Verdict: Unproven
43 fact-checksNo conclusive evidence either way; the claim can't yet be verified.
Public Citizen’s count of Trump’s canceled corporate cases holds up; its math and $3.1B figure do not
Trump’s agencies did drop cases and pardon companies, as Public Citizen says. But its totals don’t add up, and most of its $3.1 billion figure was cut by a judge under Biden.
Iowa steel plant builder is Indian-owned and files H-1B visas, as Greene said
Mesabi Metallics is owned by India’s Essar Group and has filed for H-1B workers in Minnesota. It is not new to the U.S., and its Iowa plant is still only a plan.
The America.gov chatbot dodged political questions, then answered them again
America.gov’s chatbot swapped fact-checks for refusals on Sept. 30, then answered again within hours. Nothing shows who changed it or why, and TNR misstated a CBO figure.
NRC plan drops ALARA and raises emissions benchmark; public dose limit unchanged
A proposed NRC rule would scrap ALARA and lift a reactor emissions benchmark from 10 to 25 mrem a year. The 100 mrem public dose limit stays, and nothing is final yet.
DOJ complained about seven Minnesota judges; it is not investigating them
The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint and asked the Eighth Circuit to investigate seven Minnesota judges. It is not running an investigation itself.
Fraternity men self-report more sexual aggression, but proof of cause is thin
Fraternity men report more sexual aggression than other college men in most studies. Whether fraternities cause that gap, or draw higher-risk men, is still unproven.
Jack Smith never gave the meme’s toll-records answer to Sen. John Kennedy
Kennedy did ask Smith about Democrats’ phone records on Sept. 29. Smith’s real answer differs from the meme, and records show Democrats’ texts were swept in.
Tesla’s lawyer did not claim a right to call Black workers the N-word
Tesla is on trial over racism at Fremont. Its lawyer argued that some uses of the N-word among Black workers are not slurs, not that the company may call workers it. No source counts his uses.
Project 2025 urged farm subsidy cuts, but Republicans enacted increases
Project 2025 never proposed bankrupting family farms. Republicans raised the farm subsidies it wanted cut, and the largest farms collect the biggest share.
Courts ruled against 18 of Cohen’s 26 charges and settled two
Rep. Steve Cohen filed 26 impeachment articles. Courts have ruled against 18 at some stage, the Supreme Court has settled two, and eight have no court ruling at all.
No-claims was one of four tests Oz cited, and those enrollees paid no premium
The administration cut 760,000 ACA enrollees and is reviewing about 419,000 more. Never filing a claim was one test among four, and all four applied to fully subsidized plans.
Trump hit record lows in September, but only one poll puts him in the 20s
One poll has Trump at 29%. His polling average is a record-low 37.6%. The Hill column’s smaller numbers each round toward its thesis.
Trump says he has ‘made peace’ while threatening Iran and inviting Putin
In one week Trump claimed to have made peace, threatened to annihilate Iran, invited an ICC-indicted Putin to the G20 and kept sanctioning the court. What holds up, and what does not.
JD Vance repeated at least eight claims after they were publicly debunked
We traced claim, debunk and repeat for JD Vance’s statements since 2024. Eight fit, none was corrected, and his fact-check scorecard can’t carry the rest of the case.
Congress is older than the voters it answers to, and those voters skew old too
The median senator is 12 years older than the median 2024 voter. Research finds lawmakers follow voters, and voters are older than the country.
The research backs later school starts and less overwork, not less homework
A viral post says nearly all research favors less homework, later school starts, more vacation and shorter shifts. Two hold up well, one partly, and homework runs the other way.
The White House cited its own background call to justify banning Politico
A Status scoop names JD Vance as the source of an Iran quote the White House used against Politico. The call was White House-run; Vance’s role rests on Status alone.
No data show trans people commit more violence; Tuberville misnamed two shooters
Two of the five attackers Tuberville named were not trans. Trans people are underrepresented among mass shooters, and no US data can measure their overall crime rate.
Belarus Says Its Potash Is Already Sold. A Gulf War Took Diesel to a Record.
Two posts on 21 September named the two costs squeezing American farms. One describes real damage to Russian refineries but points away from the shock that actually moved diesel. The other offers…
One Elected Republican Objected to the Press Ban. Fox News Chaired the Pool That Stopped.
A widely shared article is being read as saying two Republicans denounced the ban. Its own headline says one, and so does its text. The substantive conservative objection came from media…
The 90% Is a Reversal Rate on Appeals, Not an Error Rate
The lawsuit is real and says exactly this. Its own paragraphs show the 90% measures appeals that were reversed, and a federal audit puts the measured error rate at 13%.
Republicans prompted McConnell’s vote; no one present reported he nearly voted no
The prompting happened and is on the record. The claim that he nearly voted with Democrats traces back to no reporter who was there.
Max Miller abuse allegations are documented in court filings but unproven
Three allegations against Rep. Max Miller are circulating as settled fact. All three are real court filings by his ex-wife, all are denied, and the police investigation never named anyone.
Pennsylvania reports 693 measles cases and four deaths, two of them confirmed
Pennsylvania’s 693 cases match the state’s own release exactly. The fourth death is reported but not confirmed: the state confirms two, a pathologist disputes one, the CDC counts none.
Trump’s claims that oil was higher under Biden and prices are falling don’t hold
Brent closed at $109.51 on Sept 9. Oil beat that on 72 of Biden’s 1,011 trading days. Core prices, energy already excluded, are up 1.83 percent since January.
The Denial Thesis: Checking a Popular Argument About Trump’s Voters
The individual facts in the argument mostly hold. The causal story bolted onto them does not, and on the two claims where the data can test a sequence, the arrow runs the other way.
The EPA Stopped Pricing Lives Saved
A viral alert says the EPA will weigh only industry costs when limiting soot and smog. The rule text confirms the substance. Zeldin’s ‘fake news’ response does not survive it.
Does Grindr Spike at Political Conventions?
The traffic pattern is real and it is not a Republican phenomenon. The 2016 Democratic convention produced the largest spike on record. The word doing the most work is ‘crash.’
Groceries Since 2020: The Real Number Is 32%, Not 130%
A viral post says a grocery basket more than doubled since 2020. Federal data says food at home rose 32%. Both that claim and the 3% figure it attacks are wrong, in opposite directions.
America Guarantees Zero Days Off
Trump said America has too many holidays, costing billions. US law mandates zero paid holidays and zero paid vacation, alone among 21 rich countries. Japan guarantees 15.
The Sprinkler and the Server Farm
Denver’s water restrictions are real and tightening. Whether the data center in the viral video broke them cannot be established, and the water that matters is not on the lawn.
Infrastructure and Ideology: Parsing the Tech-Elite Surveillance Claim
Palantir’s ICE contracts, Thiel’s ‘freedom and democracy are incompatible,’ and Yarvin’s autocracy blueprint are all real. The claim they form a coordinated plan is not proven.
COVID Accountability, Strand by Strand: Fact-Checking the Pre-Pandemic Preparedness Record
PREDICT’s end was scheduled. The NSC directorate was dissolved. The April 23 remarks are on video. The causal chain is unproven. PPE to China preceded domestic need. Trump’s private and public COVID…
Trump’s Election-Integrity Disclosure: What the Declassified Documents Actually Say
The July 16 address released genuine intelligence records. On most claims, the documents’ own caveats, confidence levels and context cut against the framing the speech drew from them.
Disaster Aid by Party & the ‘Stolen’ 250th: Two Threads, Checked
Trump withheld FEMA aid from blue states (23% vs 89%) and tied it to his candidates; Democrats allege his fundraisers diverted America250 donations to Freedom 250. Proven, alleged, illegal, sorted.
Trump’s ‘National Scallops Day’: What the Post Gets Right, Leaves Out, and Gets Wrong
The NOAA action opening the Northern Edge of Georges Bank is real, but the post misattributes a 32-year-old Clinton-era closure to Obama and Biden, falsely credits Biden as co-creator of the…
Trump Family Foreign Deals: Abuse of Office, Hunter Biden Redux, or Illegal?
The Trump Org did zero foreign deals in term one and eight in term two, plus crypto billions from foreign-linked entities. We check the facts and answer three questions: abuse, hypocrisy, legality.
Fact-Check: Trump’s Truth Social Attack on Maggie Haberman’s “Regime Change”
Trump calls the co-authored Regime Change book ‘largely fiction’ — but his own White House confirmed its accuracy. His electoral stats are mostly correct; his tape denial is unproven; his Iran…
The Mashed Potato Incident: Fact-Checking Trump’s “Origin Story”
Genuine family lore, and most corroborating quotes hold up, but the essay mislocates one story, cites two untraceable quotes, and oversells one childhood humiliation as the cause of the whole man.
The Patel “Slush Fund” Claim: What’s Proven, What Isn’t
Rep. Raskin’s letter alleging FBI chief Kash Patel paid $1M+ in bonuses to a loyalist ‘payback squad’ is real, but the bonus specifics are unproven; the firing purges are the best-documented part.
The Thiel Signal: Fact-Checking the Argentina Relocation
Of 13 claims about Thiel’s Argentina move, 10 are fully confirmed, 2 are editorialized, and 1 is premature — but the viral narrative omits the most concrete driver: California’s billionaire tax.
Fact-Check: ICE Detention Conditions & the Delaney Hall Hunger Strike
Detainee allegations at Newark’s Delaney Hall are unverified on-site but consistent with a documented pattern of medical neglect and deaths across ICE facilities nationwide.
Trump Calls for Obama’s Arrest: A Fact-Check of Every Claim
Trump posted 55 times in three hours calling for Obama’s arrest on treason charges — every specific claim he made has been investigated and debunked, most of them by Trump’s own appointees.