On Jan. 6, 2021, PolitiFact journalists were waiting to fact-check comments from senators and House members as they counted electoral votes and certified Joe Biden as president. Instead we watched, along with everyone else, as rioters overran the U.S. Capitol, fueled by misinformation from then-President Donald Trump and a storm of pro-Trump media. We’ve spent […]
In December, PolitiFact awarded the annual Lie of the Year to lies about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, lawmakers argued over the price tag of Build Back Better legislation, and Americans grappled with inflation and gas prices. Our fact-checking of these topics prompted many of our readers to send us emails and comment on social […]
An interview with former President Donald Trump continued what has become something of a holiday tradition: some people griping that political grinches have taken the Christmas out of Christmastime. The Newsmax network promoted its interview with a clip in which Trump accepts credit for restoring use of the greeting, “Merry Christmas.” “Mr. President, when you […]
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has been a frequent target of misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A Dec. 20 article by the Gateway Pundit repeats rumors that Fauci funded experiments through the National Institutes of Health that resulted in the deaths […]
Americans entered 2021 after a tumultuous post-election season filled with lawsuits and falsehoods about the 2020 election. Just six days into the new year, as the nation prepared to pass the baton from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden, we saw an unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol. Statements about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack […]
Eleven months ago, President Joe Biden assumed office during one of the most critical moments of the COVID-19 pandemic. Case counts and death rates were shockingly high. The vaccine rollout, which had started under former President Donald Trump, was disjointed. People were generally sequestered in their homes, and kids were relegated to remote learning. Biden promised […]
We use the word “lie” only once a year. We reserve that designation for the most egregious and harmful claim we’ve seen after a year of fact-checking. The Lie of the Year for 2021: Lies and denial about the January 6th insurrection.
As supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, three Fox News hosts known for supporting the president texted his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, calling on Trump to speak out against what was unfolding. “Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” primetime host Laura Ingraham said […]
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, supporters of President Donald J. Trump breached the U.S. Capitol, turning the seat of American democracy into the scene of an unforgettable crime. Inside, lawmakers had been preparing to count the Electoral College votes that would bring Trump’s presidency to a close. Outside, the rioters erected a hanging […]
Each year, PolitiFact combs through the hundreds of false and misleading statements we’ve encountered in search of one that stands apart — the one falsehood, or collection of falsehoods, that played the most significant role in undermining truth. We call this the Lie of the Year. For 2021, that designation goes to the campaign to […]
Readers had no shortage of significant falsehoods to pick from for the 2021 Lie of the Year, but a large majority agreed that one stood out above all the others: Donald Trump’s claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. The lie easily outpaced all the other choices with a whopping 74.9% of votes cast. […]
In an episode of Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV program that has been clipped and widely shared on Facebook and TikTok, Beck holds up a stack of papers for the camera. “This is 153 pages of the confidential agreement between Moderna and the U.S. government and it goes back to 2015,” Beck says. He then goes […]