Fact-checking the first Biden-Trump 2024 presidential debate Note: The Fact Checker newsletter will be taking a break next week for the July 4th holiday. It will return on July 12 We will leave to the pundits the question about whether President Biden or former president Donald Trump won the first presidential debate, but in the battle over facts, there was no contest. We examined a total of 35 claims — and five were made by Biden and 31 by Trump. (In one instance, they both falsely said Trump passed the biggest tax cut in history.) Here's a selection of the lowlights. - "All he said was is [it's] not that serious, to inject a little bleach in your arm." — Biden. (Trump did not say people should inject bleach in their arm. Instead, at a pandemic briefing in 2020 he spoke confusingly of an "injection inside" of lungs with a disinfectant.)
- "I'd love to ask him why he allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country." — Trump. (False, there is no evidence that countries are emptying such facilities and shipping migrants to the United States.)
- "You're in a situation where there are 40 percent fewer people coming across the border legally. That's better than when he left office." — Biden. (He's misleadingly referring to a recent development relating to an executive action; migrant numbers are still higher than they were under Trump.)
- "We had the safest border in history in that final couple of months of my presidency."—Trump. (False, the number of apprehensions was lower under Obama.)
- "I offered her [then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] 10,000 soldiers or National Guard [on Jan. 6], and she turned them down." — Trump. (False, this never happened.)
- "It could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people [undocumented immigrants]."—Trump. (This is four times higher than most estimates.)
- "What he's done to the Black population is horrible, including the fact that for ten years he called them superpredators."—Trump. (He's mixing Biden up with Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent.)
- "He wants to raise everybody's taxes by four times." — Trump. (False. Biden has pledged not to raise taxes on 98 percent of taxpayers.)
Readers may recall that last week we predicted ten possible claims that might be made by the candidates. Our batting average was .400. To read our full report, please click the link below. 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 election-related fact checks. |
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