At a White House briefing March 19, President Donald Trump said, “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion.” But that’s simply not the case.
Contrary to Trump’s Claim, A Pandemic Was Widely Expected at Some Point
Dems Misconstrue Trump Budget Remarks
After President Trump said, “I don’t know anything about” the disbanding of a White House pandemic response office, the Democrats claimed that he “lied” and pointed to Trump’s earlier remarks about “some of the people we cut” as evidence. But those remarks were in response to a question about proposed budget cuts — not the anti-pandemic team in question.
Trump Gets Ahead of Himself on COVID-19 Therapies
President Donald Trump left the misleading impression that two drugs were “approved” for use in treating the new coronavirus and were available for “immediate delivery.”
Trump’s Statements About the Coronavirus
President Donald Trump said on March 17, “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” While it’s not possible to know what Trump “felt,” there’s no doubt that Trump had minimized the threat of the new coronavirus for weeks in statement after statement.
A Guide to Our Coronavirus Coverage
We launched a new Coronavirus Coverage page to help readers navigate our website and more easily find the articles they want to read.
Video: The Biden-Sanders Debate
In this video, we review three claims from the first head-to-head presidential primary debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Trump’s H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic Spin
In tweets and other appearances, President Donald Trump has repeatedly compared his response to the new coronavirus with President Barack Obama’s handling of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. But Trump’s information is frequently incorrect or misleading — and the two viruses are very different.
FactChecking Trump’s Coronavirus Address
In a short primetime address, President Donald Trump provided false, misleading and incomplete information about the new coronavirus and actions his administration has taken or will take to staunch its spread.
False Claim About CDC’s Global Anti-Pandemic Work
As the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus has spread around the world, a number of politicians, news organizations and public figures have made the false claim that the Trump administration cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s anti-pandemic work in over 40 countries to just 10.
Eric Trump Wrong About Michigan Manufacturing Jobs
On the night of the Michigan primary, Eric Trump falsely claimed that on his father’s watch “[m]ore manufacturing jobs have been created in Michigan than just about every state.” Manufacturing jobs over the last three years have increased in Michigan by less than 2% — half the national average.