We hope that once again we can count on your financial support in 2020 — a presidential election year that promises to be even more challenging for fact-checkers and voters.
Please Support Our Work in 2020
Month: December 2019
The Whoppers of 2019
Our compilation of the most egregious falsehoods of the year.
Biden Exaggerates Science on Burn Pits and Brain Cancer
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden claimed without evidence that “more people are coming home from Iraq with brain cancer” than “any other war,” and blamed burn pits for the purported increase. But existing statistics do not bear that out, and the evidence on the cancer risk of burn pits is inconclusive.
Posts Erroneously Quote Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’
Memes spread on Facebook falsely purport to quote a passage about lying from President Donald Trump’s 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal.”
Trump’s Letter to Pelosi, Annotated
We annotated President Donald Trump’s Dec. 17 letter to House Speaker Pelosi, providing brief summaries and links to more information for statements by the president that we have fact-checked before.
Meme Politicizes Progressive Insurance
An outdated meme circulating on Facebook claims that Progressive, the insurance company, “is owned by Peter Lewis who donates millions” to the Democratic Party and left-leaning organizations. But Lewis died in 2013.
Pelosi’s Bipartisanship Boast
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others have claimed the Democratic-controlled House has passed “more than 275 bipartisan bills” that are being blocked in the Republican-controlled Senate. But that list includes bills with as few as one Republican vote.
Dubious Quote Attributed to Trump’s Mother
There’s no evidence for a meme that quotes President Donald Trump’s late mother as once making a disparaging remark about her son and predicting he would not do well in politics.
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.
Meme Makes Flawed Obama, Trump Comparison
Facebook users are recirculating an inaccurate meme from May that makes misleading economic comparisons between Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The meme includes inaccurate or selective information about Obama’s record on jobs and economic growth.