With its candidate the subject of an impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has gone on the offensive with a TV ad that claims to present the “facts” about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Ukraine. In fact, the ad relies on speculation and unsupported accusations to mislead viewers.
Here we list some of the key dates in the fast-moving, still-unfolding story on the whistleblower complaint, and the subsequent impeachment inquiry and the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump once again twisted the facts to claim that Joe Biden, as vice president, threatened to withhold “billions of dollars to Ukraine” unless it removed the prosecutor general who “was prosecuting” Biden’s son, Hunter.
Q: Is Sen. Robert Menendez on trial — and was his co-defendant convicted on prostitution charges — as an online meme says?
A: No. Menendez was tried on corruption charges last year, but was not convicted. His co-defendant was found guilty of defrauding Medicare in an unrelated case.
Donald Trump falsely claimed that former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine “took far more money” in gifts than another Virginia governor who was convicted on bribery charges.
Summary
A McCain-Palin ad says that Obama was "born of the corrupt Chicago political machine" and implies that the candidate himself is corrupt by association with four local political figures. But the ad’s implication and many of its supporting details are false. In fact, this is a particularly egregious example of ricochet sliming:
William Daley, the first figure mentioned in the ad, is indeed related to the other famous Chicago Daleys, but he’s never been accused of any wrongdoing.
A Liberal group accuses evangelist James Dobson of being ‘knee deep’ in the Jack Abramoff scandal, but there’s no evidence of a connection.
Oberweis uses made-up headlines against a rival in the GOP primary.
Houston TV stations refuse to run a liberal TV ad accusing DeLay of “corruption” after his lawyer threatens to sue. We look at the facts.
Democratic group’s ad claims Bush turned White House into “corporate headquarters,” but backs that up with false claims.