Ron Johnson twists the data in attack on Black Lives Matter protests It's a good sign when a politician can cite data to back up a claim — except when the researchers behind that data say it's being twisted into a misleading talking point. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told a conservative news radio show that he "never felt threatened" by the mob of Donald Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 but would have been fearful had they been Black Lives Matter or antifa protesters. Critics said his remarks were prejudiced against Blacks. Johnson later issued a statement claiming: "Out of 7,750 protests last summer associated with BLM and Antifa, 570 turned into violent riots that killed 25 people and caused $1- $2 billion of property damage. That's why I would have been more concerned." He attributes 570 "riots" and 25 deaths to Black Lives Matter and antifa, using data from the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). A spokesman for the group said Johnson was misusing their findings. In reality, not all of these events were associated with BLM or antifa, and even so, there is no information on the perpetrator or instigator of the violence. Johnson's use of the death statistic is especially misleading because a significant portion of the deaths are related to right-wing violence — the same type of violence he was playing down in these comments. He earned Three Pinocchios. 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. Terrorists at the border? Former president Donald Trump and members of his administration would falsely claim that thousands of "known or suspected" terrorists were being caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. The real number ranges from around three to a dozen per year, according to news reports, official statistics and a whistleblower complaint from a former top official at the Department of Homeland Security. The "known or suspected terrorist" list is broad enough to include convicted terrorists and people who have only derivative links to terrorism (say, the cousin of a friend of a terrorist), and U.S. officials keep the details closely under wraps. House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Rep. John Katko (N.Y.), traveled to El Paso this week and claimed a Border Patrol agent told them several individuals on the list had been encountered recently. When we pressed for details, a House Republican aide told us four individuals on the list had been encountered since October, which is within the usual range seen each year. But when we asked U.S. immigration officials for confirmation, we got a vague answer that neither confirmed nor denied the Republicans' account. Meanwhile, the State Department consistently says in annual reports that there is "no credible evidence indicating international terrorist groups established bases in Mexico, worked directly with Mexican drug cartels, or sent operatives via Mexico into the United States." Our fact check lays out all we know about this figure and the questions U.S. officials should address about it. Your guide to visual fact-checking In 2019, The Fact Checker noticed the spread of misleading video posed a challenge not only to fact-checkers but also to anyone relying on social media or Web searches to get information or find the latest news. To help, we published our guide to manipulated video. This year, we felt it was necessary to take it one step further and give readers their own tools to debunk false and misleading visuals. The Fact Checker wants to teach you to be your own video investigator by walking you through the process our journalists use to verify open-source video. Our guide will teach you the skills of a visual investigator. This includes how to find the original source of a video, with tools such as reverse-image search. You'll learn how to research who posted the video and spot any red flags about the uploader. Lastly, the guide will walk you through how to find where and when the video was filmed, using satellite imagery and Google Street View. Check it out — and remember to stay vigilant. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22) 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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