Unfounded claims and baseless conspiracy theories have run rampant in the aftermath of the Aug. 10 death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Here we recap some of the stories that we have written so far on the Epstein case.
A headline circulating on partisan websites distorts former President Barack Obama’s tweet advocating stricter gun laws in the wake of the most recent mass shootings.
A Facebook post from a user who appears to subscribe to QAnon conspiracies claims that Jeffrey Epstein is not dead. The theory is based solely on a news photo that shows an unresponsive Epstein being wheeled into a hospital on a gurney.
On Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in what the Obama administration’s Department of Justice determined was an act of “self-defense.” But Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren referred to Brown’s death as a “murder.”
Old pictures of trash strewn in the Arizona desert are circulating on Facebook with the suggestion that they were taken recently and that the media failed to cover it. Neither of those things is true.
A manipulated photo of Ivanka Trump adds a logo that looks like a swastika to her shirt.
In a speech that assailed President Donald Trump for a lack of “moral leadership,” Joe Biden falsely claimed that Trump “asserted that immigrants would, quote, ‘carve you up with a knife.’” Trump said that about MS-13 gang members, not immigrants.
Prior to departing for El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 7, President Donald Trump rejected the premise that his rhetoric has divided the country, as his critics have claimed. He said “my rhetoric … brings people together.” But that is not how he is perceived by most Americans.
A social media post misleadingly claims that Republicans “voted to allow people with pre-existing mental illness to buy firearms.” The measure blocked the Social Security Administration from reporting to the U.S. background check system some disability beneficiaries who are unable to manage their finances. Federal law still prohibits people with certain conditions from buying guns.
In the aftermath of two deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, U.S. political leaders made a series of statements on gun violence that were unsubstantiated, lacked context or were seemingly contradictory. Here we look at some of those statements and present the facts.