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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration have provided mixed messages about schools amid soaring COVID-19 cases, calling for them to reopen in August but also offer an online education option.  But DeSantis has been consistent in his assurance that schoolchildren aren’t spreading the virus to adults. “I think it has been found over and […]

Donald Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border was vintage Trump: controversial, huge, symbolic. But he also meant a real wall.  “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively,” Trump said when he launched his campaign for the […]

In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, contact tracing is downright buzzy, and not always in a good way. Contact tracing is the public health practice of informing people when they’ve been exposed to a contagious disease. As it has become more widely employed across the country, it has also become mired in modern political […]

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced in May that all registered voters in the state would receive an application to vote absentee in the August primary and November general elections. Shortly after that, three court cases were filed in the Michigan Court of Claims declaring Benson’s action illegal. Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens recently denied […]

A hoax about an online furniture store and child sex trafficking made its way to social media feeds with the help of groups dedicated to pushing debunked conspiracy theories from the 2016 election. The viral rumors go like this: Wayfair.com, a website that sells home goods and furniture, listed several cabinets, pillows and other items […]

Dr. Anthony Fauci might enjoy the trust of most Americans, but in the White House, not so much. President Donald Trump voiced his wariness of Fauci, the head of infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health. Trump told Gray TV host Greta van Susteren that he didn’t agree with Fauci. “Dr. Fauci said don’t […]

When President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone, he spared Stone a 40-month prison term for convictions stemming from the Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced the move in a Friday evening statement attacking the prosecutors, jury and […]

In Washington, there’s a history of announcing controversial actions on a Friday night, when the weekly news cycle is over and fewer Americans are watching. The announcement made by the White House on July 10 was a big one: President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone on charges stemming from Robert […]

EDITOR’S NOTE, Aug. 11, 2020: Here’s a link to a chart of vaccine candidates, updated through Aug. 10. More than four months into the coronavirus pandemic, how close is the U.S. and the world to a safe and effective vaccine? Scientists say they see steady progress and are expressing cautious optimism that a vaccine could […]

“The Week in Fact-checking” compiles short summaries of our best work; the links will take you to our full reports. Want this report early and via email? Sign up here.  This week: Trump’s ‘defunding the police’ ad … Biden on CDC guidance … Debunking claims about masks … Are intelligence reports too long for a […]

Editor’s note: PolitiFact’s Stump Speech Analyzer looks at the content and accuracy of candidate stump speeches. Following our summary of the speech’s main themes, we present fact-checks of specific talking points. Read our previous stump speech analyzers for Joe Biden and the Democratic primary field. The speech: Biden’s 30-minute speech in Dunmore, Pa., July 9, […]

As thousands of school districts figure out how and to what degree they will reopen this fall, President Donald Trump railed against the recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I disagree with (the) CDC on their very tough and expensive guidelines for opening schools,” Trump tweeted July 8. “While they want them […]