News Reporter: Fact Checker: Clinton vs. Trump dueling attacks over Clinton Foundation, Trump lawsuits -- much more

The truth behind the rhetoric

We’ve entered general-election mode, as the presumptive presidential nominees of both major parties launch attacks over each other’s record. This week, we took a look at three pro-Clinton ads and fact-checked 32 (!!) claims by Clinton and Trump over each other’s record (majority were by Trump, not all false). First, let’s take a look at the pro-Clinton ads.

Fact-checking pro-Clinton ads

A Clinton campaign ad claimed she, as first lady, “worked with Democrats and Republicans” to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It plays a clip of Clinton from 1998 speaking about the program, but the law passed in 1997. Prior to the law passing, Clinton’s role was more hidden — and in dispute.

The driving effort behind that legislation were two lawmakers, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Behind the scenes, Clinton apparently was an advocate for their effort. She played a role, to be sure, but it wasn’t as front and center as suggested in the ad. We awarded Two Pinocchios.

We’ve noticed that many anti-Trump ads simply spend all 30 seconds playing audio and video clips from his TV interviews. It’s not surprising; there’s a lot of material out there. Trump frequently grants interviews with news media and has been a TV personality for a long time. But two recent ads have unnecessarily aired his comments without context, when ad-makers had plenty of other alternatives.

One quoted a partial claim about "nukes" that could leave a misleading impression to viewers. Another used Trump’s quote disparaging women that seemed to be a joke. Yet the presumptive Republican nominee has said many, many times making his views clear about nuclear weapons and women that there really is no need to do a snip-and-clip editing job. These ads received Two Pinocchios.

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Clinton vs. Trump dueling attacks over Clinton Foundation, Trump lawsuits & much more

This week, Clinton delivered a speech attacking Trump’s business record, and Trump responded by attacking Clinton’s record as secretary of state and donations given to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s campaign released a thorough fact sheet supporting her claims. So rather than linking to citations that her campaign already released, we focused on fact-checking questionable claims. For Trump’s speech, we provided citations and debunked claims.

Below are six new claims we wrote about in our round-ups. Read the full round-ups of Clinton’s speech here, and Trump’s speech here.

"One of John McCain's former economic advisers actually calculated what would happen to our country if Trump gets his way. He described the results of a Trump Recession: we'd lose 3.5 million jobs, incomes would stagnate, debt would explode, and stock prices would plummet."

—Clinton

Mark Zandi, a well-respected economist, did issue such a report. But Clinton,just like Obama four years ago, misleadingly suggests Zandi had an important policymaking role for the 2008 Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Zandi is a registered Democrat who had advised both Republicans and Democrats; he was one of 32 people listed as advising the McCain campaign — which by his account was mainly to monitor current economic and financial conditions.

According to the donor database of OpenSecrets.org, Zandi in 2015 made a $2,700 contribution — the maximum possible — to the Clinton campaign.

"Hillary Clinton accepted $58,000 in jewelry from the government of Brunei when she was secretary of state plus millions more for her foundation. … The government of Brunei also stands to be one of the biggest beneficiary of Hillary's Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she would absolutely approve if given the chance."

–Trump

Top U.S. officials may accept gifts on behalf of the U.S. government, in circumstances where not accepting the gift would cause embarrassment to the donor and to the U.S. government. Clinton accepted a gold, sapphire and diamond necklace worth $58,000 from Brunei's queen. The government of Brunei donated between $1 million to $5 million over the years to the Clinton Foundation.

But federal law requires most gifts to be transferred to the National Archives or General Services Administration. The necklace was recorded in the Federal Register and transferred to the General Services Administration. Clinton has said she would oppose a vote on the trade accord if elected president.

"He said – quote – 'having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country' – at a time when millions working full-time are still living in poverty."

–Clinton

Trump said this in a 2015 interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe." But more recently he has also said he would like to see the minimum wage increased. Clinton does not mention his change of heart.

"Hillary Clinton's State Department approved the transfer of 20 percent of America's uranium holdings to Russia while nine investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation — $145 million."

–Trump

An entire chapter is dedicated to this uranium deal in Peter Schweizer's book, "Clinton Cash." Schweizer reveals ties between the Clinton Foundation and investors who stood to gain from a deal that required State Department approval.

Clinton's aides said she did not intervene in the deal. Trump's claim suggests the State Department had sole approval authority, but the department is one of nine agencies in the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States to vet and sign off on all U.S. transactions involving foreign governments. AsFactCheck.org noted, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also needed to approve, and did approve, the transfer.

"He's been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits in the past 30 years. And a large number were filed by ordinary Americans and small businesses that did work for Trump and never got paid — painters, waiters, plumbers — people who needed the money, and didn't get it — not because he couldn't pay them, but because he could stiff them."

–Clinton

Clinton's statement relies on findings by USA Today's analysis of at least 3,500 legal actions that Trump and his businesses have been involved in over 30 years. These are legal actions for and against Trump and more than 500 businesses listed on his personal financial disclosure form with the Federal Election Commission.

One reason Trump has been involved in so many lawsuits is that he uses litigation to negotiate for lower property tax bills for his properties. Some of the legal actions involved relatively small claims, like a lawsuit against neighbors of his Miami golf course demanding reimbursement for damages to expensive plants and palms planted along the property. Trump also frequently sued companies that were using the Trump name without permission.

USA Today reported that a "large number" of the 3,500 legal actions were taken by ordinary people (dishwasher, plumber, bartenders, waiters, etc.) who claimed Trump refused to pay them for their work. Trump and his daughter Ivanka said workers would not be paid in full if the Trump Organization was not happy with the quality or timing of their work. Indeed, Trump and his companies won many of these disputes.

"Our trade deficit with China soared 40 percent during Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state — a disgraceful performance, for which she should not be congratulated, but rather scorned."

–Trump

It is bit silly to blame a secretary of state for a trade deficit, which is mostly the result of decisions by businesses and consumers, but let's check Trump's math anyway.

The U.S. trade deficit with China was $268 billion in 2008 and increased to $315 billion in 2012, according to the Commerce Department — the period that would cover Clinton's four years as secretary of state. That's an increase of $47 billion, or 17.5 percent. So Trump overshoots the mark by more than double.

(Some readers suggested Trump was measuring from 2009 to 2013. That does show an increase of 40 percent, in part because the Great Recession weakened trade in 2009. But that's the wrong window of time, because it leaves off her first year as secretary of state and includes a year when she was not secretary.)

(Courtesy of giphy.com)

Help us find ads, statements, speeches, quotes and figures that don’t quite pass muster. Send your fact-check suggestions: fill out this form, e-mail us or tweet us at @myhlee, @GlennKesslerWP or using #FactCheckThis. Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week’s Pinocchio round-up.

–Michelle Ye Hee Lee