Latest Stories By Matthew Crowley

When better to fact-check politicians than in an election year? In 2024, PolitiFact’s web traffic showed readers sought answers to questions raised by and about the leading presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.  Whose national debt pile was bigger? Whose inflation record was worse? Was Trump right […]

In a campaign year loaded with political plot twists, PolitiFact heard many claims that prompted head smacks and double takes. We said, as you probably did: That can’t be right. Is that for real? Wait, what? When we check the facts, we label inaccurate claims with Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire ratings. We […]

Former President Donald Trump hammered an anti-immigration theme in his closing argument pitch to voters Oct. 27 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.  But before Trump spoke, the event made headlines for a series of racist jokes by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. He called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage” and disparaged Black Americans, Latinos […]

During a special town hall that aired Oct. 16, former President Donald Trump joined Fox News host Harris Faulkner for a discussion before an all-female audience. The talk aimed to focus on issues of particular interest to women ahead of Election Day, Nov. 5. With polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading among women voters, […]

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did an interview in Pittsburgh with Stephanie Ruhle starting at 7 p.m. ET on Sept. 25 on MSNBC.  The interview is Harris’ first one-on-one network interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. She and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, did a joint interview Aug. 29 on […]

PolitiFact fact-checked Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in their first joint interview since accepting the Democratic nominations for president and vice president at the party’s convention in Chicago. The segment, hosted by Dana Bash, aired Aug. 29 on CNN. PolitiFact has rated Harris on our Truth-O-Meter 52 times […]

The 2024 election season is intensifying. And to improve access to our stories and fact-checks, we at PolitiFact have upgraded our homepage with several new sections and features. First, for greater visibility, we’ve switched from a list format to a library view for both fact-checks and stories.  For quick navigation to trending topics, we created […]

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, drew headlines and social media chatter for a feisty exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., about personal appearances. But in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” she focused less on looks and more on books. On May 19, Crockett mentioned President Joe Biden’s commencement speech at Morehouse College, a […]

Gov. Kristi Noem’s book didn’t officially drop until May 7, but a torrent of headlines made the rollout troublesome for the South Dakotan. First, there was the story about Noem shooting her 14-month-old dog Cricket, which angered animal lovers, gathered wall-to-wall headlines (including from PolitiFact) and prompted jokes on late-night television, including “Saturday Night Live” in […]

Eight days before a six-week abortion ban takes effect in Florida, President Joe Biden spoke in Tampa to lay blame for restrictive measures nationwide on one person: former President Donald Trump. In a 12-minute address April 23 at Hillsborough Community College, Biden warned of “extreme” laws that restrict abortion access, and he blamed Trump, his […]

Testifying before Congress, former Special Counsel Robert Hur defended his February report detailing Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, saying it neither exonerated nor disparaged the current president. House Judiciary Committee members compared and contrasted Biden’s case with former President Donald Trump’s classified documents investigation.     In his report, Hur concluded that criminal charges were not […]

PolitiFact is tracking the status of 99 promises Joe Biden made as he campaigned for president in 2020. Our team researches and rates the status of each promise on a spectrum of progress. By our measure, the majority of his promises — 63% — are Stalled or In the Works; 27% were Kept, 6% were […]