In a chaotic debate with plenty of crosstalk, there was also plenty to fact-check.
FactChecking the First Trump-Biden Debate
Issues: China
China Didn’t Stop Virus ‘Cold’ Outside Wuhan
In remarks about SARS-CoV-2, President Trump wrongly said China “stopped it cold” from spreading from Wuhan to other parts of China “but they didn’t stop it cold from coming to the United States … and the rest of the world.” It did spread in China beyond Wuhan, but China also took extreme measures to slow the spread of the disease that the U.S. did not.
Trump Touts Strong Jobs Report, Flubs Some Facts
In a Rose Garden address to comment on a surprisingly strong May jobs report, President Donald Trump continued to repeat false, misleading and exaggerated claims about the economy, the administration’s response to COVID-19, the border wall, veterans programs and trade with China.
Biden Exaggerates CDC Cuts in China
Former Vice President Joe Biden overstated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s staffing cuts in China during the Trump administration. He said the CDC reduced its staff to four, but it was actually 14.
The RNC’s Misleading Message About the Bidens
A voicemail message being left at the homes of voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere by the Republican National Committee makes a number of misleading claims about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter and Trump’s handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Trump’s Flawed China Travel Conspiracy
President Donald Trump has twice now advanced the flawed theory that China nefariously continued to allow flights out of Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 outbreak originated, to Western cities while blocking flights into other cities in China.
Trump’s Mysterious Claim of an Apology ‘Letter’ from Biden
President Donald Trump has claimed Joe Biden wrote him a “letter of apology” regarding the administration’s travel restrictions on China. But there’s no evidence of such a letter, and Biden’s campaign says it “never happened.”
An April Filled with Repeats
The president has used the coronavirus briefings to repeatedly misstate the facts about his administration’s handling of the pandemic, the economy and trade with China.
FactChecking Trump’s Attack on the WHO
In announcing that his administration would halt funding for the World Health Organization, President Donald Trump made a series of false, misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the WHO.
Trump, Biden Spin China Travel Restrictions
Both President Donald Trump and leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are spinning the facts on the administration’s coronavirus travel restrictions for those who had been in China.