RFK Jr.'s error-filled 'history lesson' on Russia's invasion of Ukraine A reader asked us to fact-check a four-minute "history lesson" posted by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on YouTube. International events — and the causes of war — are often open to interpretation. But Kennedy's lecture, about how the United States allegedly provoked the Ukraine war, was filled with so much misinformation and Russian talking points that it seemed worthy of a detailed look. Among the statements we examined: - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev made a deal with then-President George H. W. Bush that the reunification of Germany would go forward only if NATO were not moved "one inch to the east" — and the United States broke that deal. (False, according to Gorbachev).
- Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said, "We're going to move NATO a thousand miles to the east and take 15 countries into it and surround the Soviet Union." (He never said this.)
- The United States put Aegis missile systems in Romania and Poland, similar to the Soviet Union putting nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962, and "Russians don't want nukes 400 miles from Moscow." (Aegis is not nuclear.)
Click the link to read the full report. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut Voters in the coming months will hear a lot about the Trump tax cut passed in 2017. For former president Donald Trump, it's one of his biggest achievements, though he falsely claims it was the biggest tax cut in U.S. history. (It ranks eighth.) For Biden, the tax cut is a disaster that largely rewarded the super-wealthy. In any case, whoever is elected president this year will have a chance for a do-over. The tax cuts largely expire in 2025 — corporate tax cuts were made permanent — meaning individual taxes will go up sharply if Congress does not act. Biden often has insisted that no one who makes less than $400,000 a year will face higher taxes. But in recent weeks, when he has talked about the tax cut's expiring, he hasn't mentioned his $400,000 pledge at the same time. Trump has seized on this lapse to claim that under Biden, everyone's taxes will go up. "Under crooked Joe, a single individual earning $75,000 a year will pay almost $2,000 more … and a family of four earning $165,000, that's a lot, a year will see at least 3,000 [dollars] more added onto your taxes," he told rallygoers in Wisconsin. We produced a guide to their rhetoric and explained how both presidential candidates are misleading voters. Click the link to read more We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP and @AdriUsero) or Facebook. We're also on TikTok. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. About the cats: It's a Friday and sometimes our fact checks deal with heavy subjects. So we hope to bring a smile to your face. Scroll down to read other history-related fact checks | 
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