevention, Not ‘Crack Pipes’ The Department of Health and Human Services launched a $30 million grant program in December to help “address the nation’s substance use and overdose epidemic” by reducing the dangers related to drug use. The program doesn’t provide funding for crack pipes, contrary to partisan c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misleading M...: Trump’s Misleading Medicare Boast In a Florida speech about senior citizens, President Donald Trump made misleading comparisons of Medicare costs under his administration and his predecessor’s. Trump claimed “premiums for Medicare health plans went up” under the Obama administration, but his administration “lower (Source: FactCheck.org)

Disgrace, Influence...: Disgrace, Influence Peddling and Other Debate Charges Newt Gingrich complained that in one early burst at the first Florida debate, Mitt Romney said “at least four things that are false” about him. Now Gingrich has specified which claims he was talking about, and we’ve checked the evidence he promised he would — and did — post on hi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tax Cuts for Oil Com...: Tax Cuts for Oil Companies? McCain isn’t proposing a special tax break for oil companies, despite Joe Biden’s mention (more than once) of the $4 billion cut they’d get. As we’ve noted previously, McCain’s plan would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent — for ALL corporations, not just oil compan (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong About Po...: Trump Wrong About Poverty ‘Record’ The U.S. Census Bureau officially estimates that close to 1 million fewer people were in poverty in 2017 compared with 2016. President Donald Trump called the decline “a record,” but it’s not. The drop in the number of people in poverty was larger in 2016 (an estimated 2.5 millio (Source: FactCheck.org)

PAC Attack on Kelli...: PAC Attack on Kelli Ward Badly Misfires A group calling itself DefendArizona attacks Senate candidate Kelli Ward of Arizona in a TV ad filled with images of terrorists and misstatements of facts: Kelli Ward, a former state senator, is one of five Republicans running for U.S. Senate in the Aug. 28 primary. Polls show sh (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Real Scott’s Sha...: The Real Scott’s Shady? We  had plenty to say recently about a misleading health care ad from a group called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. We criticized the ad on its merits — but another organization has taken a different tack.  Health Care for America Now released this TV spot, titled "Shady," o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Spins Quotes b...: Trump Spins Quotes by/About Biden In campaign rallies in Nevada, President Donald Trump twisted remarks made by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and gave a disputed description of comments by Biden’s former chief of staff. Trump made his claims in campaign rallies in Nevada on Sept. 12 and 13. Trump dist (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Whistleblower Co...: The Whistleblower Complaint Timeline President Donald Trump has been accused in a whistleblower complaint of “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” “In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government offici (Source: FactCheck.org)

The ACA: Losing Jobs...: The ACA: Losing Jobs vs. Choosing Not to Work House Majority Leader Eric Cantor falsely claims that a new report confirms the long-held Republican belief that “millions of hardworking Americans will lose their jobs,” because of the Affordable Care Act. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report says more than 2 milli (Source: FactCheck.org)

New Group, Old Habit...: New Group, Old Habits A liberal, labor-funded group calling itself Americans United for Change (previously Americans United to Protect Social Security) is running a $1-million national advertising campaign that makes some dubious claims and tries to imply more than it can prove. The one-minute ad atte (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactCheck Wins Sigma...: FactCheck Wins Sigma Delta Chi Award We are happy to announce that the staff of FactCheck.org has won a 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Our coverage of deceptive claims about the federal health care legislation was selected by the judges for the non-deadline reporting award f (Source: FactCheck.org)

Hold the Context...: Hold the Context The latest ad from New York State Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, a Republican, says that the Albany Times-Union and FactCheck.org have called Democratic challenger Scott Murphy’s advertising "unfair" and "false," respectively. The two men are vying for an open House seat r (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is Santorum the Bigg...: Is Santorum the Biggest (Senate) Loser? Entrepreneur Donald Trump dismissed the surging candidacy of Rick Santorum by claiming that Santorum lost his Senate seat in 2006 by a wider margin than any incumbent senator in history. He’s wrong. In fact, there have been two dozen incumbent senators who have taken worse beatin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Scandal and Corrupti...: Scandal and Corruption in California Tuesday’s special election to replace disgraced ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham features TV ads making overheated use of words such as “scandal” and “corrupt.” A National Republican Congressional Committee ad falsely implies that Democratic candidate Francine Busby broke a promis (Source: FactCheck.org)

Draft Fears Fueled b...: Draft Fears Fueled by Inaccurate E-mails Several FactCheck subscribers have asked about an e-mailed rumor that is causing a lot of anxiety. It claims that steps are being taken to resume military conscription next year. But the message abounds with misinformation and half-truths. And some experts say conscription is the (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush’s Gas Attack: D...: Bush’s Gas Attack: Does Good Policy Make Bad Politics? A Bush ad released March 30 attacked Kerry for once supporting the “wacky” idea of raising the gasoline tax by 50 cents per gallon. That was a decade ago. More recently, the man who later became Bush’s own chief economist said higher gasoline taxes would lead to “less traffic con (Source: FactCheck.org)

Twisting the Facts o...: Twisting the Facts on ‘Dirty Money’ in the Georgia Race Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff’s production company received payments from a Hong Kong media company and Al Jazeera for the rights to air investigative pieces, but a Republican TV ad misleadingly claims Ossoff got cash from “Chinese communists and terrorist sympat (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Web site Uses Mi...: GOP Web site Uses Misleading Kerry Quote On Abortion A Republican National Committee Web site urging Catholics not to vote for Kerry prominently features a 1994 quote in which Kerry said abortions “need to be moved out of the fringes of medicine and into the mainstream of medical practice.” But Kerry wasn’t advocating more frequent (Source: FactCheck.org)

How ‘Liberal’ Is Sen...: How ‘Liberal’ Is Sen. Cornyn? Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas says he’s running against Sen. John Cornyn in the state’s 2014 primary because the incumbent is a backstabbing “liberal” who only votes with Republicans “temporarily” when an election approaches. But Cornyn’s voting record shows otherwise.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Twisting Romney’s Ab...: Twisting Romney’s Abortion Stance An Obama campaign ad twists Mitt Romney’s stance on abortion, claiming Romney “backed a law that outlaws all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.” During a 2007 debate, Romney was asked if he would sign legislation to ban “all abortion” — assuming, hypothetically, that Ro (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democratic Deportati...: Democratic Deportation Misinformation A Democratic super PAC claims that Republican candidates for president are “all on the same page” with Donald Trump. But the ad invites a false conclusion that both Marco Rubio and Trump favor deporting millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal permission.  Priorit (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Premature Cl...: Trump’s Premature Claim about Ventilator Production In a March 21 press briefing, President Donald Trump prematurely declared that automakers, including Ford and General Motors, were manufacturing much needed ventilators “right now.” It wasn’t until nearly a week after the president’s claim that General Motors and Ventec Life Syst (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCain’s Erroneous E...: McCain’s Erroneous Earmark Attack Sen. John McCain incorrectly claimed that earmarks nearly doubled from $7.8 billion to $14.5 billion in Newt Gingrich’s first two years as House speaker. Actually, the increase was about half that. Furthermore, earmarks first peaked, then declined under Gingrich. By the final yea (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kerry Falsely Claims...: Kerry Falsely Claims Bush Plans To Cut Social Security Benefits A Kerry ad claims “Bush has a plan to cut Social Security benefits by 30 to 45 percent.” That’s false. Bush has proposed no such plan, and the proposal Kerry refers to would only slow down the growth of benefits, and only for future retirees. It was one of three possible “reform  (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Narrative on M...: False Narrative on Measles Outbreak Rep. Mo Brooks and potential presidential hopeful Ben Carson both suggested a connection between illegal immigration and the spread of diseases such as measles in the United States. Though it is often difficult to pinpoint precise origins of disease outbreaks, there is no evidenc (Source: FactCheck.org)

Treasury Tax Expert...: Treasury Tax Expert to Bush: Clinton’s Increase WASN’T The Biggest. In speeches and fundraising appeals the Bush campaign keeps making a distorted claim that Clinton’s 1993 tax increase — supported by Kerry — was “the biggest in history.” Republicans have been repeating this gross overstatement for more than a decade, but now there’s less justifi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading Abortion...: Misleading Abortion Attack in Michigan A TV ad in a Michigan primary says Republican Rep. Justin Amash “voted to allow gender-selection abortions” — described in the ad as “killing an unborn baby because it’s not the sex the parent wanted.” But the ad ignores Amash’s anti-abortion position and his reasons for voting a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Has Not Been ‘...: Trump Has Not Been ‘Clear’ in Support of Masks Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says President Donald Trump has been “clear” in calling for the public to “wear face coverings when you can’t social distance.” The official messaging from the White House has been, as Azar put it, “clear and unambiguous” since early  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Promise on SCO...: Biden Promise on SCOTUS Nominee Not Unique While running for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan pledged at a campaign event that “one of the first Supreme Court vacancies in my administration will be filled” by a woman, saying it’s “time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists.” And President Donald Trump, while runnin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney All Wet on Sh...: Romney All Wet on Ships The Romney campaign is moving full steam ahead with a new radio ad that repeats a misleading debate claim by Romney that the size of the Navy’s fleet is the smallest it has been since 1917. The number of ships is actually up a bit since 2007 under President George W. Bush. Moreov (Source: FactCheck.org)

NARAL’s ‘Edgy’ Condo...: NARAL’s ‘Edgy’ Condom Ad in Colorado A TV ad in the Colorado Senate race says Republican Rep. Cory Gardner wants to “ban birth control,” so “you better stock up on condoms.” In fact, Gardner supports making birth control pills available over-the-counter, and nothing he supports or has proposed would ban the sale of  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Wisconsin Trek-ery...: Wisconsin Trek-ery Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker claims his wealthy Democratic opponent is “sending jobs overseas.” But Mary Burke says the family company, Trek Bicycle Corporation, is “making more bikes in the U.S. than anyone.” Both are at least partly correct, but neither is telling the whole stor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Who’s Bearing ‘False...: Who’s Bearing ‘False Witness’ in Arkansas? In Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Joyce Elliott accuses her opponent, Tim Griffin, of violating the commandment not to bear false witness — but she goes on to make questionable claims herself:  Vote-Caging Allegations The ad, which first aired Oct. 12, begins with (Source: FactCheck.org)

Thai Princess’s Coma...: Thai Princess’s Coma Due to Infection, Country Not Banning Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Thai officials attributed the collapse of the king’s eldest daughter in December to a bacterial infection, not to COVID-19 vaccination, as some have baselessly claimed online. Rumors about the country banning Pfizer’s vaccines are also “fake news,” officials said.  More than half (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fabricated Screensho...: Fabricated Screenshot Misrepresents GOP’s ‘Commitment to America’ House Republicans unveiled a list of policy goals called the “Commitment to America” in September. But a fabricated screenshot purporting to show the agenda has been circulating on social media. None of the items included in the image come from the agenda — although some echo pro (Source: FactCheck.org)

Idaho Newspaper’s In...: Idaho Newspaper’s Inspired Effort The Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho, says it likes to check the many press releases it receives for “both spin and accuracy” before publishing them. We applaud that effort. In fact, a release from Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho was recently the subject of a full-page fact ch (Source: FactCheck.org)

Double-Counting Grow...: Double-Counting Growth How does President Donald Trump’s proposed budget reach a balance in 10 years, as the administration says it will? With 3 percent economic growth, says Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. How does Trump plan to deeply cut taxes without redu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ride into the Danger...: Ride into the Danger Zone The Air Force’s much-criticized F-22 has been a favorite subject of much of the blogosphere, particularly since Mark Bowden’s feature article praising the fighter appeared in the March issue of The Atlantic . Tuesday night the discussion went mainstream, with Obama’s oblique refe (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Clinton’s Par...: Video: Clinton’s Partisan Game The latest fact-checking video in our collaboration with CNN’s Jake Tapper is about a popular talking point used by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine. In Florida on Aug. 8, Clinton made a false claim about the partisan leanings o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Extras: iPhone Death...: Extras: iPhone Death Panels, Newton, UFOs This week’s political tidbits range from a new iPhone app to 17th century scientists’ correspondence. There’s an App for That OMG! We thought we’d seen it all. But an iPhone app designed to test your knowledge about the overhaul of the health care system? Seriously? To play "Deat (Source: FactCheck.org)

Eric Trump Wrong Abo...: Eric Trump Wrong About Michigan Manufacturing Jobs On the night of the Michigan primary, Eric Trump falsely claimed that on his father’s watch “[m]ore manufacturing jobs have been created in Michigan than just about every state.” Instead, manufacturing jobs over the last three years have increased in Michigan by less than 2% — ha (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Santoru...: FactChecking Santorum Next up in our occasional look at past misstatements by presidential candidates: Rick Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator announced his candidacy today. We have checked just a few claims from Santorum, who served in the Senate from 1995 to 2007. See our previous posts on cl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Controversia...: Biden’s Controversial COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Plan Last month, the Biden administration announced a plan to begin administering third shots of the two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to healthy people in mid-September to shore up potentially flagging immunity to the coronavirus.  But many scientists say that given the available evidence,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

SciCheck Talks Secon...: SciCheck Talks Second COVID-19 Boosters, Philly Mask Mandate on iHeartRadio FactCheck.org Science Editor Jessica McDonald fielded questions about second COVID-19 booster shots and the possible return of Philadelphia’s mask mandate in a recent interview that aired on several of that city’s iHeartRadio stations. McDonald spoke with Loraine Ballard Morrill, (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Misleading Talking...: A Misleading Talking Point on Women Workers President Donald Trump and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway have been boasting lately about the increase in the number of women employees on the president’s watch as a sign of economic progress. But this is a misleading talking point. It’s true that 863,000 women joined the (Source: FactCheck.org)

White House Spins Wo...: White House Spins Women’s Health Republicans are right: The White House is greatly exaggerating when it says that “women, in particular,” benefit from a prevention fund that the House GOP proposes to repeal. The truth is that the fund in question wasn’t set up specifically for women’s health programs, and we cou (Source: FactCheck.org)

Schiff’s ‘Parody’ an...: Schiff’s ‘Parody’ and Trump’s Response In recent days, President Donald Trump has suggested that Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, should be arrested for “treason” and charged with “lying to Congress” for mischaracterizing Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Off Base on H...: Romney Off Base on Health Care Mitt Romney made misleading statements about the federal health care law in an effort to highlight how it differs from the overhaul he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. Romney, who has not yet declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, gave a m (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Trump Deception...: More Trump Deception on Voter Fraud In an ABC News interview that aired Jan. 25, President Donald Trump doubled down on false and misleading claims about voter fraud. As we wrote recently, Trump has continued to claim — without any evidence — that there was massive voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election. And (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Leaves Mislead...: Biden Leaves Misleading Impression on U.S. Debt In promoting his own spending priorities, President Joe Biden blamed his predecessor’s “unpaid tax cuts and other spending” for increasing the national debt by nearly $8 trillion over four years. The total debt figure is correct, but trillions of that were due to bipartisan coron (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s Clean Energ...: Romney’s Clean Energy Whoppers Mitt Romney made numerous bogus claims in the Oct. 3 debate about the $90 billion in grants, guaranteed loans and tax breaks for energy projects in the stimulus bill: Putting $90 Billion ‘Into Wind and Solar’? The $831 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — bett (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s H1N1 Swine F...: Trump’s H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic Spin In tweets and other appearances, President Donald Trump has repeatedly compared his response to the new coronavirus with President Barack Obama’s handling of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. But Trump’s information is frequently incorrect or misleading — and the two viruses are  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Science...: FactChecking Science Claims in 2017 In our roundup of 2016 claims, we hypothesized that SciCheck would have no dearth of false and misleading claims to cover in 2017. That proved true. From President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris Agreement to Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt’s ruling ag (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Welfare Clai...: Trump’s Welfare Claim President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that his administration has “lifted 10 million people off of welfare,” a figure that primarily includes the change in the number of recipients of food stamps, but also those enrolled in other programs. While it’s clear enrollment has dec (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Repeatedly Wro...: Trump Repeatedly Wrong on Ford’s Testimony Speaking to supporters in Mississippi, President Donald Trump made a series of false statements about Christine Blasey Ford’s sworn testimony about an alleged sexual assault. Ford told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Misleading Attack Ab...: Misleading Attack About Democrats and Criminal Immigrants Every Democrat – and some Republicans – increased funding earlier this year for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with deporting those living in the country illegally. The Biden administration has directed ICE to prioritize the deportation of immigrants (Source: FactCheck.org)

No, Asa Didn’t...: No, Asa Didn’t A Democratic ad in the Arkansas governor’s race falsely accuses GOP nominee Asa Hutchinson of allowing wasteful spending of taxpayer funds for employee bonuses and a lavish “birthday party.” In fact, Hutchinson wasn’t running the agency in question, and wasn’t cited by the report (Source: FactCheck.org)

A $100 Million Court...: A $100 Million Court Fight? Even before Bush named his nominee, liberal and conservative interest groups armed with millions of dollars unleashed TV and Internet ads designed to influence the first Supreme Court fight in over a decade. Advocacy groups kicked off their public relations campaigns within hours (Source: FactCheck.org)

O RLY?...: O RLY? Yesterday, we wearily acknowledged that nothing would dissuade birth-certificate doubters from their conviction that Barack Obama is not a United States natural-born citizen. As if on cue, dentist/lawyer Orly Taitz appeared on the "Colbert Report," and told the faux pundit that n (Source: FactCheck.org)

Warren Buffett on Ob...: Warren Buffett on Obamacare A week ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett denied he wants to “scrap” Obamacare, calling such reports “totally false.” But that has done little to stop some Republicans from spreading the rumor. A day after Buffett’s denial, Rep. Jim Jordan said, “All the momentum is in our  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Huckabee Repeats Dis...: Huckabee Repeats Discredited Claims Mike Huckabee, an unsuccessful 2008 presidential candidate, announced he is running for president once again and, in doing so, repeated some old, discredited lines on the economy, health care and tax cuts. The former Republican governor of Arkansas spoke for about a half hour on  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Farewell Remarks In a video farewell address on Jan. 19 and in remarks at Joint Base Andrews before leaving for Florida on Jan. 20, outgoing President Donald Trump distorted the facts on the economy, his tax cuts, veterans, the military, drug prices and more. Trump, Jan. 19: We also built the gre (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fiorina’s Unsupporte...: Fiorina’s Unsupported Claim about VA Deaths Carly Fiorina on several occasions has said 307,000 veterans have died while waiting for care from the Veterans Health Administration. In one instance, she said all of those veterans “died in the last year,” citing a recent inspector general’s report. But that’s not what the repo (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Biden’s...: FactChecking Biden’s Town Hall President Joe Biden got some facts wrong and spun others in a Feb. 16 town hall that aired on CNN. The town hall was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Biden said it was “not true” that he had revised his 100-day school reopening goal to mean a majority of schools only need to be open (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Posts Distort...: Viral Posts Distort WHO Guidance on COVID-19 Tests Dubious websites and viral posts falsely claim that the World Health Organization changed COVID-19 testing protocols for political reasons following Joe Biden’s inauguration and admitted that false-positive cases had been inflating the case count. The WHO’s guidance merely remind (Source: FactCheck.org)

Road to a Second Imp...: Road to a Second Impeachment In the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol, the House Democrats on Jan. 11 introduced legislation to impeach President Donald Trump, charging him with “inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” The impeachment resolution accuses the president of repeatedl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump on Clinton’s C...: Trump on Clinton’s Child Care Plan Donald Trump falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton “has no child care plan” and “never will.” In fact, Clinton’s proposals for child care and paid family leave have been posted on her campaign website for months. Despite that fact, Trump’s daughter Ivanka also claimed in an interv (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s David Duke A...: Trump’s David Duke Amnesia Asked if he would publicly reject the support of former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said, “I just don’t know anything about him.” That’s nonsense: For several days, Trump has had trouble handling questions about Duke, ev (Source: FactCheck.org)

60 Plus Wrong on Rat...: 60 Plus Wrong on Rationing The chairman of the conservative 60 Plus Association made the bogus claim that the Food and Drug Administration has "declassified" a breast cancer drug "because of cost and cost  alone," an example, he said, of the "rationing" of Medicare because of the  federal health care law.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Irish Professor Make...: Irish Professor Makes Unfounded Claims About Long-Term Effects of mRNA Vaccines The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines authorized for use were found to be safe and effective in clinical trials and real-world conditions. A professor in Ireland baselessly claims in a video circulating on social media that they are not, and that those who get the vaccines will die as a res (Source: FactCheck.org)

How Many Americans a...: How Many Americans and Allies Are Left in Afghanistan? On Aug. 18, President Joe Biden said if there were U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan on Aug. 31 who wanted to leave, “we’re gonna stay to get them all out.” But that’s not what happened when the last U.S. soldier departed the country. Biden broke that promise. But how many Americ (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Ark...: FactChecking the Arkansas Senate Race The Arkansas Senate race between Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican Rep. Tom Cotton began for us in June 2013 — just six months into the new Congress — with an article that carried the headline “It’s Groundhog Day for Fact-Checkers.” It hasn’t gotten much better for fact-c (Source: FactCheck.org)

SciCheck on the Radi...: SciCheck on the Radio FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson discussed several of our recent SciCheck articles on the public radio show “Conversations on Health Care.” See the audio clips below and links to our full articles for more information. Federal health officials testified at a Senate co (Source: FactCheck.org)

Phoning It In: Attac...: Phoning It In: Attack in Indiana by New, Well-Funded Conservative Group An automated attack call claims Indiana House candidate Baron Hill “voted to allow the sale of a broad range of violent and sexually explicit materials to minors.” That’s an apparent reference to a vote Hill cast in 1999 against a Republican-sponsored measure to bar the sale of c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Silver State Slipups...: Silver State Slipups An ad from a PAC headed by tea party Republican Sharron Angle relies on several dubious comparisons to attack the Affordable Care Act’s state-run exchange in Nevada. The ad comes from OurVoice PAC, which is chaired by Angle, who lost in a bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cruz Wrong on Sandy...: Cruz Wrong on Sandy Relief Sen. Ted Cruz wrongly claimed that a 2013 Hurricane Sandy relief bill was “filled with pork and unrelated spending,” estimating that “two-thirds of what was spent in that bill had little or nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose state was heavi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Carson on ‘Ex...: Video: Carson on ‘Extreme Bias’ This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper gives the full account of an incident Ben Carson has described as an example of “extreme political bias” on college campuses. Carson, a Republican presidential contender, has mentioned a 2013 incident at Florida Atlantic University, in which, he says, (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Deficit Dodg...: Obama’s Deficit Dodge President Obama is falsely claiming that his administration’s policies are responsible for “about 10 percent” of the deficits “over the last four years.” The cumulative deficit during that time is nearly $5.2 trillion. Obama signed two bills — the 2009 stimulus and the 2010 tax c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Still Fudging t...: Bush Still Fudging the Numbers on Kerry’s Tax Votes The Bush-Cheney campaign released a television ad August 23 accusing Kerry of casting “98 votes for tax increases.” The number is an improvement on Bush’s  earlier claim that Kerry cast 350 votes for “higher taxes,” which we described as inflated. But even the new, reduced total  (Source: FactCheck.org)

We have company!...: We have company! We’re often asked if there are other sites like ours, trying in a nonpartisan way to help voters sort out fact from fiction. Now, there is. The St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C.  announced a new Web site called PolitiFact.com. The off (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Timeline of Trump...: A Timeline of Trump Tower Meeting Responses In a recently disclosed letter to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, President Donald Trump’s attorneys said the president “dictated” his son’s statement to the New York Times about a June 2016 meeting between top Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer.  The admission, in  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney’s Run-in on S...: Romney’s Run-in on Social Security Mitt Romney gave a misleading answer to a question about Social Security during a feisty exchange with a heckler in Iowa. He said payroll taxes take 15.3 percent "out of your earnings," but only the self-employed pay that rate. All other workers pay half of that, with the other h (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Cost of ‘Medicar...: The Cost of ‘Medicare-for-All’ Sen. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 14th Congressional District seat, are pointing to a study they say shows “Medicare-for-all” would save Americans money. But the author says their comments “appear to reflect a misunderstanding (Source: FactCheck.org)

Martinez Attacks Den...: Martinez Attacks Denish Over ‘Waste’ Republican Susana Martinez bashes her opponent, Democrat Diane Denish, over unemployment, the state jet and a Christmas card in her latest ad in New Mexico’s gubernatorial campaign. While some of the accusations contain grains of truth, the ad presents little evidence to back up  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Defends Oswald...: Trump Defends Oswald Claim Donald Trump doubled down on his baseless insinuation that a photograph published by the National Enquirer shows Ted Cruz’s father with “crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast.” A day after accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump touted the national tabloid as a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Timeline of National...: Timeline of National Guard Deployment to Capitol On the day of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, the first National Guard members arrived to assist at about 5:40 p.m. By then, most of the violence had subsided. In the critical minutes before rioters had breached the Capitol building around 2 p.m., the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police (Source: FactCheck.org)

Down-to-the-Wire Dec...: Down-to-the-Wire Deceptions Attack ads, and the misinformation that comes with them, continue to swamp the airwaves. In fact, spending on ads in these midterm elections could top $3 billion, said Evan Tracey, whose Kantar Media-owned Campaign Media Analysis Group tracks political ads running nationwide. Tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Garbles Canadi...: Trump Garbles Canadian Trade Stats The official U.S. statistics on trade with Canada show that the United States has a trade surplus with our neighbor to the north. The U.S. surplus was $2.8 billion in 2017, according to the Census Bureau. Yet, President Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. has “close to $100 bi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: GOP Conventio...: Video: GOP Convention, Day 1 CLEVELAND — FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson discusses some of the false and misleading claims made on the first day of the Republican National Convention, which focused on public safety. Robertson discusses Benghazi, border security and violent crime rates with USA T (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Yanks Steyer Q...: Trump Yanks Steyer Quote Out of Context President Donald Trump used a truncated quote from Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer to falsely suggest that Steyer thinks “Democrats are going to destroy the economy in 15 minutes if they get in control.” That was Steyer paraphrasing what he says Trump’s false line of (Source: FactCheck.org)

Haley Twists Biden’s...: Haley Twists Biden’s and Harris’ Comments on Racism in America President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said in April 2021 that they do not believe America is a racist nation — although both have said America has a history of racism and racism does exist in the country today.  However, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, at a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Settling the Dust in...: Settling the Dust in Arkansas The Arkansas Senate race continues to be fertile ground for fact-checkers. Sen. Mark Pryor tries to make political hay out of agricultural dust by distorting the facts in a new TV ad, while Republicans manufacture a bogus jobs claim against the Democratic senator. Taking a page o (Source: FactCheck.org)

COVID-19 Vaccine-Gen...: COVID-19 Vaccine-Generated Spike Protein is Safe, Contrary to Viral Claims Hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered safely in the United States in the last six months. There is no evidence to indicate that the spike proteins generated by human cells following vaccination are a toxin or that they circulate in the body and dam (Source: FactCheck.org)

Planned Parenthood G...: Planned Parenthood Goes on Offense A Planned Parenthood ad wrongly implies that New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte supports shutting down the government in order to defund Planned Parenthood. She doesn’t. The ad also exaggerates the potential impact of a shutdown. Ayotte did vote in favor of a failed bill to defund P (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney and the Tax R...: Romney and the Tax Return Precedent Mitt Romney says he is following the “precedent” set by John McCain in releasing just two years of tax returns. That’s accurate. But McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, bucked the trend of other recent presidential candidates. In more than three decades, no other nominees for either pa (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Spent Much More...: U.S. Spent Much More in Afghan War Than in Support for Ukraine So Far, Contrary to Online Claim The U.S. spent more than $849 billion in the 20-year war in Afghanistan and has spent about $113 billion to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. But a video on social media falsely claims that the aid for Ukraine is “double the U.S. expenditure for its own war in Afghani (Source: FactCheck.org)

Grayson’s Iffy Claim...: Grayson’s Iffy Claims Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson is facing rebuke from House Republicans for saying that "Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick." In a Sept. 29 speech on the House floor, Grayson said that the Republican health care plan is: "Don’t get sick. And if you do get si (Source: FactCheck.org)

About Trump’s Oreo B...: About Trump’s Oreo Boycott Donald Trump says he’s “never eating another Oreo again” because its parent company is “closing a factory in Chicago and they’re moving to Mexico.” Some Oreo production is moving to Mexico, but a downsized Chicago plant will remain. And there will still be three plants in the U.S (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Spins Court Ru...: Trump Spins Court Ruling on Trump Foundation President Donald Trump downplayed the findings in a case against his namesake charitable foundation, claiming the judge had found only “some small technical violations.” Actually, in a settlement announced this week, the judge ruled that Trump “breached his fiduciary duty” to the (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Half-true Attack o...: A Half-true Attack on McCain The conservative anti-tax group Club for Growth targeted 2008 presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain with a TV ad in New Hampshire. It contains a half-true claim that McCain would “keep the death tax.” In fact, McCain has long advocated reducing the number subject to the tax, so t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Take Biden’s V...: Posts Take Biden’s Vaccination and Hurricane Prep Comments Out of Context, Again Last year, President Joe Biden made a special plea to residents in hurricane-prone states to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in advance of possible evacuations or shelter stays. Now, as Hurricane Ian approached Florida, social media posts recycled an old clip of his comments to m (Source: FactCheck.org)

Spinning the Stimulu...: Spinning the Stimulus Vice President Joseph Biden and House Republican Leader John Boehner both put their partisan spin on the effects of the administration’s economic stimulus spending. But Biden exaggerated, and Boehner got it wrong, according to a report issued later in the day by the nonpartisan C (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Republi...: FactChecking Republican Attacks on Fetterman’s Crime Stance Political ads and social media attacks by opponents of Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman have sought to portray Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor as dangerously soft on crime, but some of the claims stretch the facts: Criminal justice reform has been at the forefront of (Source: FactCheck.org)

Michael Flynn’s Russ...: Michael Flynn’s Russia Timeline Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, the U.S. Special Counsel’s Office announced on Dec. 1. In his plea agreement, Flynn admitted he lied to FBI agents about two discussions he ha (Source: FactCheck.org)

The FBI Files on Cli...: The FBI Files on Clinton’s Emails The FBI’s summary of its investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton contradicted some of her past statements about her use of a private email system for government business: The FBI on Sept. 2 — the Friday before Labor Day — released an 11-page summary of its inte (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: December Demo...: Video: December Democratic Debate Claims In this video, we explore several claims made by Democratic presidential candidates in the Dec. 19 debate: For more on these claims and others from the debate, see our story “FactChecking the December Democratic Debate.”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump on Tariff Reve...: Trump on Tariff Revenue On the eve of the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. collects “over $100 Billion a year in Tariffs.” The U.S. collected $41 billion in fiscal year 2018, and has collected $34.7 billion through the first six months of this fiscal year (Source: FactCheck.org)

Instagram Posts Spre...: Instagram Posts Spread Texas Lawmaker’s False Claims on Vaccine Testing Animal testing and clinical trials were conducted before the COVID-19 vaccines were granted emergency use authorization in the U.S. But a state senator in Texas falsely claimed at a hearing that animal tests were “stopped” because the “animals were dying” and that “they didn’t do (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden Admits He Was...: Biden Admits He Was ‘Stopped,’ Not ‘Arrested,’ in South Africa In recent interviews, former Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged that he was wrong to say he was “arrested” while trying to visit Nelson Mandela in South Africa. He was actually “stopped” and briefly “detained,” Biden said. “I guess I wasn’t arrested, I was stopped,” Biden told (Source: FactCheck.org)

Freddie, Fannie and...: Freddie, Fannie and Barack Update, Sept. 19: Portions of this post were based on incomplete data. We have struck through the incorrect sections. Please see here for our corrected account. We apologize for the inconvenience. In a Sept. 16 stump speech in Vienna, Ohio, Republican presidential nominee John Mc (Source: FactCheck.org)

It’s Groundhog Day f...: It’s Groundhog Day for Fact-Checkers Patriot Majority USA, a Democratic political action committee, taps the same old playbook from summer 2012, dredging up all-too-predictable Medicare and health care claims in attacking Arkansas Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, a potential 2014 Senate candidate. The group’s ad, launche (Source: FactCheck.org)

Expert Voice Analyst...: Expert Voice Analyst: It’s Trump When Donald Trump flatly denied that he posed as public-relations man John Miller in a 1991 phone interview, we asked a speech scientist at Carnegie Mellon University to analyze the voice on the tape and to compare it to an interview of Trump from around the same time. Her conclu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s ‘Truth Team’...: Obama’s ‘Truth Team’ Wrong on GOP Donor The Obama “Truth Team” blames GOP donor Thomas O’Malley’s refinery company for helping to “drive gas prices up this year by curtailing gas production.” But the facts are the exact opposite. The Energy Information Administration credits PBF Energy for preventing a price spike in t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Breast Cancer Ballyh...: Breast Cancer Ballyhoo This ad from Americans for Prosperity caught our eye because of the sheer number of falsehoods it hits on, both new ones and old faithfuls. The group, whose president helped organize the Tea Party protests, is spending $750,000 to run this very misleading ad in nine states.  In t (Source: FactCheck.org)

Democratic Ad Twists...: Democratic Ad Twists Trump’s ‘Hoax’ Comment The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action has been running an ad falsely suggesting President Donald Trump called the coronavirus outbreak a “hoax.” At the beginning, the ad splices together two quotes to have Trump saying, “The coronavirus, this is their new hoax.” It is ob (Source: FactCheck.org)

Stretching Cuccinell...: Stretching Cuccinelli’s Record Two ads attacking Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli go too far. The race between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli has been hard-fought, with the latest poll showing just 3 percentage points separating the two major party candidates. We have looked at the claims i (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Hollow ‘Empt...: Trump’s Hollow ‘Empty Folders’ Defense Former President Donald Trump’s latest defense for having classified documents found by FBI agents at his Mar-a-Lago home is that many of them were simply “empty folders” stamped “classified” on the outside that Trump kept as mementos. The FBI says it did find dozens of empty fol (Source: FactCheck.org)

Nevada Blame Game...: Nevada Blame Game Republican Sharron Angle’s latest attack ad gets the facts about Nevada’s miserable economy right, but invites a questionable conclusion.  The ad is called "Please Stop," and it mocks Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s campaign slogan of "no one can do more"  for Nevada. In the ad, Ang (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cherry-Picking Colli...: Cherry-Picking Collins’ Prescription Drug Votes A Democratic TV ad attacks Sen. Susan Collins for voting twice “to allow drug companies to keep cheaper generic drugs off the market,” but omits the fact that Collins has supported bills intended to increase generic-drug competition and lower prescription costs. Collins, for exam (Source: FactCheck.org)

Turks Object to Perr...: Turks Object to Perry’s Baseless ‘Terrorist’ Claim Rick Perry created an international controversy when he claimed, with no basis in fact, that Turkey “is being ruled by what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.” That may be his opinion, but the fact is that the Republic of Turkey is a U.S. ally and a secular democracy r (Source: FactCheck.org)

Health Insurance Pre...: Health Insurance Premium Spin A new analysis on the Affordable Care Act prompts Republicans and the White House to trade misleading claims about the law’s impact on insurance premiums. Predictably, one side says they’ll go up; the other says they’ll go down. But both are stretching the facts, just as they’ve  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s MAGA Rally In a campaign speech supporting the Republican candidate in a special House election in Pennsylvania’s 18th District, President Donald Trump made several false and misleading statements on a range of topics, from drug smuggling to the stock market. Trump also repeated several cla (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Spotting Fake...: Video: Spotting Fake News Made-up news isn’t new, but it now spreads quickly through social media. Readers remain the first line of defense against the dissemination of these bogus reports. So, how do you spot a fake? We offer a video guide of the advice we detailed in our report “How to Spot Fake News.”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Ivanka Wrong...: Video: Ivanka Wrong on Paid Leave Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka wrongly claimed that the Trump Organization provides paid maternity leave to all of its employees. The policy isn’t available to all of the employees of Trump’s many businesses, as CNN’s Jake Tapper explains in this week’s fact-checking video. Ivank (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Misrepresents...: Obama Misrepresents U.S. Gun Laws In remarks at a technology conference in Brazil, former President Barack Obama misrepresented U.S. gun laws, claiming that “anybody can buy any weapon … without much, if any, regulation,” including “machine guns.” Machine guns have been tightly regulated since 1934 and banned sin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tucker Carlson Misre...: Tucker Carlson Misrepresents Vaccine Safety Reporting Data The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System accepts any reports of adverse side effects following vaccination to help regulators detect potential problems. Anyone can submit a report, whether or not the incident is vaccine-related. Fox News host Tucker Carlson misrepresented the V (Source: FactCheck.org)

Japan Continues to U...: Japan Continues to Use Vaccines, Not Ivermectin, to Fight COVID-19 More than 70% of Japan’s population has received the COVID-19 vaccines, and the government is moving ahead with a booster shot in December. But a conservative radio host in the U.S. falsely claimed, “Japan drops vax rollout, goes to Ivermectin.” Japan hasn’t stopped its vaccine p (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Climate Speech In announcing that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, a global accord aimed at addressing climate change, President Donald Trump made more than a few false and misleading claims: The Paris Agreement was reached on Dec. 12, 2015. It builds on the United Nations Fram (Source: FactCheck.org)

Abortion Distortions...: Abortion Distortions As President Bush considers exactly whom to nominate to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, Senators Barbara Boxer and Rick Santorum both have distorted some facts about the effect of Roe v. Wade. Boxer, a Democrat, claimed that repeal of Roe “means a minimu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Omar’s State of the...: Omar’s State of the Union Trivia Tweet Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar asked on Twitter: “Have we ever had an impeached President, deliver the State of the Union address while he is on trial in the Senate?” Answer: Yes. President Bill Clinton in 1999. Omar tweeted the inquiry on Feb. 2, two days before President Donald Tru (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Campaign Exagg...: Trump Campaign Exaggerates Potential for Mail-In Voting Fraud After Election The latest concern raised by the Trump campaign about mail-in voting is that some states run by Democrats will allow votes to be cast and counted after Election Day. Specifically, Hogan Gidley, the national press secretary for the Trump campaign, warned that Nevada legislators ha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama and the Defici...: Obama and the Deficit During a speech on Tuesday, President Obama promised to reduce the budget deficit: Obama: Now, this budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue because of the massive deficit we inherited and the enormous costs of this financial crisis. We have made some (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactCheck.org Wins S...: FactCheck.org Wins Sigma Delta Chi Award for Steel Story FactCheck.org has won a 2019 Sigma Delta Chi Award for fact-checking from the Society of Professional Journalists. “This award recognizes excellence in fact-checking, in a single work distributed on any platform,” including print, online, TV, radio “or shared by other means, such (Source: FactCheck.org)

Are Wages Rising or...: Are Wages Rising or Flat? To hear politicians tell it, wages are rising at the fastest rate in a decade, are the same as they were 45 years ago and are at a 60-year low. And all three claims could be correct, depending on what measure is used to justify it. Parsing the political claims on wages is an exer (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Statements on...: False Statements on Russia George Papadopoulos, who served as a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents. He admits he lied about repeated contacts during the campaign with people he believed had ties to the Russian governme (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cruz on Social Secur...: Cruz on Social Security as a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ In a televised debate on taxes, Sen. Ted Cruz denied that he ever called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” But in a 2011 interview, Cruz gave the definition of a “Ponzi scheme” and said it fits Social Security. “That is exactly how Social Security operates,” Cruz said in 2011. Th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misleadingly C...: Trump Misleadingly Claims That Ballot Count Was ‘Called Off’ President Donald Trump misleadingly said early in the morning after Election Day that ballot counting in states where he was leading had been “called off,” baselessly suggesting there was something suspicious happening. Similar complaints were posted by his supporters on social m (Source: FactCheck.org)

Reid Wrong on Bush’s...: Reid Wrong on Bush’s Economic Record Sen. Harry Reid falsely claimed that 8 million jobs were lost during the Bush administration. To the contrary, there was a net gain of 1 million jobs under President George W. Bush. It's true that more than 8 million jobs were lost as a result of the recent recession — from the j (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bush Proposes Slowin...: Bush Proposes Slowing Growth of Social Security Benefits for Future Retirees President Bush announced April 28 that he is embracing a proposal to address Social Security’s financial shortfall by slowing the growth of future benefits for higher-income and middle-income workers, but not for lower-income workers. Bush said, “I propose that future generations (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Sketchy Cohe...: Trump’s Sketchy Cohen Claims President Donald Trump went on the attack against Michael Cohen, saying his former personal attorney is a “weak person” trying to avoid jail time by “lying” about negotiations with Russian officials about a possible Trump Tower development in Moscow. But the president twisted sev (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Budget Revives ‘...: GOP Budget Revives ‘Obamacare’ Claims The release of the House GOP budget by Rep. Paul Ryan has sparked a resurgence of false and misleading claims about the Affordable Care Act, which the budget seeks to largely repeal. On the Sunday talk shows, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Comm (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump on ‘Bre...: Video: Trump on ‘Breaking Up’ Families In this video, CNN’s Jake Tapper and FactCheck.org review President Donald Trump’s false claim that immigration officials “have to break up families” caught crossing the border illegally because of “bad laws that the Democrats gave us.” There is no such law. Instead, it’s the Tru (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tillerson on Climate...: Tillerson on Climate Change During his confirmation hearing for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson said “our ability to predict” the effect of increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere “is very limited.” That’s not entirely accurate. While “very limited” is subjective, scientists have differi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Clinton on Ma...: Video: Clinton on Marijuana Research This week, CNN’s Jake Tapper, with the help of FactCheck.org, fact-checks Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s claim that “you can’t do any research about” marijuana because it’s a Schedule I drug. That’s false. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies d (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ted Kennedy and the...: Ted Kennedy and the No-Fly List Myth Several Republican presidential candidates cite Ted Kennedy as a reason why they oppose President Obama’s proposal to block the sale of guns to known or suspected terrorists on the no-fly list. Kennedy, after all, was mistakenly placed on the government’s no-fly list, they say. B (Source: FactCheck.org)

Insurance Co. Profit...: Insurance Co. Profits: Good, But Not Breaking Records When President Obama said at his July 22 news conference that health insurance companies were making record profits "right now," we thought he might have insider access to corporate earnings data. After all, most of the top publicly traded companies were on the verge of filing th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Extras: Endorsements...: Extras: Endorsements, Rockwell, Abortion Our latest edition of Extras features doctors going to court to stop a conservative group’s ad, googly eyes and Catholic abortion attacks. Says Who?  A television ad from the conservative Rethink Reform, a recently created advocacy arm of the Employment Policies Institute, uses d (Source: FactCheck.org)

School Photo...: School Photo Here at FactCheck.org, we’ve seen our share of fake photos of President Obama. So we were suspicious when a reader e-mailed us a silly-looking photo of the president speaking in a grade-school classroom with teleprompter, podium and presidential seal. The photo is so silly, in fa (Source: FactCheck.org)

DCCC Deceptions...: DCCC Deceptions A graphic in a Democratic TV ad falsely states that New Jersey GOP House candidate Tom MacArthur was “accused of cheating disaster victims.” MacArthur was once the chairman and CEO of a claims and risk management company that was accused, but MacArthur was never personally cited  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama and the ‘Buffe...: Obama and the ‘Buffett Rule’ In their zeal to pass the “Buffett Rule,” President Obama and Vice President Biden leave the false impression that many, if not most, millionaires (people who earn $1 million or more a year) are paying a lower tax rate than the middle class. The fact is that even without the Buff (Source: FactCheck.org)

Some ‘Climategate’ C...: Some ‘Climategate’ Conclusions In November 2009, private e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia were stolen and made public. Climate change disbelievers called it “Climategate,” saying that the e-mails proved collusion and conspiracies that would discredit man-made global warm (Source: FactCheck.org)

Extras: Gore, Dogs,...: Extras: Gore, Dogs, Health Insurance and Bunkmail Our pre-Thanksgiving round-up of bits and pieces of political bunk includes Al Gore, a fancy new dog park and chain e-mails that refuse to die. Gore’s too hot Al Gore overstated a key fact about geothermal energy during a recent appearance on "The Tonight Show": Gore, Nov. 13: Tw (Source: FactCheck.org)

Post Misstates Quote...: Post Misstates Quote from Starbucks CEO on Marriage Starbucks has a long history of supporting LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage. But a post on social media twists a 2013 statement from its CEO at the time to falsely claim he said don’t buy Starbucks coffee “if you support traditional marriage.”  Starbucks has long supported marr (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Comment on D...: Biden’s Comment on Delaware’s Puerto Rican Population In Puerto Rico to tour hurricane damage and recovery efforts, President Joe Biden said there was a “large Puerto Rican population in Delaware — relative to our population” and that he was “sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically.” Newsweek wrote that the (Source: FactCheck.org)

U.S. Aid to Ukraine,...: U.S. Aid to Ukraine, Explained When asked whether Republicans would “make it more difficult” for Congress to approve Ukrainian aid, Rep. Mike Turner criticized the $40 billion package enacted in May, saying: “We don’t need to pass $40 billion large Democrat bills … to send $8 billion to Ukraine.” Much more tha (Source: FactCheck.org)

Q&A on the Medicatio...: Q&A on the Medication Abortion Court Rulings More than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions, done early in pregnancies. But less than a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal court rulings have raised questions about the future availability of mifepristone, the first of the two-drug c (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking CPAC...: FactChecking CPAC A parade of potential Republican presidential candidates took turns at delivering speeches and answering questions at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference that started on Feb. 26. They boasted of their accomplishments and voiced their opinions, but along the way th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Slips...: Sunday Slips Viewers were relatively safe from false or misleading tripe on the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. But we can’t let a couple of statements go unmentioned, one from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and a couple from Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota; both officials are Republi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Unpacking the Claim...: Unpacking the Claim that Blinken ‘Lied’ to Congress On Fox News, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said he caught Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a lie to Congress about communicating with Hunter Biden via email. Johnson said Blinken ought to resign or be impeached.  It’s significant when a U.S. senator accuses a top Cabinet offici (Source: FactCheck.org)

Conway’s Spin on Tru...: Conway’s Spin on Trump’s ‘Obstructive Conduct’ White House counselor Kellyanne Conway falsely claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report concluded that President Donald Trump engaged in “no — quote — ‘obstructive conduct'” during the Russia investigation. Mueller’s report said it “does not exonerate” Trump of obstru (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Perry...: FactChecking Perry Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry will once again seek the presidency. Perry, who announced his candidacy on his website today, is no stranger to our site, as we fact-checked his statements during the 2012 cycle when he campaigned for the Republican nomination. Our file on the governo (Source: FactCheck.org)

WHO ‘Pandemic Treaty...: WHO ‘Pandemic Treaty’ Draft Reaffirms Nations’ Sovereignty to Dictate Health Policy Members of the World Health Organization are in the process of developing a new agreement to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics. A preliminary draft presented in February reaffirms nations’ sovereign right to make their own health policies during global pandemics, cont (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Distorts Facts...: Trump Distorts Facts on Collins, Hunter Indictments President Donald Trump distorted the facts in a Labor Day tweet complaining about the Justice Department’s indictments last month of two of his earliest congressional allies, Reps. Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter Jr. In the tweet, Trump described both cases as “long running, Obam (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rick Perry’s Imagina...: Rick Perry’s Imaginary Regulation Rick Perry falsely claimed the Obama administration wants farmers to obtain a commercial driver's license to ride tractors across public roads. As first reported by the Des Moines Register, the Texas governor told his tall Texas tale at the Iowa State Farm on Monday — two days af (Source: FactCheck.org)

Students in Israel D...: Students in Israel Don’t Carry Guns to Class, Contrary to Social Media Posts Israel has established strict measures in response to armed attacks on its schoolchildren. But social media posts falsely claim there have been “no school shootings in Israel” and use a photo to misleadingly suggest students carry weapons to class. Only guards and other specific  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Facts about the Syri...: Facts about the Syrian Refugees The Paris bombings and other recent terrorist attacks have given rise to a political debate within the United States about the Obama administration’s plan to admit Syrian refugees. But the facts about refugees are being distorted in some instances. Here are some claims about the  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sununu’s Out-of-this...: Sununu’s Out-of-this-World Outsourcing Claim John Sununu claimed President Obama “outsourced a major portion of the U.S. space program to the Russians.” But it was President Bush who set NASA on a path eight years ago to retire the Space Shuttle and rely on the Russians for space travel. “[Bush] Administration policy is to  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s SOTU...: Video: Trump’s SOTU Address For the second time, President Donald Trump delivered a State of the Union address peppered with false, misleading and exaggerated statements — many that we’ve heard before. In the following video, we highlight five of the claims Trump made about illegal immigration, job growth a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday: Tr...: Groundhog Friday: Trump Edition President Donald Trump repeated some misleading claims this week as he made the rounds on conservative radio talk shows, delivered a speech to a conservative group and held a press conference with the Senate Republican leader. So, we decided for this week to bring back “Groundhog (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking DSCC’s...: FactChecking DSCC’s Abortion Ad in Nevada Senate Race Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada, opposes abortion and has called the overturning of Roe v. Wade a “historic victory.” But he has not voiced support for criminalizing abortion for women, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee suggests in a TV ad (Source: FactCheck.org)

A Guide to Novavax’s...: A Guide to Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine After a long delay marred by manufacturing troubles, a COVID-19 vaccine from the small Maryland-based biotech company Novavax became the fourth such vaccine authorized in the U.S. Here, we review how it works and how it’s different from its competitors. Vaccine name: NVX-CoV2373  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Insurance Companies...: Insurance Companies Provide Coverage After COVID-19 Vaccination Insurance companies do not deny claims when someone dies after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the American Council of Life Insurers. But a viral social media post has falsely claimed that beneficiaries of a person who dies after getting the vaccine cannot collect life (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden’s Earth Day Ex...: Biden’s Earth Day Exaggerations On Earth Day, President Joe Biden touted his administration’s environmental initiatives, but his rhetoric made efforts to reduce methane emissions and drinking water contamination sound more expansive than they actually are. In his April 22 remarks, Biden went too far in saying m (Source: FactCheck.org)

Old Trick vs. Blue D...: Old Trick vs. Blue Dog A Republican ad claims Mike Ross, the Democratic candidate for governor of Arkansas, voted “against taxpayers” more than 80 times while a member of the House. We find that number to be inflated. The ad also ignores votes Ross cast in favor of the massive 2001 Bush tax cuts, sever (Source: FactCheck.org)

Birx Spins ‘Extraord...: Birx Spins ‘Extraordinarily Low Numbers’ of Coronavirus Cases Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, misleadingly claimed that 19 states — “almost 40% of the country” — “have less than 200 cases” of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. In fact, 17 states with 7.2% of the U.S. population have fewer (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cheney’s Misguided M...: Cheney’s Misguided Missile Attack Dick Cheney says President Obama scrapped the Bush administration’s missile defense system in Europe “at the mere request” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the new strategy was based on two things: evidence that Iran had accelerated its short- and medium-range missile pro (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pompeo Wrong on Assa...: Pompeo Wrong on Assad Control in Syria Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrongly stated that Syrian President “Bashar al-Assad controls a small fraction of Syria.” Middle East experts tell us that Assad controls a majority of Syria’s land and population. Pompeo made his remarks during an April 8 interview with Fox News’  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Instagram Post Missi...: Instagram Post Missing Context About Israeli Study on COVID-19 Natural Immunity An Instagram post highlighted a headline about a non-peer-reviewed study from Israel that found that unvaccinated people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 had greater immunity against the delta variant than never-infected people fully vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday...: Groundhog Friday Welcome to our most recent edition of Groundhog Friday, an occasional feature highlighting repeat offenses. Follow the links to our original articles for more information on our debunking of the claims.  President Barack Obama on clean energy, June 25 remarks in Seattle, Washingt (Source: FactCheck.org)

FlackCheck Video: Pa...: FlackCheck Video: Pataki on Welfare Changes In this video, FlackCheck.org reviews George Pataki’s claim that his “conservative policies” as governor “reduced the number of New Yorkers on welfare by 1 million.” Actually, as FactCheck.org wrote in the May 29 story “Pataki’s Welfare Whopper,” the sharp decline had more to do  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Misinterpret Z...: Posts Misinterpret Zelensky Quote on ‘Preventive Actions’ Against Russia Responding to a question on what NATO could do to deter Russia’s nuclear threat, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said NATO and its allies should use “preventive actions” against Russia. But the Kremlin and social media posts have misquoted Zelensky, claiming he referred to (Source: FactCheck.org)

McCarthy Mischaracte...: McCarthy Mischaracterizes Trump’s Response to Fuentes Meeting Asked about Donald Trump’s dinner meeting attended by Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist, Rep. Kevin McCarthy claimed the former president “came out four times and condemned him.” That’s not accurate. Trump had repeatedly said he didn’t know who Fuentes was, but he stopped short o (Source: FactCheck.org)

In Her Own Words: Ma...: In Her Own Words: Maxine Waters In the days after Rep. Maxine Waters told demonstrators in Minnesota that they should “get more confrontational” if Derek Chauvin was acquitted, Republicans have called for her censure or outright removal from Congress — claiming she was inciting violence. Waters says her words a (Source: FactCheck.org)

Groundhog Friday...: Groundhog Friday This week’s wrap-up of repeated claims includes several we heard during the parties’ national conventions. Follow the links to our original articles for more information on each claim. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on job creation, Aug. 1 rally in Omaha, Nebrask (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the Col...: FactChecking the Colorado Senate Race Colorado’s Senate race pits Democratic freshman Sen. Mark Udall against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, who is in his second term in the House. The advertising battle has largely focused on women’s issues, including birth control and abortion. As a late September Denver Post articl (Source: FactCheck.org)

An Avalanche of Misi...: An Avalanche of Misinformation With election day approaching the tempo of ads is increasing, but not the level of factual accuracy. Both sides are making false or misleading claims in their ads. A Republican party ad twists a Kerry quote about terrorism. A Kerry ad implies middle-income taxpayers are paying mo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Dust-Up in Coal Coun...: Dust-Up in Coal Country West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is under fire from his Republican opponent, John Raese, for supposedly undermining the coal industry. Raese’s ad is misleading, though. Even the coal producers disagree with it. The two are competing to fill the last two years of the late Democratic (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s ISIS Conspir...: Trump’s ISIS Conspiracy Theory Donald Trump said a report on a conservative news site proved he was “right” in suggesting President Obama supported terrorists. It doesn’t. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, also claimed, “Hillary Clinton received a classified intelligence report stating th (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘SpotCheck.org’? We...: ‘SpotCheck.org’? We Disagree. In an Aug. 20 appearance on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” former New York Lt. Gov. (and health care legislation critic) Betsy McCaughey referred to our organization as “spot-check dot org,” claiming we failed to adequately read the House health care bill. McCaughey is the so (Source: FactCheck.org)

Indiana Doctor Piles...: Indiana Doctor Piles On Bogus COVID-19 Claims in Viral Video In a viral video, an Indiana physician baselessly claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been shown to be safe and effective, “fight the virus wrong and let the virus become worse than it would with native infection.” He also incorrectly said no vaccine prevents infection (Source: FactCheck.org)

Congressional Race S...: Congressional Race Scorecard There have been eight congressional special elections since Donald Trump was inaugurated, and Republicans have won five of them. But the president spun that into a 5-0 record “up until last week” in a speech at a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner. Trump told his  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Webby Win Streak Con...: Webby Win Streak Continues Hooray for us! FactCheck.org again has been awarded the Webby for best Political Blog/Website. The announcement was made April 26 by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This is the third consecutive year that we’ve won the judge’s award in the politics categor (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fetterman’s Commutat...: Fetterman’s Commutation Vote on Convicted Murderer A Republican super PAC’s ad labels Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman “dangerously liberal on crime,” citing a case in which Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, voted to recommend the commutation of a life sentence for a man convicted of murder in 197 (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Claim About CD...: False Claim About CDC’s Global Anti-Pandemic Work As the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus has spread around the world, a number of politicians, news organizations and public figures have made the false claim that the Trump administration cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s anti-pandemic work in ove (Source: FactCheck.org)

Our Double Webby Win...: Our Double Webby Win We are delighted to say that FactCheck.org was named best Politics website for the 18th Annual Webby Awards. The Webbys, called “the Oscars of the Internet,” are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This is the fifth time that FactCheck.org has won (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama: U.S. “One of...: Obama: U.S. “One of the Largest Muslim Countries.” Not! President Barack Obama claimed that the U.S. is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world" in terms of population. That strains the facts mightily. The U.S. Muslim population probably doesn’t even rank in the top 50. Obama’s remark came in a June 1 interview with French T (Source: FactCheck.org)

Can Trump End Birthr...: Can Trump End Birthright Citizenship by Executive Order? President Donald Trump has long been a critic of birthright citizenship, and now he says he can and will end it via executive order. But can he? Most constitutional scholars say he can’t. Or if he does, that his order will be overturned by the courts. But there are those who thin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Here There Be Pirate...: Here There Be Pirates We’ve been getting lots — you might even say a vast number — of queries about a new chain e-mail making the rounds. It’s about everyone’s new favorite topic: pirates. And the e-mail simultaneously praises the Navy SEALs who dramatically rescued Capt. Richard Phillips from three S (Source: FactCheck.org)

Santorum Wrong on Ab...: Santorum Wrong on Abortion, Birth Facts Rick Santorum incorrectly stated that “one in three pregnancies end in abortion” in the United States. It’s actually fewer than one in four. Santorum appeared on a New Hampshire radio talk show, blaming abortions for “causing Social Security and Medicare to be underfunded.” But h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: What Mosquito...: Video: What Mosquitoes Carry Zika? Most Americans — 91 percent, in fact — know that the Zika virus is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, according to a survey conducted last month by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. But do they know which species carry and transmit the virus? (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pelosi Misrepresents...: Pelosi Misrepresents Childhood ‘Hunger’ Data In talking about the importance of the 2018 midterm congressional elections, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi misrepresented government data to claim that “1 in 5 children in America goes to sleep hungry at night.” There is no precise measurement for childhood hunger in the Uni (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden and Buttigieg...: Biden and Buttigieg Overstate Jobs Impact from Infrastructure Bill President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg overstated the impact of the bipartisan, Senate-approved infrastructure bill on job creation, likely citing instead an economic forecast that includes the much larger and partisan “human infrastructure” bill. An econ (Source: FactCheck.org)

Did Kerry Vote “No”...: Did Kerry Vote “No” on Body Armor for Troops? Bush-Cheney ’04 launched a new attack ad against Kerry in West Virginia on March 16, calling him “wrong on defense” because he voted against last year’s $87-billion supplemental appropriation to support military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ad charac (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jan. 6 Conspiracy Th...: Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory Centers on Baseless Claim About Ray Epps James Ray Epps was at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But there is no evidence that he was an FBI plant assigned to instigate the riot, as a conspiracy theory — embraced by at least two members of Congress — claims. There is evidence, however, that Epps once held a leadership r (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biden vs. Sanders on...: Biden vs. Sanders on Social Security and Medicare Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden have been trading barbs over Biden’s record on Social Security and Medicare. Sanders accuses Biden of saying “on many occasions we should cut Social Security,” and Biden accuses Sanders of lying and using a “doctored” video  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Social Media Claims...: Social Media Claims Misrepresent Boston U. Study of What Causes Severity of COVID-19 Strains To study the role of the spike protein in the severity of COVID-19 illnesses, researchers exposed 10 mice prone to develop severe disease to a hybrid version of the virus. Eight mice died. Social media posts say researchers created a dangerous new variant with an “80 PERCENT Kill (Source: FactCheck.org)

Editing in Cruz Vide...: Editing in Cruz Video Distorts Biden’s Position on Guns President Joe Biden opposes the sale of assault weapons, and he supports a mandatory federal registry and a voluntary buyback program for all legally purchased assault weapons. But a video shared on Twitter by Sen. Ted Cruz leaves the false impression Biden wants to confiscate al (Source: FactCheck.org)

Collins’ Misleading...: Collins’ Misleading Use of Court Statistic In announcing she would vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Susan Collins said Judges Kavanaugh and Merrick Garland “voted the same way in 93 percent of cases they heard together” on the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia. This is evidence,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Criticism of the FBI President Donald Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton “lied many times to the FBI and nothing happened to her.” In fact, the FBI director told Congress that there was “no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.” Trump also left the false impression that the FBI deviated from its sta (Source: FactCheck.org)

Swift Boat Veterans...: Swift Boat Veterans Anti-Kerry Ad: “He Betrayed Us” With 1971 Anti-War Testimony “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” announced a second anti-Kerry ad Aug. 20, using Kerry’s own words against him. It features the 27-year-old Kerry in 1971 telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stories about American troops cutting off heads and ears, razing villages “in a  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pence’s False Claims...: Pence’s False Claims About Trump’s Handling of Coronavirus During a visit to Iowa, Vice President Mike Pence made several false claims about President Donald Trump’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In remarks to employees of Winnebago Industries in Forest City, Iowa, June 16, Pence said Trump “shut down all travel from China. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Statements A...: Trump’s Statements About the Coronavirus “This is a pandemic,” President Donald Trump said at a March 17 press conference. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”  While it’s not possible to know what Trump “felt,” there’s no doubt that Trump had minimized the threat of the new coronavirus for w (Source: FactCheck.org)

More on the Phantom...: More on the Phantom 62 Percent In our recent article “Sliming Palin,” we addressed the pervasive rumor that Gov. Palin slashed funding for special needs education. She didn’t. Instead, she increased funding. Here’s more detail on how an increase got mistaken for a 62 percent decrease. The evidence that’s been  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Benghazi Attack, Rev...: Benghazi Attack, Revisited President Obama says the May 8 House hearing on Benghazi and subsequent reporting about it produced no new information. That’s largely the case, but the president misrepresented some facts at his May 13 press conference in dismissing the House investigation as a “political circus (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Health Care...: Obama’s Health Care Boasts President Barack Obama made misleading and exaggerated claims in a speech boasting of the accomplishments of the Affordable Care Act. Obama spoke on June 9 at the Catholic Health Association Conference in Washington, D.C. His remarks came at a critical time for the Affordable Car (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Falsely Sugges...: Trump Falsely Suggests Pennsylvania Is Making ‘No Effort’ to Reopen At a May 11 press conference, President Donald Trump falsely suggested that Pennsylvania was making “no effort” to reopen its economy, which was largely shut down by the novel coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the state is in the midst of a phased reopening. Restrictions have been e (Source: FactCheck.org)

Donald Trump Jr. Spr...: Donald Trump Jr. Spreads His Father’s False Russia-Related Claims on Facebook Former President Donald Trump repeated false claims about a Russian natural gas pipeline, U.S. energy production and the 2020 U.S. presidential election in a four-minute video clip posted to Facebook by his eldest son, Donald Jr. YouTube removed the full video from its platform f (Source: FactCheck.org)

Herbal Recipes for A...: Herbal Recipes for Abortion Are Unproven and Can Be Dangerous, Contrary to Social Media Posts Taking unregulated herbal cocktails to cause an abortion can be dangerous, obstetricians say. But recipes — some containing potentially toxic ingredients — for self-induced “miscarriages” have been circulating online since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After the Supre (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on Uranium...: The Facts on Uranium One Two House committees have said that they will investigate the Obama administration’s approval of a deal that gave Russia a financial interest in U.S. uranium production. The 2010 deal allowed Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy agency, to acquire a controlling stake in Uranium On (Source: FactCheck.org)

False: Dr. Sebi was killed “for revealing the truth” about the health benefits of burdock plants. Alfredo "Dr. Sebi" Bowman died in 2016 after contracting pneumonia while in jail in Honduras. In 2019, his family debunked claims about his death. (Source: PolitiFact)

False: "The NEXT pandemic is here and children are the target, says Bill Gates.” An avian influenza outbreak has killed tens of millions of wild birds and poultry worldwide since 2020; the virus has also been found in some mammals.In March, after an outbreak among poultry at a farm in England, two people tested positive for the bird flu. Neither had any symptoms and have since tested negative. The U.K. Health Security Agency said the risk of bird flu in humans is low, and there’s no evidence of person-to-person transmission. It is monitoring the virus.Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates in October 2022 took part in a simulation designed to help leaders prepare for future outbreaks. In it, a fictional virus disproportionately affected children. (Source: PolitiFact)

Muddying a Trump Loy...: Muddying a Trump Loyalty Test In Republican primaries where loyalty to President Donald Trump’s agenda is a litmus test for many voters, the approval of a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill has become a political weapon — no matter how lawmakers voted. Indiana Republican Rep. Todd Rokita voted against the bi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Special Election Sea...: Special Election Season Begins Since President Obama plucked at least three advisers and cabinet members from elected positions, and some of those positions were then filled by other elected officials, we have a spate of special elections to watch as these empty posts are filled. Of particular note is the 20th (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Wrong on Mexic...: Trump Wrong on Mexico’s VAT President Donald Trump wrongly said that “nobody from this country knew” about Mexico’s value-added tax until after NAFTA was signed. A deputy U.S. trade representative at the time NAFTA was put in place said: “US policymakers, embassy officials and tax authorities were fully awa (Source: FactCheck.org)

A ‘Whopper’ in Arkan...: A ‘Whopper’ in Arkansas Debate? At an Oct. 13 Arkansas Senate debate, Rep. Tom Cotton claimed that Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor “voted for every one of Barack Obama’s tax increases.” Pryor called this a “whopper,” and countered that he “voted against every budget that President Obama has offered.” We find that bo (Source: FactCheck.org)

What President Trump...: What President Trump Inherits Candidate Donald Trump won the election claiming “our country is stagnant.” But President Trump actually inherits an economy experiencing steady if unspectacular growth in output, jobs and incomes. The new president also inherits a mountain of national debt, large and growing fed (Source: FactCheck.org)

Peddling Innuendo, E...: Peddling Innuendo, Exaggerations on ‘Obama’s Wall Street’ American Future Fund continues to exaggerate the facts in a new round of TV ads attacking President Obama’s ties to Wall Street. We do give the group partial credit, however, for correcting a misstatement from one ad it has re-released. It gets “partial credit” because the group  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Gillespie Twists the...: Gillespie Twists the Facts on Bain Capital A letter Bain Capital sent to its investors is now becoming a talking point for Mitt Romney surrogates. But once again the company letter, which boasts of Bain’s success, is being misrepresented — this time by Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign. A former chairm (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Facts on ‘De-Naz...: The Facts on ‘De-Nazifying’ Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia’s talk of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine is a non-starter in peace negotiations.  “We won’t sit down at the table at all if all we talk about is some ‘de-militarization’ or some ‘de-Nazification,'” Zelensky said in an interview with inde (Source: FactCheck.org)

Michelle Obama Not a...: Michelle Obama Not a 2024 Presidential Candidate, Contrary to Online Posts President Joe Biden has said he will seek a second term, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson have said they will challenge him for the 2024 Democratic nomination. But social media posts falsely claim that the party “just confirmed Michelle Obama will be its nominee. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Day of Prayer Procla...: Day of Prayer Proclamation, Right on Schedule On April 29, we wrote that there was no evidence that President Obama would cancel the National Day of Prayer and that, in fact, the White House had announced plans to recognize it. Still, we received skeptical e-mails over the weekend from people who had heard a recycled rumor c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tortured ‘Terror Tie...: Tortured ‘Terror Ties’ in West Virginia In a TV ad based on innuendos and half-truths, a GOP challenger accuses his Lebanese American opponent, Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall, of taking campaign cash from “a convicted terrorist” and “a group with terror ties.”  Rahall is a Presbyterian whose grandparents immigrated from L (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clinton on Sanders’...: Clinton on Sanders’ Health Care History Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said, “I don’t know where [Bernie Sanders] was when I was trying to get health care in ’93 and ’94.” Actually, Sanders cosponsored a single-payer health insurance bill in 1993, and Clinton thanked him for his work on the issue that year. Cl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Deceptive Ar...: Trump’s Deceptive Arms Trade Treaty Argument In announcing that he will withdraw the United States from the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, President Donald Trump falsely claimed that under the international agreement, the U.S. would “surrender American sovereignty” and allow “foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second (Source: FactCheck.org)

Four False Claims Ab...: Four False Claims About Monkeypox Monkeypox is a viral disease that spreads through close physical contact with an infected person and large respiratory droplets that don’t travel more than a few feet. A recent meme on social media gets the facts wrong about how the virus spreads, its severity and symptoms. Monke (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama’s Actions ‘Sam...: Obama’s Actions ‘Same’ as Past Presidents? President Obama repeatedly claimed that there is presidential precedent for the executive actions he took on immigration. But are the actions Obama announced really the “same kinds of actions” taken by past presidents? Obama’s use of executive actions to defer deportation for up  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s National Emergency Remarks In declaring a national emergency at the Southwest border, President Donald Trump strung together a long list of false, misleading and unsupported claims on illegal immigration, drug smuggling, human trafficking, trade deficits and other issues. We briefly cover some of the state (Source: FactCheck.org)

Ad Distorts Abortion...: Ad Distorts Abortion Views of Republican House Candidate from Nevada An ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee falsely claims that Nevada Republican House candidate April Becker supports a nationwide abortion ban and “taking away a woman’s right to abortion with no exceptions.”   Becker has said she supports a ban on abortion exce (Source: FactCheck.org)

Energetically Wrong....: Energetically Wrong. Still. Last Friday, we wrote an article debunking Sarah Palin’s claim that Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.” That’s false. The state’s share of U.S. energy production is actually 3.5 percent. Palin has now changed her tune: Palin (Sept. 15, Golde (Source: FactCheck.org)

NRCC Attack Ad Misle...: NRCC Attack Ad Misleads Iowa Voters A Republican TV ad falsely claims that businesses “are forced to drop health care coverage” and families are “losing health care benefits” under the new federal health care law. “That’s what’s happening,” the ad says. But that’s not happening now. The claim is based on a July sur (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Santorum File (T...: The Santorum File (Take Two) Rick Santorum, the second-place finisher in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, is making official later today in a speech at a Pennsylvania manufacturing plant that he will run again for the presidency. We regularly run roundups of our fact-checks of politicians when they  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Misleads on In...: Trump Misleads on Insurer Profits President Donald Trump has claimed that under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies have “taken advantage of this country” and “made a fortune,” which he “stopped” by ending payments for cost-sharing subsidies on the ACA marketplaces. That’s misleading, at best, for severa (Source: FactCheck.org)

A False Ad About Ass...: A False Ad About Assault Weapons This latest ad from MoveOn PAC is about as misleading as it can be. Through words, graphics and sound effects, it invites viewers to think that the expiration of the ban on 19 semiautomatic assault weapons will allow people legally to buy fully automatic machine guns that can fir (Source: FactCheck.org)

Viral Claim Gets Bid...: Viral Claim Gets Biden’s COVID-19 Travel and Immigration Policies Wrong The Biden administration hasn’t introduced COVID-19 travel restrictions on Americans going to Mexico since the delta variant became dominant in the U.S., and it is enforcing immigration laws at the border. But a meme falsely claiming the opposite is circulating online. Two topics (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s McCain Attac...: Trump’s McCain Attack Donald Trump distorts the facts in a recent op-ed in which he says Sen. John McCain has “abandoned our veterans” and “failed the state of Arizona and the country.” The New York real estate mogul, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, has been rising in the po (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sununu Misfires on B...: Sununu Misfires on Bain ‘Jobs’ Claim John H. Sununu, a top surrogate for Mitt Romney, wrongly claimed Bain Capital was “able to save jobs … about 80 percent of the time” at companies in which it had invested. Sununu was misreading or misrepresenting a Bain statement on revenues, not jobs. Sununu, a former governor o (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s False Claim...: Trump’s False Claim About Defense ‘Deal’ with South Korea Former President Donald Trump, who has regularly complained about the amount of money South Korea pays the U.S. to maintain American military bases there, falsely claimed this week that he “had a deal [with South Korea] for full payment to us, $Billions, and Biden gave it away.”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

A False Hit on Bobby...: A False Hit on Bobby Bright A new National Republican Congressional Committee ad falsely claims that Rep. Bobby Bright, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, "is supporting" President Obama’s health care legislation. He’s not. The fact is, Bright was one of the few Democrats who voted against it, and he favors  (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP’s Obamacare Obit...: GOP’s Obamacare Obituary: Premature Republicans repeatedly claim that Obamacare is in a “death spiral,” collapsing of its own weight. This is wishful thinking on their part, with little evidence to support it. Examples of the GOP line: In reality the law — specifically the ACA marketplaces for those buying their ow (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pediatric Hepatitis...: Pediatric Hepatitis Cases May Be Linked to Adenovirus, No Connection to COVID-19 Vaccination A string of unexplained hepatitis cases in children has been reported in the U.S. and in other countries. The cause is not yet known, but the top suspect so far is a strain of adenovirus. Contrary to some social media posts, there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccination is invol (Source: FactCheck.org)

Boehner Wrong on Sti...: Boehner Wrong on Stimulus Spending John Boehner, phone home. Or at least check the Ohio Department of Transportation’s highly informative Web site before talking about state road projects on TV. Last week, Rep. Boehner, the House Republican leader who hails from the Buckeye State, released a video featuring a bloo (Source: FactCheck.org)

Q&A on Financial Dis...: Q&A on Financial Disclosures by Government Scientists In this story, we’ll explain what we know about the financial and conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for Dr. Anthony Fauci, other National Institutes of Health higher-ups and members of two U.S. vaccine advisory committees. The topic came up during a Senate hearing in J (Source: FactCheck.org)

Abortion Distortion...: Abortion Distortion in Mississippi Primary The Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Mississippi has what the Mississippi Right to Life calls “two really good pro-life candidates.” Yet, the candidates are engaged in a spirited — and deceptive — fight over abortion: Not the ‘Only One’ The Mississippi Senate primary has att (Source: FactCheck.org)

Cruz Distorts Nomine...: Cruz Distorts Nominees’ Defund Police Positions Sen. Ted Cruz has falsely tried to label “every single” Senate Democrat as “supporting abolishing the police,” based on a misleading interpretation of the words of two of President Joe Biden’s nominees. Both nominees said in confirmation hearings that they do not support defundin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Jeb Bush’s Jobs Clai...: Jeb Bush’s Jobs Claim In touting conservative policies in Republican-controlled states, Jeb Bush claimed, “The Southeast is leading a renaissance in American manufacturing.” Not so. The Midwest has experienced a 9 percent increase in manufacturing jobs since the sector began its recovery in February 2 (Source: FactCheck.org)

Spitzer Ad Doctors H...: Spitzer Ad Doctors Headline Newspaper stories are often used to misleading effect in political ads, but a new one-minute ad from New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer puts a twist on the theme by actually doctoring a New York Times headline.  At the midpoint in the ad, here’s what you see:  And  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Two Views of America...: Two Views of American Families Plan The White House and Republican National Committee are each touting different economic analyses that reach far different conclusions about the budget and economic impact of President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan. One analysis from Penn Wharton Budget Model – which is being p (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama and Kenya. Aga...: Obama and Kenya. Again. We’ve burned through rather a lot of pixels combating the claims of those who deny that Barack Obama is eligible to be president of the United States. He is, by virtue of having been born in Hawaii, as attested to repeatedly  by state officials and even by the flagship of conserv (Source: FactCheck.org)

McDonald’s Ice Cream...: McDonald’s Ice Cream Isn’t Toxic for Dogs, Contrary to Viral Posts The ingredients of McDonald’s restaurant food have been the subject of bogus claims in social media posts in recent years. In April, posts falsely claimed the fast-food chain includes xylitol, which is toxic to dogs, in its ice cream. The company told us xylitol is not used in it (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pence’s Unsupported...: Pence’s Unsupported Haiti Claim Mike Pence has repeatedly claimed that ABC News learned through a freedom of information request that the State Department under Hillary Clinton “directed contracts for the Haitian recovery effort … to friends of the Clintons.” But that’s not what ABC News reported. The emails th (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Christie File...: The Christie File New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to officially announce his presidential candidacy this morning, joining an already crowded field vying for the Republican nomination. Christie has enjoyed high national visibility for years due to speculation about a run for the presidency and (Source: FactCheck.org)

Grant Wahl Died from...: Grant Wahl Died from Aortic Aneurysm, No Link to COVID-19 Vaccine American sportswriter Grant Wahl died unexpectedly while covering the soccer World Cup in Qatar, and purveyors of vaccine misinformation have suggested that his death was caused by COVID-19 vaccination. He actually died from the rupture of an aortic aneurysm that he didn’t know h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders and Pruitt R...: Sanders and Pruitt Rumble Over Earthquakes Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed that “the cause of” the spike in earthquakes in Oklahoma “is fracking.” But it’s more complicated than that. The cause involves many factors — primarily increased wastewater disposal from all oil and gas operations, including from fracking. Other facto (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders Evades Tax Q...: Sanders Evades Tax Question When asked about releasing his “full” federal tax returns, Sen. Bernie Sanders insisted that “we have released them in the past.” But Sanders has released only his 1040 form, a two-page summary of his federal returns, not his full returns. Sanders, who is one of the least wealthy (Source: FactCheck.org)

Video: Trump’s Criti...: Video: Trump’s Criticism of FBI In this week’s fact-checking segment, CNN’s Jake Tapper looks at President Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton “lied many times to the FBI and nothing happened to her” — suggesting Clinton was treated differently than his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. As w (Source: FactCheck.org)

More Trump Election...: More Trump Election Distortions Continuing to claim there is “so much evidence” of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, former President Donald Trump offered two new distortions of the facts about election results in Georgia, a state where recounts showed he narrowly lost by 12,670 votes. Trump’s late (Source: FactCheck.org)

GOP Ads Use Outdated...: GOP Ads Use Outdated Federal Report to Attack Democrats on ‘Higher Taxes’ Republican super PACs are using an outdated Congressional Budget Office estimate to falsely claim in TV ads that Democrats voted to raise taxes by $20 billion on “lower- and middle-income families.” The ads concern a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that provides the IRS  (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking Trump’s...: FactChecking Trump’s Nashville Rally At a campaign rally in Nashville, President Donald Trump repeated a bushelful of false and misleading claims, and added a few new ones: The president also repeated numerous false, misleading and exaggerated claims on wages, trade, immigration and world opinion of the U.S. The pre (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clinical Trials Show...: Clinical Trials Show Ivermectin Does Not Benefit COVID-19 Patients, Contrary to Social Media Claims Randomized clinical trials have repeatedly found that ivermectin does not benefit COVID-19 patients. The National Institutes of Health recommends against its use for COVID-19. Ivermectin enthusiasts continue to falsely claim the contrary.   There are no cures for COVID-19, but an (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Claim of Chi...: Trump’s Claim of Chinese Election Interference At a United Nations meeting, President Donald Trump claimed the U.S. “found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election.” But the president offered no evidence of covert actions, such as the kind that Russia engaged in during the 2016 election. Inste (Source: FactCheck.org)

Is Bush Abusing Seni...: Is Bush Abusing Seniors with Medicare Rx Benefit? In its latest attack ad, the liberal group MoveOn.org shows a cowboy-booted figure physically tripping up elderly couples by jerking on a rug, while a narrator says President Bush “is pulling the rug out from under Medicare” and “sided with the drug companies who’ve given him hug (Source: FactCheck.org)

Posts Falsely Claim...: Posts Falsely Claim CDC Official Admitted COVID-19 Vaccines Cause ‘Debilitating Illnesses’ Health problems that are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System after vaccination are not necessarily caused by a vaccine. Yet social media posts distorted a comment from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official about such reports to falsely say he ad (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Adds New False...: Trump Adds New Falsehood to Pelosi/Chinatown Claims President Donald Trump has upped the ante in his allegations about Nancy Pelosi and Chinatown, falsely charging that the House speaker urged foreign nationals to “bring your infection” to the San Francisco neighborhood. Pelosi never issued such an invitation. Trump made the claim (Source: FactCheck.org)

GM, Ford Vehicles We...: GM, Ford Vehicles Were Donated to Ukraine by Carmakers Two American carmakers have donated 100 pickup trucks and SUVs to assist with humanitarian aid in Ukraine. But an Instagram post makes the baseless claim that the vehicles were provided at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the U.S. has provid (Source: FactCheck.org)

What ‘China’ Ads in...: What ‘China’ Ads in Virginia Race Omit Television ads in the Virginia governor’s race criticize Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam for his role on a state economic development board. But there is less here than meets the eye: Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states with gubernatorial elections in 2017. In Virginia, Republ (Source: FactCheck.org)

South Carolina Ad ‘H...: South Carolina Ad ‘Hides’ Key Fact An ad from the Democratic challenger in the South Carolina governor’s race says that when hackers stole 3.6 million Social Security numbers from state computers, Gov. Nikki Haley “hid it from us for over two weeks” — but the ad fails to mention that Haley’s silence was at the dir (Source: FactCheck.org)

Obama Misrepresents...: Obama Misrepresents Ryan Plan President Barack Obama has been hammering away at Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal, misrepresenting what it would mean for seniors. Since his deficit speech April 13, Obama has continued to claim that the Republican plan would throw Medicare beneficiaries to the open insurance  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Drop in the Bucket?...: Drop in the Bucket? See for Yourself. In our "What’s in a Number" post on May 7, we noted a clever video by Salt Lake City software developer Matt Shapiro, showing how little $100 million in savings would amount to when compared with the $3.6 trillion in federal spending being proposed by President Obama (about one-q (Source: FactCheck.org)

The Democrats’ Inacc...: The Democrats’ Inaccurate Talking Point Nonpartisan congressional analysts estimate that 13 million fewer Americans would have health insurance by 2025 if the health care law’s individual mandate is repealed. But that doesn’t mean that all 13 million would be kicked off their insurance plans, as some Democrats claim. M (Source: FactCheck.org)

‘Outrageous’ Exagger...: ‘Outrageous’ Exaggerations Republican presidential candidate John McCain cites three absurd-sounding examples of pork-barrel spending in a recent ad: a “bridge to nowhere,” a study of the DNA of bears and a Woodstock museum. McCain is known for fighting against earmarks, the other term lawmakers use for fu (Source: FactCheck.org)

Electric Vehicle Tax...: Electric Vehicle Tax Credits in Democratic Plan The House’s current Build Back Better plan calls for extending a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles, and it includes an additional $4,500 credit for electric vehicles built in the U.S. by union labor. In a press conference blasting the House Democrats’ bill,  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Barr’s Testimony, In...: Barr’s Testimony, In Context In testifying about the special counsel’s report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, Attorney General William Barr made statements that lacked context or didn’t tell the whole story: On May 1, Barr took questions for nearly four hours (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the GOP...: FactChecking the GOP Responses There were multiple official and unofficial Republican responses to President Obama’s State of the Union address, but only a few instances of the president’s critics stretching the facts: Cruz: ‘What I Saw’ Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst gave the official GOP response. But “rather than res (Source: FactCheck.org)

Santorum: English Be...: Santorum: English Before Statehood Rick Santorum greatly overreached when he claimed that Congress required “English be the  principal language and that it be taught and spoken universally” in several Southwest territories, Oklahoma and Hawaii as preconditions for them attaining statehood. Congress did require in  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Misleading S...: Trump’s Misleading Spin on Roger Stone’s Conviction In commuting Roger Stone’s prison sentence, President Donald Trump and the White House gave a misleading account of Stone’s conviction and the federal investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. In November, a jury found Stone guilty of obstructing a congressio (Source: FactCheck.org)

Bachmann Cries Wolf...: Bachmann Cries Wolf Rep. Michele Bachmann ginned up a bogus doomsday scenario for Republicans in 2014, falsely warning that President Obama would “wave his magic wand” to grant voting rights to newly legalized immigrants if Congress passes an immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship. Onl (Source: FactCheck.org)

No Indication Breast...: No Indication Breast Milk After Vaccination Unsafe, Despite Posts About New Study No evidence suggests it’s dangerous for babies to consume breast milk from mothers who get vaccinated against COVID-19. Online posts, however, have pointed to a study that found temporary, trace amounts of vaccine mRNA in milk after vaccination to claim that the vaccines are unsa (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Morning Stumb...: Sunday Morning Stumbles A lot of talking gets done on the Sunday morning shows, so it's no surprise that a verbal mishap or two might turn up. For instance, yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union with John King," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky dissed the Democratic health care over (Source: FactCheck.org)

Vote for Us to Win a...: Vote for Us to Win a Webby Nominees for the 27th Annual Webby Awards were announced today, and FactCheck.org is one of the contenders in the category for Websites and Mobile Sites: News & Politics. To help us win the Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted on by the public, go to vote.webbyawards.com an (Source: FactCheck.org)

Multiple Federal Age...: Multiple Federal Agencies Supporting East Palestine, Contrary to Partisan Claims The people affected by the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, do not qualify for direct financial aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But FEMA and other federal agencies have been assisting since the accident there in early February. Social media posts have m (Source: FactCheck.org)

Competing Claims on...: Competing Claims on Trump’s Budget and Seniors In what has become an annual Washington exercise, Democrats and Republicans are waging a war of words over the president’s proposed budget and how it would affect programs for seniors. President Donald Trump tweeted that he “will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Rare Apology...: Trump’s Rare Apology Sen. Bernie Sanders wrongly said President Donald Trump has never apologized for his comments on the “Access Hollywood” tape in which he bragged about sexually inappropriate behavior. Trump did apologize at the time for his comments in a press release, a video statement and durin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sunday Replay...: Sunday Replay Call this one the Axelrod Edition. President Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, was on three of the political talk shows on July 11, and we found that he strayed from the factual straight-and-narrow several times in talking about the oil spill, border security and other issue (Source: FactCheck.org)

What We’ve Learned A...: What We’ve Learned About So-Called ‘Lockdowns’ and the COVID-19 Pandemic Plenty of peer-reviewed studies have found government restrictions early in the pandemic, such as business closures and physical distancing measures, reduced COVID-19 cases and/or mortality, compared with what would have happened without those measures. But conservative news outl (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pruitt on the Paris...: Pruitt on the Paris Accord Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt made two false claims about the Paris Accord, a global agreement aimed at addressing climate change: Pruitt made his claims on March 26 during an interview with George Stephanopoulos, the h (Source: FactCheck.org)

Rand Paul on Income...: Rand Paul on Income Inequality Sen. Rand Paul claimed during the recent Republican debate that “income inequality seems to be the worst” in the cities and states “run by Democrats.” Paul is right about the cities, but not states. More important, there is no evidence of a link between Democratic control and inc (Source: FactCheck.org)

Biggest Budget Cut i...: Biggest Budget Cut in U.S. History? Democrats and Republicans alike are making grandiose — and unsupportable — claims that the budget deal contains the biggest spending cut in U.S. history. Under the bipartisan agreement, the proposed budget for this fiscal year would be $38.5 billion less than last year’s budget.  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Tiny Iran...: Tiny Iran Feb. 26 marked the beginning of the Conservative Political Action Committee (or CPAC) annual convention. Conference speakers include leading figures from the Republican Party as well as conservative columnists, pundits and activists. Among yesterday’s speakers was John Bolton, U. (Source: FactCheck.org)

Kaine Muffs Trump-Ni...: Kaine Muffs Trump-Nixon Comparison Tim Kaine says Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns fails to clear even the low ethical bar set by Richard Nixon as a candidate. But Kaine gets some history wrong. Nixon never publicly released his tax returns as a presidential candidate, though he did amid a swirlin (Source: FactCheck.org)

Inhofe on Fracking,...: Inhofe on Fracking, Water Contamination Sen. James Inhofe says there has never been “an instance of ground water contamination” caused by hydraulic fracturing — fracking — for oil and natural gas. Inhofe’s office told us he is referring only to “the physical act of cracking rocks through hydraulic fracturing.” But dril (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump and Transgende...: Trump and Transgender Service Members In announcing he would ban transgender people from the military, President Donald Trump cited “the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” Whether the cost is “tremendous” is opinion, but a government-funded report found that allowi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Coronavirus Misinfor...: Coronavirus Misinformation Spreads Like a Virus China first reported an unusual cluster of pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan on Dec. 31, and, within a month, the internet was infected with misinformation about the responsible virus, now called the 2019 novel coronavirus. Fact-checking organizations, including FactCheck.org, (Source: FactCheck.org)

FactChecking the GOP...: FactChecking the GOP Candidate Forum Several Republican presidential candidates made false and exaggerated claims at a candidate forum in New Hampshire on Aug. 3. Among them: Most of the GOP field participated in the “Voters First Forum” held at St. Anselm College in Manchester. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said that (Source: FactCheck.org)

Fantasy Jobs?...: Fantasy Jobs? At President Obama’s April 29 news conference, he claimed that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has "already saved or created over 150,000 jobs." Wait a minute. Isn’t the number of jobs actually plummeting? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy lost m (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Mistake on D...: Trump’s Mistake on DACA At an immigration meeting with members of Congress, President Donald Trump mistakenly said that foreign-born residents in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “could be 40 years old, 41 years old.” In fact, they can be no more than 36 years old, because the program  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Distorting Perdue’s...: Distorting Perdue’s Position on Taxes An outside group is claiming that Georgia Republican Senate candidate David Perdue called tax increases an “unavoidable reality,” but Perdue never made such a statement. Rather, Perdue remarked that he wants to increase revenues by growing the economy. The misleading claim comes  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Retweets False...: Trump Retweets False Attack on Rep. Omar President Donald Trump retweeted a post by comedian Terrence K. Williams that wrongly purports to show Rep. Ilhan Omar “partying” and “celebrating” on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The video was actually from a Congressional Black Caucus event on Sept. 13. The vi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Romney Ad on China M...: Romney Ad on China Mangles Facts A Romney ad strains the facts when it suggests the Obama administration’s refusal to “stand up to China” and label it a currency manipulator has cost the U.S. 2 million jobs. The jobs figure is unrelated to currency manipulation. It is an International Trade Commission estimate o (Source: FactCheck.org)

False Claims About F...: False Claims About Flint Water A Michigan health official told Congress that his department’s “initial analysis” showed blood lead levels in Flint children in the summer of 2014 were “within range of years before.” That’s false. That analysis concluded blood lead levels “were higher than usual” from July to Se (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump’s Habit of Inf...: Trump’s Habit of Inflating Trade Deficits When asked whether he would impose tariffs on cars imported from the European Union, President Donald Trump, as he regularly does, used an inflated figure for the trade balance between the U.S. and the EU. The deficit was $101 billion for 2017, not $151 billion, as he repeatedly  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Sanders’ Misleading...: Sanders’ Misleading Wage Claim Sen. Bernie Sanders claims that “the average American worker today, despite the strong economy, is not getting ahead.” Not so. Hourly wages have been rising faster than inflation for years, and that trend has continued under President Donald Trump. “Real” (inflation-adjusted) hou (Source: FactCheck.org)

How to Not Prove a P...: How to Not Prove a Point The United Kingdom’s Department of Health may not have expected to face such harsh criticism during debate of overhauling the health care system here in the United States. As we’ve repeatedly said, neither President Obama nor the major health care bills in Congress call for repli (Source: FactCheck.org)

Santorum’s Distorted...: Santorum’s Distorted ‘Dependency’ Claims Rick Santorum blames President Barack Obama for “a nightmare of dependency with almost half of America receiving some sort of government assistance.” But the same could have been said of George W. Bush. In fact, the Census Bureau reported that in the third quarter of 2008, under  (Source: FactCheck.org)

McConnell Revises Hi...: McConnell Revises History on Syria Sen. Mitch McConnell revised history when explaining why he supported President Trump’s missile strike on Syria but opposed President Obama’s call for a targeted strike against Syria after a chemical weapons incident in 2013. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said Trump’s st (Source: FactCheck.org)

Trump Exaggerates Sw...: Trump Exaggerates Swedish Crime Swedish authorities and criminologists say President Donald Trump is exaggerating crime in Sweden as a result of its liberal policy of accepting refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.   Statistics show there has been an uptick in some crime categories since the c (Source: FactCheck.org)

Pompeo Distorts Chin...: Pompeo Distorts China’s Nuclear Policy CIA Director Mike Pompeo misrepresented the facts when he suggested the Trump administration was responsible for changing China’s policy on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Pompeo said that “the Chinese now … believe the correct answer has to be a denuclearized peninsula.”  (Source: FactCheck.org)

Facts on Trump’s Imm...: Facts on Trump’s Immigration Order Update, Dec. 5: This story has been updated with the latest legal and administrative developments. President Donald Trump’s executive order — Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States – imposes a 90-day travel ban, with some exceptions, on the citi (Source: FactCheck.org)

Clinton’s Bipartisan...: Clinton’s Bipartisan Bluster Former Sen. Hillary Clinton said she did not know of “a single Republican who didn’t cosponsor one of the bills that I worked on.” Actually, our analysis shows 14 of the 70 GOP senators who served with Clinton didn’t cosponsor any of her bills. Clinton made her bipartisan boast o (Source: FactCheck.org)

All German Fact Checks

Falscher Kontext: Ein Video zeige, wie Angolaner Photovoltaikanlagen zerstören, weil sie glaubten, die Anlagen verhinderten, dass es regne. Deutschland habe in die Anlagen investiert. Personen schlagen auf die Solaranlagen ein, bis das Glas an der Oberfläche zerspringt. Ein Mann läuft auf den Modulen und zerstört mit einem Hammer mehrere von ihnen. Diese Szenen stammen aus einem Video, das mehr als 500 Mal aufTwittergeteilt wurde und sich auch überTelegramundT (Source: Correctiv)