PolitiFact’s Top 5 for May 2016

The 2016 presidential contest captured the attention of our readers in May. Here are our five most popular reports, counting down to the most popular.

5. Fact-checking claims about Donald Trump’s four bankruptcies

At a September debate, Republican Carly Fiorina blasted Donald Trump to his face: “You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people’s money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once, not twice, four times.”

Fiorina’s gone, Trump is the presumptive nominee, and this fact-check still attracts readers. We covered the details of each of Trump’s four business bankruptcies, rating Fiorina’s claim Mostly True.

4. What we know about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails

We published this report on May 12 about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, outlining what we know and what we don’t about the former secretary of state’s email practices. The FBI investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, in a separate fact-check, we looked into findings from the State Department Inspector General. We rated Clinton’s statement that her email practices were allowed as False.

3. Viral image claims Clintons stole $200k in furniture, china and artwork from White House

It’s deceptive to say the Clintons “stole” items when they left the White House.  Instead, there was poor tracking of ownership and the final disposition of gifts to the presidential couple. In fact, two items the Clintons returned were ultimately sent back to them. We rated the claim on this viral meme Mostly False.

2. Fact-checking ‘Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight’

A YouTube mash-up of Hillary Clinton claims to show “Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight.”  It’s been viewed more than 7 million times. But is the video accurate? The video is a mix of accurate points as well as snippets taken out of context. Our report gives a fuller picture and explains the nuances (and you see the video, too).  

1. Fact-checking claims about the Nevada convention chaos

PolitiFact Nevada did a deep dive into the notion that the Nevada state convention was rigged against Bernie Sanders and in favor of Clinton. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Nevada Democratic Party leaders “hijacked the process on the floor” of the state convention, “ignoring the regular procedure and ramming through what they wanted to do.” We looked at the evidence and rated the statement False. (HBO comedian John Oliver cited our work in a funny but informative look at wacky primary rules.)