News Reporter: March 2025

Friday, 28 March 2025

Health Alert: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushes out Peter Marks, nation’s top vaccine regulator, two people with knowledge of the decision say

Health Alert

March 28, 9:11 p.m. EDT

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushes out Peter Marks, nation's top vaccine regulator, two people with knowledge of the decision say

Marks, an architect of the Operation Warp Speed program to develop coronavirus vaccines, was given the choice to resign or be fired from the Food and Drug Administration, according to two people with knowledge of the request. Marks warned in his resignation letter that confidence in science is being undermined across the country, pointing to a worsening measles outbreak in Texas.

Manage my email newsletters and alerts | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy | Help

You received this email because you signed up for news alerts or because it is included in your subscription.

Fact Checker: Trump falsely takes credit for a boost in military recruiting

Get unlimited access for US$29 your first year. Expert reporting. Exceptional price. Switch on. →

PUBLISHED BY

READ ONLINE | SIGN UP


The truth behind the rhetoric.

By Glenn Kessler

Even when President Donald Trump has a good news story to tell, he can't resist embellishing it. It's not enough that he can point to positive military recruiting numbers: "We've had record numbers of people wanting to join our military." He has to also slam his predecessor: "Now if you go back six months, it was the exact opposite. You had record numbers of people not wanting to join the military."

In reality, military records show, the boost in recruiting began under President Joe Biden, largely because of programs his administration started. The military met its recruiting goal in the fiscal year that ended in September. Trump diminishes his bragging rights when he suggests nothing changed until he won the election.

Moreover, Trump is using a different metric than what the Defense Department publicly releases, which indicates that January's boost in individuals joining basic training was smaller than the increase in 2018.

To read the full fact check and learn the Pinocchio rating, click the link below.

Read the full fact check

Why we're not doing a Trump claims database for his second term

Many readers keep emailing: Why is the Washington Post Fact Checker not keeping track of Trump's false and misleading claims during his second term, as it did when Trump was first president? Lots of conspiracy theories abound, but the answer is simple. We needed to get back our lives.

In his first term, we documented that Trump accumulated 30,573 untruths during his presidency. Trump averaged about six claims a day in his first year as president, 16 claims day in his second year, 22 claims day in this third year — and 39 claims a day in his final year. Put another way, it took him 27 months to reach 10,000 claims and an additional 14 months to reach 20,000. He then exceeded the 30,000 mark less than five months later.

While the database won wide acclaim — it was nominated by the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University for inclusion in a list of the Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade — it took a personal toll. We lost many evenings and most of our weekends to keeping it up.

That's why we only compiled a database for the first 100 days of Biden's presidency. If Kamala Harris had won, we likely would have done the same. But Trump is in a different realm. He's constantly talking, repeating the same false claims over and over, no matter how often they have been debunked.

The fact checks in the original database amount to about 5 million words and many include links to sources that debunk Trump's statements. He keeps repeating many of them in his second term, even while making new ones. To examine it, please click the link below.

Read the database

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.

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 recent fact checks on the Trump administration.

Analysis Glenn Kessler

Trump says Canadians would pay 'much lower taxes' as Americans. He's wrong.

The White House's flimsy attack on Voice of America

Trump's fantastical claim of a $200 billion 'subsidy' to Canada

Unpacking the White House spin on the impact of 'globalist' policies

Trump's false claim that Stacey Abrams headed a group that got $1.9 billion

Book Club

Our weekly selection of book reviews and recommendations from Book World editor Ron Charles.

You received this email because you signed up for Fact Checker or because it is included in your subscription.

Manage newsletters | Unsubscribe

1301 K St NW,

Washington DC 20071

DOWNLOAD OUR APP

All of The Post. All for $40 for the first year.

Our breaking news coverage is only the beginning.

Read for $40 for the first year.

Mindful wellness. Delightful games. Irresistible recipes. Get it all for $40 for the first year.

Subscribe

Billed as $40 for the first year, then $120 per year thereafter. Cancel anytime.

Unsubscribe | Terms of Service
Digital Products Terms of Sale | Privacy Policy

You received this email because you are registered on washingtonpost.com  or have signed up for a newsletter.

Thursday, 27 March 2025

Trending Now: These 5 words have killed millions in grants and advanced Trump’s agenda

Must-read stories around major news events

Trending Now

March 27, 6:06 p.m. EDT

These 5 words have killed millions in grants and advanced Trump's agenda

An obscure regulation covering federal grants is being deployed by President Donald Trump's appointees to terminate them unilaterally across the government.

Manage my email newsletters and alerts | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy | Help

You received this email because you signed up for news alerts or because it is included in your subscription.