Facts Check

Q: Did a federal judge rule that evidence collected from Michael Cohen’s office is inadmissible? A: No. That claim was invented by a website that labels its content as satire. FULL ANSWER The FBI seized records from Michael Cohen, one of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers, on April 9. Stephen […]

The United States had a trade surplus with China for passenger cars of $8.9 billion in 2017. Exports of cars to China totaled $10.5 billion, while imports from China were $1.6 billion. Yet President Donald Trump claimed that China “won’t take” U.S. cars. The president made his claim during a roundtable […]

Q: Did President Trump order a raid on Islamberg, New York, that uncovered weapons? A: No. A false story from 2017 links the Muslim community to an unrelated arrest of a man on weapons charges. FULL ANSWER The Muslim settlement of Islamberg in upstate New York has for years been […]

President Donald Trump repeatedly has claimed that Sayfullo Saipov — the Uzbekistan national who was arrested for a deadly terrorist attack in New York City last year — brought 22 people with him into the United States through “chain migration.” There’s no evidence of that, and it’s likely not even possible. […]

In recent interviews, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt made two false claims about his agency’s record on removing toxic sites from the Superfund National Priorities List: Pruitt said the EPA will remove “almost 30” sites from the list “this year,” claiming that’s “never been done before.” But it has […]

Q: Does searching an obituary website prove that there were no shooting deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14? A: No. A website falsely suggests that there were no deaths because the victims’ obituaries couldn’t be found on one particular site. FULL ANSWER Each of the 17 […]

This week’s fact-checking video from CNN’s Jake Tapper examines statements President Donald Trump has made about the business relationship between the U.S. Postal Service and the online retail behemoth Amazon. At an April 3 press conference, Trump claimed that “the Post Office is losing billions of dollars … because it […]

Q: Was the first family attacked by a terrorist during the Easter holiday weekend? A: No. That’s a misrepresentation of an act of vandalism at Trump International Golf Club. FULL ANSWER Several of Donald Trump’s properties have been defaced since he became president. At two of his golf courses, vandals carved an […]

SciCheck writer Vanessa Schipani recently appeared on Undark magazine’s podcast to discuss her recent article on the effect of media violence on children. Schipani and David Corcoran, the host of the Undark podcast, discussed what scientists know about the link between violence in video games, movies and other media and real world violence, […]

Q: Was a permit application for the March for Our Lives rally filed “several months” before the event on March 24? A: No. A Washington, D.C., police officer erroneously used that language in an email exchange. Officials say the permits were requested in late February.  FULL QUESTION Is this true? […]