Q: Did a Democratic mayor in Missouri have a storage locker holding cash and dead bodies?
A: No. The story is entirely made-up — the town it names doesn’t even exist.
No Cash, No Corpses for Made-up Mayor
Muslims Aren’t Banned From Government
Q: Did the U.S. Supreme Court uphold a law banning Muslims from serving in government?
A: No. There is no such law. Two Muslims currently serve in the U.S. Congress.
Trump’s Aviation Boast
President Donald Trump suggested his “very strict” aviation policies were linked to zero commercial passenger jet deaths in 2017 worldwide. In fact, in the United States, there have been no deaths from U.S. commercial airline accidents since 2009 and none from foreign air carriers in the U.S. since 2013.
Climate Change, Wall Street, New Tax Law
Trump Inflates Tax Benefits
President Donald Trump misleadingly inflated the benefits of the tax overhaul when he claimed it provides “$3.2 trillion … in tax cuts for American families.” It actually totals about $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for all taxpayers, including corporations.
Trump’s Estate Tax Spin
President Trump says the new tax law “for the most part … wiped out” the estate tax. That’s misleading. While fewer people would have to pay it, estate tax revenue is expected to be cut by only a third over the next eight years. And then the changes would expire.
Train Crash Claims Are Off The Rails
Q: Was a Muslim man arrested for causing a passenger train to crash in Washington state?
A: No. Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash and have made no arrests.
FactChecking Science Claims in 2017
In our roundup of 2016 claims, we hypothesized that SciCheck would have no dearth of false and misleading claims to cover in 2017. That proved true. Politicians kept us busy. As 2017 comes to a close, we present the most notable claims about science from this year.
A Guide to the Tax Changes
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now law. Here we compare some of the major provisions of the new law with previous tax code.
Video: Whoppers of 2017
In this video, we highlight six whoppers — out of a long list — told by politicians in 2017.