Facts Check

Quick Take Posts circulating on Facebook falsely claim that people posing as “officials” from the “Department of Home Affairs” are going door-to-door to confirm “that everyone has a valid ID” for the 2020 census. The Census Bureau says this is a hoax. Full Story  In recent days and weeks, Facebook […]

In this video, we explore several claims made by Democratic presidential candidates in the Dec. 19 debate: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg talked about his “capacity to win,” citing his 80% mayoral reelection victory. But Sen. Amy Klobuchar was correct when she countered that Buttigieg lost by 20 points (actually 24.9 […]

Quick Take A made-up story that claims four Democratic senators are switching their party affiliation because of the impeachment is circulating on Facebook. But the story originated on a site that describes its content as satire. Full Story A story that’s racked up thousands of shares on Facebook claims that […]

Quick Take Misleading Facebook posts accuse former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg of “bribing” House Democrats by offering a donation “if they vote to impeach” President Donald Trump. In fact, Bloomberg is a major Democratic donor who has given to this committee before. Full Story  Michael Bloomberg, the wealthy […]

In our final fact-checking video of the year with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper looks back at the “biggest whoppers” of 2019. Our article, “The Whoppers of 2019,” was dominated by President Donald Trump, but also included falsehoods from Democratic president candidates who want to take his job. […]

Summary We found several misleading and exaggerated claims in the last debate of 2019: Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg for holding a glitzy “closed-door” fundraiser at a California wine cave. A pool reporter was permitted to cover Buttigieg’s remarks at the event, so the event wasn’t […]

Hearst TV’s WCVB 5, in Boston, aired a segment on our annotation of President Donald Trump’s Dec. 17 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the impeachment vote. The collaboration is part of FactCheck.org’s 2020 election partnership with Hearst Television Inc.  In the video, Hearst highlights Trump’s statement: “This impeachment […]

Quick Take A bogus headline claims that a “second Democrat” has left the party “in 24 hours” because of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. But one of them is a state senator who left the party a month ago and his decision had nothing to do with the […]

This has been another busy year for us. The Russia investigation ended, and the impeachment began. Democratic presidential candidates — by the dozens — started their quest for the nomination. They debated in June (twice), July (twice), September, October and November. And they will debate again tonight. The government shut […]

Summary As he has done since entering the political scene in 2015, Donald Trump dominates our list of whoppers of the year. We identified a top 10 of falsehoods and factual distortions from the president, beginning with several impeachment-related topics — a conspiracy theory on the Democratic National Committee server, […]