Rem Rieder — an editor at the Washington Post, Miami Herald, American Journalism Review and USA TODAY — looks back at his year of fact-checking in the age of Donald Trump.
Checking the Facts in the World of Trump
Tag: 2020 Election
Meme Misrepresents Old Inauguration Photo
A popular meme on Facebook falsely purports to show a photo of “Biden’s Inaugural stage” being built outside the White House. The photo shows the reviewing stand for the inaugural parade at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.
No ‘Landslide’ for Biden, Either
Back in 2016, Donald Trump wrongly called his victory a “landslide.” Now, some are taking a page out of Trump’s book to claim Biden won in a landslide. He didn’t, either.
Website Concocts False Story of Soros Arrest
A bogus social media story uses a doctored image of an indictment to falsely claim George Soros has been arrested in the U.S. “for election interference.” The actual charges are against six Russian nationals for cyberattacks.
The Facts on Trump’s Post-Election Legal Challenges
For this story, we ignore the tweets and press conferences and look at what the president’s lawyers have been saying in court. Two things stick out: a lack of evidence of voter fraud and a long string of legal defeats and setbacks.
Trump Misinformation on Georgia Ballot Rejections
The percentage of mail-in ballots rejected in Georgia due to signature issues this year was about the same as in the 2016 and 2018 general elections — contrary to a tweet by President Donald Trump.
Bogus Report Claims Philly Mob Boss Stuffed Ballot Boxes
A dubious website claims without evidence that Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino stuffed ballot boxes for Joe Biden and the Democrats — and would testify about the scheme in exchange for a presidential pardon. Merlino’s attorney denies the claim, which originated on a website operated by a self-described “pro-Trump” political consultant.
U.S. Army Didn’t Seize Election Servers in Germany
A congressman and conservative news outlets are spreading the baseless claim that the U.S. Army seized an election software company’s server in Frankfurt, Germany, that could supposedly prove there was fraud in the 2020 election. There was no such seizure — and the company doesn’t even have a server in Frankfurt.
Loeffler-Warnock Runoff Starts with Attack Ads
About a week after Georgia’s special election headed to a runoff, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican, and Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, both launched questionable attacks that the other candidate has disputed.
Twisting the Facts on ‘Dirty Money’ in the Georgia Race
Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff’s production company received payments from a Hong Kong media company and Al Jazeera for the rights to air investigative pieces, but a Republican TV ad misleadingly claims Ossoff got cash from “Chinese communists and terrorist sympathizers.”