Featured Posts Archives - Page 18 of 79

No ‘Bombshell’ On COVID-19 Origins, U.S. Intelligence Rebuts Claims About ‘Sick’ Lab Workers

June 29, 2023

It remains unknown how the virus that causes COVID-19 originated, but many scientists think a natural spillover is most likely. Online posts have cited unnamed sources to claim that scientists in Wuhan, China, were the first to get sick with COVID-19. But U.S. intelligence says the researchers’ symptoms were non-specific or inconsistent with COVID-19, and the information has no bearing on the origin of the pandemic.

Q&A on Mpox

June 22, 2023

Last summer saw the largest outbreak ever of mpox, the disease formerly known as monkeypox. Here, we provide an update on the disease, and explain what makes the outbreak unusual and how people can protect themselves.

Republican Claims About Hunter Biden Offenses

June 21, 2023

Several Republican lawmakers have objected to a plea deal between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, claiming it was “a slap on the wrist.” We’ll explain the plea and what we know about several other offenses Republicans say Hunter Biden committed, some of which are unsubstantiated.

Ad Misleads: Trump Not Charged as Spy

June 16, 2023

The latest ad from the anti-Trump Lincoln Project promotes the same mistaken argument that Donald Trump himself has made — that the former president has been charged with spying or espionage. Trump was charged under a part of the Espionage Act concerning the willful retention of national defense information. That’s different from spying.

Trump’s Distortions of Federal Indictment

June 13, 2023

In the days leading up to his June 13 arraignment and in a speech several hours afterward, former President Donald Trump distorted what the federal indictment against him said and made faulty comparisons to other politicians’ actions.

Q&A on Trump’s Federal Indictment

June 9, 2023

On June 9, the Department of Justice unsealed a 44-page indictment against former President Donald Trump detailing allegations not only of mishandling sensitive classified documents after he left office, but of obstructing federal officials who tried to get them back. Here, we answer some questions about the indictment.

FactChecking Pence’s Presidential Announcement

June 8, 2023

Mike Pence formally jumped into the 2024 presidential race on June 7, becoming the first vice president in 83 years to challenge a president under whom he served. We fact-checked his remarks on the day he announced his candidacy.

FactChecking Chris Christie’s Presidential Announcement

June 7, 2023

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie kicked off his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination with a June 6 town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. We fact-checked his remarks, which included false or misleading claims about former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, whom Christie attacked several times.

What VAERS Can and Can’t Do, and How Anti-Vaccination Groups Habitually Misuse Its Data

June 6, 2023

For decades, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, has been exploited by people opposed to vaccination. Here, we’ll explain how VAERS works and run through five misconceptions that anti-vaccination activists wield to mislead people about vaccines.

FactChecking Haley’s CNN Town Hall

June 5, 2023

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley — a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during former President Donald Trump’s administration — made a few false and misleading statements in a June 4 town hall on CNN.