The best president for African Americans since Lincoln? President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in America. President Trump says he's the next best thing to happen to African Americans, listing "guaranteed funding for HBCU's [historically black colleges and universities], School Choice, passed Criminal Justice Reform, lowest Black unemployment, poverty, and crime rates in history." Of course, Trump's boasts are legion, and on some days the claim is that he's done more for black Americans than any president. Both versions of this oft-repeated statement merit Four Pinocchios. Prominent historians dismissed Trump's claim as ridiculous. They said President Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is clearly the president who had the most lasting impact on the lives of African Americans through hard-fought legislative victories. "When LBJ signed his landmark Medicare Act in 1965, he secured de-segregation of hospitals throughout the south, which had been universal, and anywhere else it existed. That was an enormous accomplishment," said Max J. Skidmore, a presidential historian at the University of Missouri. "Presidents who have done the most for black civil rights since Lincoln would include Ulysses S. Grant (securing creation of Department of Justice and empowering the attorney general to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan and racial violence, etc.), Harry Truman (de-segregating the military, using executive order to circumvent a Congress dominated by the south)," he told us. "Barack Obama should be included for his success in passing the Affordable Care Act, which is one of the greatest anti-poverty measures that this country has ever enacted." Many experts faulted Trump for his attacks on voting rights (which mainly benefit minorities) and his record of racist statements. Black unemployment and poverty rates had been declining for years before Trump took office, and HBCU funding was mostly handled by Congress. For the full fact check, click here. 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. Barr blows smoke on pepper spray "Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant," Attorney General William Barr said on national television, after officials under his command used chemical agents and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters outside the White House just before Trump walked over to a nearby church for a photo op. Initially, the National Park Service's statement said "tear gas" was not used on protesters, just pepper balls, a projectile munition that lofts irritant powder into the air. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says "tear gas" is an umbrella term for a riot-control agent — "chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin." Pepper spray was listed as a type of riot-control agent. Therefore, Barr got Four Pinocchios. Had Barr checked with his own department, he quickly might have learned that pepper balls are a chemical irritant. A 2009 Justice Department report noted that the PepperBall system "fires projectiles containing highly irritating pepper powder," saying the "system's accuracy and accompanying blunt trauma impact made it an ideal chemical dispensing system." For the full fact check, click here. We filled up a whole book "Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth," published by Scribner this month, tells the story of a president who has racked up more than 19,000 false or misleading claims — and what it's like to fact check him. The book methodically debunks a host of statements and tweets the president has made on the economy, immigration, foreign policy, his impeachment, the Russia probe, the coronavirus pandemic and more. The book is as comprehensive as it is reader-friendly, divided into chapters by subject. It's available in print, e-book and audiobook. This week, you can catch Glenn Kessler talking about the "Assault on Truth" with David Rothkopf on his podcast, "Deep State Radio," and with CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett on his podcast, "The Takeout." We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22 and @SarahCahlan) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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