For the second time, President Donald Trump delivered a State of the Union address peppered with false, misleading and exaggerated statements — many that we’ve heard before.
Video: Trump’s SOTU Address
Stories by D'Angelo Gore
Staff Writer, FactCheck.org
FactChecking the State of the Union
The president strayed from the facts, mainly on immigration and the economy.
FactChecking Stacey Abrams’ SOTU Response
Stacey Abrams, in the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, presented a distorted picture of the U.S. economy since the Republican-backed tax bill became law.
Hoyer Inflates CBO’s Shutdown Cost Estimate
The partial government shutdown will reduce real GDP by $3 billion, on net, the CBO estimates. At least twice, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said CBO put the cost at $11 billion, neglecting to explain that the agency figures the economy will regain $8 billion of that this year.
Examining Shutdown Claims from Democrats
The weekslong partial government shutdown has led to around 800,000 federal employees not working or working without pay. It also has led to some false or questionable claims from Democrats about the shutdown’s impact on a host of federal services.
Video: Criminals Arrested at Southern Border
In this video, CNN’s Jake Tapper breaks down a misleading claim from the Trump administration about the number of people with criminal records arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump’s Budget Wouldn’t Erase Deficits, CBO Said
Under President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, there would have been hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits each year from 2018 to 2027, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That contradicts White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s claim that the U.S. “would actually be on a glide path to balancing the budget” under the plan.
FactChecking Trump’s Immigration Address
In a national address, President Donald Trump called on Congress to provide $5.7 billion for a border wall to address what he called a “crisis” on the border. The president made some false and misleading claims, and provided some facts without context.
The Viral Spiral of 2018
A not-so-fond look back at the worst viral deceptions of the year.
Trump Wrong About Poverty ‘Record’
The U.S. Census Bureau officially estimates that close to 1 million fewer people were in poverty in 2017 compared with 2016. President Donald Trump called the decline “a record,” but it’s not.