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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Explaining What We Know About the Obama Presidential Center Contractor Disputes

Explaining What We Know About the Obama Presidential Center Contractor Disputes

Q: Does Barack Obama still owe contractors or subcontractors money for work done on his presidential library in Chicago?

A: Some subcontractors have said they were not paid for their work. The Obama Foundation told us that the construction project manager (Lakeside Alliance) has the “primary responsibility” to “hire and manage all the subcontractors for the project.” The foundation said it has “no outstanding disputed charges” with Lakeside Alliance nor “direct legal agreements or contracts” with subcontractors.

Trump Exaggerates Previous Spending on Reflecting Pool

Trump Exaggerates Previous Spending on Reflecting Pool

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool began filling with water on June 4 following maintenance work that President Donald Trump called a “big project.” Trump claimed that “the Biden administration and the Obama administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get it to work, and they failed.” That exaggerates the amount spent by previous administrations.

Trump’s Claim About the Obama Nuclear Deal and Iran’s Nuclear Development

Trump’s Claim About the Obama Nuclear Deal and Iran’s Nuclear Development

President Donald Trump has claimed that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was “a road to a nuclear weapon” and the country “would be sitting with a massive nuclear weapon three years ago” if he hadn’t withdrawn the U.S. from the deal in 2018 during his first term. The multilateral deal aimed to restrict Iran’s uranium enrichment program, and experts told us that after the U.S. withdrawal, Iran accelerated it instead.

Trump’s Immediate Speculation on Shootings Bucks Presidential Norms

Trump’s Immediate Speculation on Shootings Bucks Presidential Norms

President Donald Trump wasted no time in responding to the deaths of two U.S. citizens last month during protests against an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Trump and other top administration officials made inaccurate or unsupported statements within hours of the incidents, a departure from how previous presidents responded in similar situations, experts told us.

Posts Spread False Claim About DOGE Halting Supposed Obamacare ‘Royalties’

Posts Spread False Claim About DOGE Halting Supposed Obamacare ‘Royalties’

Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have been tasked by President Donald Trump with slashing federal spending. But social media posts falsely claim that as part of that effort, DOGE stopped “royalties” to former President Barack Obama related to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The claim came from a satirical website.

Trump’s Distorted NATO ‘Delinquent’ Comments

Trump’s Distorted NATO ‘Delinquent’ Comments

Donald Trump said that when he was president, he told the leader of a large NATO country that if the country was “delinquent” in its payments to NATO and Russia attacked it, “I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.” Trump has long mischaracterized what he calls “delinquent” payments.

Post Distorts History of Presidential Efforts to Fight Child Sex Trafficking

Post Distorts History of Presidential Efforts to Fight Child Sex Trafficking

Efforts to stop child sex trafficking in the U.S. have been underway for decades, led by presidents including Joe Biden. But an Instagram post makes the false claims that former President Donald Trump was the first to “acknowledge that children are being sold for sex in the U.S.” and that Biden “rescinded” a Trump order addressing the problem.

Trump’s Faulty ‘Double Standard’ Document Claim

Trump’s Faulty ‘Double Standard’ Document Claim

Former President Donald Trump made a series of faulty comparisons to other past presidents to argue that he was being held to a double standard regarding the FBI’s pursuit of his presidential documents.

Biden Did, Indeed, Get More Votes Than Obama

Biden Did, Indeed, Get More Votes Than Obama

The votes are still being counted and the results are unofficial, but former Vice President Joe Biden already has surpassed former President Barack Obama’s record of 69.4 million votes in 2008. But conservative personalities on social media falsely dismiss that achievement as “a damn lie.”