The Trump administration has accused the Washington, D.C., police department of reporting “phony crime stats” and “cooking the books,” citing the suspension of a police commander for allegedly altering crime data. The U.S. attorney’s office in the district reportedly opened an investigation into whether city officials had manipulated crime statistics. Here’s what we know about the allegations.
The Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings this week on its effort to undo the legal foundation for its regulation of greenhouse gases, the heat-trapping gases that cause climate change. In a major policy shift announced in late July, the Trump administration EPA said it would rescind the so-called “endangerment finding,” which allows the agency to regulate such emissions, arguing that legal and scientific developments justify a reconsideration.
Europe has allocated more money in direct, bilateral aid to Ukraine than the U.S. has during the war with Russia. But in President Donald Trump’s remarks surrounding recent meetings with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, he falsely claimed that the U.S. has given Ukraine more than three times as much as Europe.
President Donald Trump launched his second-term assault on mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines on Aug. 18, firing off a series of unfounded claims while announcing an effort to do away with both.
In the battle over Texas’ redistricting plan to pick up Republican House seats, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have made competing claims.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. misrepresented the country’s compensation program for those who are harmed by vaccines, alleging that it’s biased and corrupt and falsely claiming that a person can’t sue a vaccine company “no matter how negligent they are.” He also incorrectly said there is “zero incentive” for vaccine companies to produce safe vaccines.
After months of delay, higher tariffs that President Donald Trump had vowed to impose on goods imported from dozens of countries went into effect on Aug. 7. Trump has made a series of false and misleading statements to justify his new tariff policies. Here is a recap of some of his claims that we have fact-checked.
President Donald Trump inaccurately claimed that the murder rate in Washington, D.C., “reached the highest rate probably ever” in 2023, and he ignored a decline in murders since then to justify a federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement.
The Office of Special Counsel confirmed on Aug. 2 that it has opened an investigation into former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and whether his attempted prosecutions of Donald Trump were politically motivated and ran afoul of the law. Here, we’ll answer some of the questions about what the investigation into Smith is about.
In justifying the government’s termination of $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine projects, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed mRNA vaccines “fail to protect effectively” against COVID-19 and suggested they are unsafe. The mRNA shots saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and have shown promise against influenza.
