In calling for the repeal of the estate tax, President Donald Trump repeated a popular myth that a farmer’s heirs often have to “sell the farm” in order to pay the tax. In fact, less than 1 percent of the heirs of farm owners are expected to have to pay any estate tax.
To set the record straight, FactCheck.org did not call the allegation that longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone had advance notice about hacked Democratic emails “false,” as Stone claimed in a recent op-ed. We said it is “not an established fact.”
The president made misleading boasts about his record on the economy and foreign issues.
Kris Kobach, vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity, claims to have “proof” of voter fraud in New Hampshire that may have swung a U.S. Senate election in favor of the Democrats. He doesn’t.
In advocating for a corporate tax cut, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin overstates the consensus when he says “most economists believe that over 70 percent of corporate taxes are paid for by the workers.”
In lifting the Obama-era restrictions on police acquisition of surplus military equipment, Attorney General Jeff Sessions misleadingly cited studies to claim that President Obama “went too far” and undermined public safety.
In a speech on changing the tax code, President Donald Trump offered some political spin on the facts.
Q: Does a video corroborate a belief by Charlottesville police officers that the driver in the fatal car attack at a white nationalist rally “was not acting maliciously”?
A: No. Police have charged James Alex Fields Jr. with multiple offenses, including second-degree murder and “aggravated malicious wounding.”
President Donald Trump claimed that his administration is “spending a lot of money on the inner cities.” But there has been little change in spending so far, and his first budget proposes to cut or eliminate funding for some programs that benefit cities.
President Trump answered critics who said he waited too long to condemn the white nationalists who staged a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia that turned violent. We put into context some of his statements.