20,000 "What we do have is we have perhaps the lowest, but among the lowest, but perhaps the lowest, mortality rate — death rate — anywhere in the world," President Trump said July 9, 2020, the day he surpassed 20,000 false or misleading claims since taking the oath of office. It was the 13th time the president spread this particular falsehood, and it is entry No. 20,036 in our ever-metastasizing database of Trump's deceitful claims. Nearly 40 Americans had died of the novel coronavirus per 100,000 people, the second worst rate in the world, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. When we started the Trump database project for the president's first 100 days in office, we could not imagine he would exceed 20,000 false or misleading claims before the end of his term. Trump averaged fewer than five claims a day in his first 100 days, which would have added up to about 7,000 claims in four years. But the snowball quickly became an avalanche, the false statements a routine. In the last 14 months, Trump averaged 23 claims a day for The Fact Checker's database. No setting or subject is spared by Trump. In Rose Garden remarks, at coronavirus briefings, in tweetstorms at odd hours, in press gaggles near a whirring chopper, the Trumpian stream of misinformation engulfs every topic nowadays, from his impeachment in Congress to his Democratic opponent in the presidential race, from the worldwide pandemic that crashed the economy to the protests across the country calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality. As of July 9, the tally in our database stands at 20,055 claims in 1,267 days. 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. This ad is under arrest Former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has firmly rejected calls from left-wing activists to "defund police." But the Trump campaign is tagging Biden with the somewhat confusing slogan anyway in a multimillion-dollar ad buy covering battleground states such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The Trump campaign ad shows scenes of violence and unrest (during Trump's term, for what it's worth) and warns: "Joe Biden's supporters are fighting to defund police departments. Violent crime has exploded. You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." A reader of The Fact Checker pointed out that the ad was later edited to more directly lay the accusation on Biden: "Joe Biden supports defunding the police." Defunding the police, as a shorthand for policy, generally does not mean eliminating the police. Instead, advocates want to redirect some funds now spent on police forces to items such as education, public health, housing and youth services. "No, I don't support defunding the police," Biden said in a CBS interview. "I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness and, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community." Biden, in fact, has come under fire from the left for his position and for proposing to spend an additional $300 million a year on the community policing program started in the Clinton administration, which would effectively double its budget. We gave Four Pinocchios to the Trump ad. For the full fact check, click here. The fine print Our new book is now a national bestseller. "Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth," published by Scribner, tells the story of a president who has racked up more than 20,000 false or misleading claims — and what it's like to fact check him. Over 386 pages, we debunk a host of statements and tweets Trump 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. In a review this week, the San Francisco Chronicle praises "the methodical way the authors printed Trump's claims and then debunked it with straight reporting. ... No pithy hot takes. Just great journalism." We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22, @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. Analysis ● By Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly ● Read more » | | | |  ● By Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly ● Read more » | | | | 
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