President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have suggested without evidence that officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development may have siphoned off taxpayer money for themselves, echoing false social media claims about the former administrator’s net worth.
As President Donald Trump’s administration targets the U.S. Agency for International Development for closure or major downsizing, the White House and social media posts have highlighted four projects as examples of the agency’s “waste and abuse.” But only one was funded by USAID.
After the deadly collision between a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., politicians and political commentators were quick to cast blame. President Donald Trump suggested diversity initiatives within the Federal Aviation Administration were at fault for the crash, and his critics pointed to a hiring freeze that Trump instituted on Jan. 20.
Q: Did former President Joe Biden issue a statement saying that he thought the Equal Rights Amendment should be considered part of the Constitution?
A: Yes. On one of his last days in office, Biden published a statement supporting the ERA, but it has no legal effect.
In a half-hour inaugural address, newly sworn-in President Donald Trump twisted some facts while painting the last few years under his predecessor, Joe Biden, as a time of “decline” and promising “the golden age of America begins right now.”
President Joe Biden said victims of the California fires are eligible for a $770 payment for necessities like food and fuel. Social media posts misleadingly suggested the payment would be the only federal aid for those affected by the fires. Federal aid available to the fire victims includes help with home repair or replacement, medical expenses and other assistance.
Federal law enforcement officials have identified an Army veteran, who was born in the United States, as the sole person responsible for the Jan. 1 terrorist attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people and injured many more. But some Republican politicians and social media posts have wrongly claimed or suggested that the attack was the result of illegal immigration.
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden from serving time for gun- and tax-related crimes. But contrary to claims on social media, Hunter Biden’s gun charges did not stem from a 1994 “crime bill authored” by then-Sen. Joe Biden.
Attacks by Israeli forces and Hamas continue to kill or displace people in the Gaza Strip. But social media posts misleadingly claim Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election led Hamas to call for an end to the war in Gaza. Hamas has called for a ceasefire several times before the election. And the violence has continued since Election Day.
Ballots were still being counted in the days following the 2024 election, but a claim that there was a suspicious gap of 15 million to 20 million votes as compared with the 2020 election has been circulating on social media. There is no such large gap — states were still counting their ballots — and even if there are fewer votes for the Democratic candidate than there were four years ago, that doesn’t prove fraud.