A note from PolitiFact's Editor-in-Chief @AngieHolan: Since the election, we’ve heard from many readers who are disappointed with our fact-checking work on the election results. Here are a few of the comments we’ve received.
It's an unfortunate product of these polarized times that information deemed unfavorable toward a candidate is perceived as partisan.
Our role is not to make any candidate look good — and it’s certainly not to help any candidate win an election. It's to help you navigate a confusing information landscape and make sure you have access to accurate information.
We do take election fraud seriously, and we have checked out many statements over the years. This year, we haven’t seen evidence to support those claims. In fact, this election has been the most scrutinized of any we’ve seen in our 13 years of fact-checking.
It wouldn’t be right for us to report election results as in dispute when they’re not, or to say that a winner isn’t clear when it is. We would apply these same standards if the situation were reversed and Trump was leading Biden in the public vote counts.
We hope you’ll keep reading PolitiFact, even if you dislike our findings. A democracy depends on people being able to consider evidence and then deliberate on the best path forward.
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In 2016 and 2018, Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC said a Supreme Court vacancy should not be filled in an election year.
"If an opening comes in the last year of President Donald Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait until the next election," he said Oct. 3, 2018.
Now, Graham said he supports filling the current vacancy before the next president’s term begins.
Fact-checking President Trump's ABC town hall claims on coronavirus, Joe Biden bit.ly/32Bd0Uj THREAD:
Trump deflected criticism of how he has handled the pandemic. Even as the death toll — about 200,000 — moves toward the higher end of initial forecasts, Trump said he took strong steps to stem the spread of the disease.
When ABC host George Stephanopulous asked him why he hadn’t yet put forward a replacement plan with protections in place, Trump said, "I have it all ready." He has promised this before, it has not emerged: politifact.com/article/2020/a…@KHNews
Thanks @PressSec, for the response. You said the president “never downplayed the virus.” It seems that the president’s words are the ones that matter. Here is some of what President Trump said. bit.ly/32c0sCB
Jan. 30: "We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. ... We think it’s going to have a very good ending for it."
Feb. 2: "We pretty much shut it down coming in from China."
Feb. 14: “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape."
Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”
President Trump referred to black-clad thugs on a plane in a Fox News interview. What was he talking about? No one seems to know for sure. bit.ly/2QKanZD
We contacted every relevant agency and none provided any further information to substantiate the incident. bit.ly/2QKanZD
The White House referred us to the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign didn’t provide any additional specifics about the alleged incident, instead offering a statement from campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh.
We fact-checked President Donald Trump's nomination speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention. bit.ly/34GLt59
This is Mostly False. Biden’s policy platform backs several forms of school choice, including nonprofit charter schools, public magnet schools and choice within school districts. bit.ly/3fI8xDA
False. Multiple independent investigations found no influence by the Obama administration over the FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. bit.ly/3aMUDOS
Tonight’s the finale of the Republican National Convention. #RNC2020 We’ve been watching the convention closely and fact-checking speeches from prominent speakers. Here’s a little recap:
Last week, we fact-checked the DNC. As an independent and nonpartisan fact-checker, we're committed to fact-checking both parties. Here’s our fact-checking of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and others: bit.ly/34m1SMn
On the first night of the RNC, Republicans opened their convention with speeches touting President Trump’s accomplishments interspersed with dark ruminations about what a Joe Biden presidency would look like. We fact-checked them: