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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Stories by Alan Jaffe

Assignment Editor/Project Manager, FactCheck.org

Trump Again Overstates Number of Drug Overdose Deaths in U.S.

Trump Again Overstates Number of Drug Overdose Deaths in U.S.
September 12, 2025

Reviving an unfounded claim he has made for several years, President Donald Trump on Sept. 5 overstated the number of Americans who died in 2024 of drug overdoses, saying that he believed 300,000 or “350,000 people died last year from drugs.” A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told us the provisional number of drug overdose deaths in 2024 was 79,383, and an expert in addiction medicine told us Trump’s number was “a gross exaggeration.”

After Kirk’s Death, a False Social Media Post on Partisan Reaction to Violence

After Kirk’s Death, a False Social Media Post on Partisan Reaction to Violence
September 11, 2025

After the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, social media claims offering political views of the assassination and the reaction to it quickly spread. One message falsely claimed that “not a single Republican condemned” the targeted shooting of a Democratic politician in Minnesota in June. Many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, condemned it.

Adding Context to Trump’s Misleading Claims About Crime in Chicago

Adding Context to Trump’s Misleading Claims About Crime in Chicago
September 5, 2025

President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Sept. 2, “CHICAGO IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!” That’s not the case, experts told us, and Chicago’s overall homicide rate declined more than 30% in the first six months of this year as compared with last year.

Addressing Trump’s Claims About Ending Multiple Wars

Addressing Trump’s Claims About Ending Multiple Wars
August 29, 2025

Q: Did President Donald Trump solve seven wars in seven months?

A: Trump has claimed he “ended” six or seven wars since returning to the White House in January. Experts in international relations said the president has had a significant role in ending fighting in four conflicts, though officials in one country refute Trump’s claim. But some of the international disagreements Trump cites have not been wars, and some clashes have not ended, experts said.

Assessing Claims About the Reliability of D.C. Crime Data

Assessing Claims About the Reliability of D.C. Crime Data
August 22, 2025

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.

Are Prices Up or Down? Parsing Misleading Claims by Trump and Democrats

Are Prices Up or Down? Parsing Misleading Claims by Trump and Democrats
July 31, 2025

About six months into the second term of President Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats are making conflicting and often misleading assessments of the Trump administration’s impact on inflation and prices. Both sides cherry-pick examples of consumer products to support their claims, while sometimes wrongly taking credit for lower prices or falsely casting blame for rising costs.

MAGA Ad Distorts How Massie Diverges from Trump

MAGA Ad Distorts How Massie Diverges from Trump
July 17, 2025

An attack ad by a super PAC called MAGA Kentucky targets Republican Rep. Thomas Massie — a longtime conservative foil of President Donald Trump — with claims that distort the congressman’s votes on some of Trump’s policy goals.