In an address to the nation a day after an Iranian attack on military bases housing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, President Donald Trump made some dubious, misleading and inaccurate claims.
FactChecking Trump’s Iran Address
FactCheck Posts
Biden’s Position on Osama bin Laden Raid
Former Vice President Joe Biden denied that he told then-President Barack Obama “not to go after [Osama] bin Laden” in what turned out to be a successful mission to kill the 9/11 mastermind. But Biden wasn’t giving the whole story, and has over time given contradictory accounts.
Pence Links Iran’s Soleimani to 9/11 Attacks
Vice President Mike Pence tweeted that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani “[a]ssisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan” of some of the terrorists who executed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, that doesn’t mean that Iran, or Soleimani, knowingly aided al Qaeda in carrying out the attacks, which may be the impression some got from Pence’s tweet.
Conway, Pompeo on Iranian Cultural Sites
President Trump twice threatened to target cultural sites in Iran if Iranian leaders retaliate for the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Even so, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway falsely claimed that Trump never made such a threat.
Video: December Democratic Debate Claims
In this video, we explore several claims made by Democratic presidential candidates in the Dec. 19 debate.
Video: Hearst on Trump’s Letter to Pelosi
Hearst TV’s WCVB 5, in Boston, aired a segment on our annotation of President Donald Trump’s Dec. 17 letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the impeachment vote.
Please Support Our Work in 2020
We hope that once again we can count on your financial support in 2020 — a presidential election year that promises to be even more challenging for fact-checkers and voters.
Trump’s Letter to Pelosi, Annotated
We annotated President Donald Trump’s Dec. 17 letter to House Speaker Pelosi, providing brief summaries and links to more information for statements by the president that we have fact-checked before.
Pelosi’s Bipartisanship Boast
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others have claimed the Democratic-controlled House has passed “more than 275 bipartisan bills” that are being blocked in the Republican-controlled Senate. But that list includes bills with as few as one Republican vote.
Trump Renews Unfounded Claim on Debate Mic
President Donald Trump wrongly claimed the Commission on Presidential Debates was “forced to publicly apologize for modulating” his microphone in the first 2016 general election debate.