News Reporter: Fact Checker: The Nunes memo didn’t prove the FBI spied on the Trump campaign

Friday, 9 February 2018

Fact Checker: The Nunes memo didn’t prove the FBI spied on the Trump campaign

Democracy Dies in Darkness

The truth behind the rhetoric

The Nunes memo didn't prove the FBI spied on the Trump campaign

For all the hype leading up to it, a memo released by Rep. Devin Nunes fell flat because it failed to prove the FBI spied on President Trump's campaign. We were told the memo would show an out-of-control FBI going over to the dark side — using information paid for by Democrats (the "Steele dossier") to secure a court order to spy on a Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. It turned out to be false advertising. Page was no longer associated with the Trump campaign when the court approved the warrant, as the memo shows, and the FBI had been looking into Page before the Democrats got involved with the Steele dossier. A few Republicans apparently didn't get the memo (or didn't read it), and we gave them Four Pinocchios.

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Trump talks a big game on MS-13, but his numbers are iffy

Every Captain Ahab has a Moby Dick. Trump's white whale might be the MS-13 gang. He calls them "vicious and disgusting." He says they're overrunning cities and infiltrating schools. He claims to have deported MS-13 members by the thousands. He also claims that they've been imprisoned by the thousands. We've been tracking the president's statements about this violent criminal organization for months. They keep changing, but they still don't add up. At The Fact Checker, the truth is our white whale and the Pinocchios our harpoons. We upgraded these claims from Two to Three Pinocchios.

Bonus: When the U.S. president speaks, the world listens. That's true even if the president is deriding members of the media as "fake news." We found that several world leaders have followed Trump's lead, invoking "fake news" to bat down unfavorable coverage or undermine reporting — often by copycatting the Trump administration's colorful put-downs.

We're always looking for fact-check suggestions.

You can also reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @mmkelly22, @rizzoTK or use #FactCheckThis), or Facebook (Fact Checker). Read about our rating scale here, and sign up here for our weekly Fact Checker newsletter.

Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup.

—Salvador Rizzo

Did Hillary Clinton collude with the Russians to get 'dirt' on Trump to feed it to the FBI?

Rep. Devln Nunes (R-Calif.) makes a startling claim about the Russian investigation. But there's no evidence to back it up.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

Does the GOP memo show the FBI spied on the Trump campaign?

Carter Page was supposedly a minor figure who had left the Trump campaign by the time the FBI sought a court order.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

President Trump's claim that 'wages are now, for the first time in many years, rising'

The president is touting gains in wages, but there's much less than meets the eye.

By Glenn Kessler • Read more »

President Trump's claim that 'thousands and thousands' of MS-13 members are off the streets

The president is now counting deportees and prisoners, but his numbers still don't add up. So he earns an additional Pinocchio.

By Salvador Rizzo • Read more »

Do Republicans want to ban abortion after 20 weeks with no exceptions?

A polarizing bill includes exceptions, contrary to what some critics suggest.

By Salvador Rizzo • Read more »

President Trump cries 'fake news' and the world follows

President Trump started a trend: calling unfavorable news coverage "fake." Foreign leaders — especially dictators and authoritarian regimes — have followed suit.

By Meg Kelly • Read more »