Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has faced backlash from Republicans, and some Democrats, for his debate-night advocacy of a mandatory buyback program for so-called assault weapons. But Sen. Chuck Schumer went too far when he said, “I don’t know of any other Democrat who agrees with Beto O’Rourke.”
An outdated meme posted to Facebook this month falsely claims that the Trump administration is without a defense secretary, an interior secretary, an ambassador to the United Nations and a Secret Service director.
In this week’s fact-checking video, CNN’s Jake Tapper examines a false tweet promoted by President Donald Trump that purports to show Rep. Ilhan Omar “partying” and “celebrating” on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The video was actually from a Congressional Black Caucus event on Sept. 13.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized energy-efficient lightbulbs, saying that the bulbs people are “being forced to use” are more expensive, contain hazardous gases and give off light that’s “not as good” as incandescents. Experts, however, say that’s an outdated and inaccurate description of the current technology.
A photo circulating online falsely identifies a man who appears to have wet his pants as Beto O’Rourke. The photo actually shows Alexander Giannascoli, a 26-year-old musician, who said he had spilled beer on his pants.
President Donald Trump last year signed a bill — the Right to Try Act — that provided another avenue for terminally ill patients to gain access to unapproved medications still in development. But there’s no evidence that the new law is saving “a lot of people,” as the president claims.
Making a point about Defense Department waste, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang related a secondhand story about a Navy fighter pilot who said that airmen routinely dumped fuel into the Pacific Ocean at the end of the fiscal year as a way to preserve the following year’s fuel budget. But the story doesn’t add up.
A narrowed field of 10 Democratic candidates debated health care, immigration and gun control, but not all of their claims squared with the facts.
A social media meme inaccurately claims that Walmart will no longer sell rifles. Walmart stopped selling “military-style rifles such as the AR-15,” in 2015, and has announced it will no longer sell ammunition for “military-style weapons.” It still sells “long guns for hunting and sport shooting.”
In making his case for taking swift action on climate change, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg inaccurately said that “we could lose half the world’s oxygen because of what’s going on in the oceans.” Scientists say that’s a misreading of the evidence.