Presidential Debate

Did former President Donald Trump state that he won't debate Vice President Kamala Harris in a presidential candidate debate? No, that's not true: Trump said the opposite, that he wants to debate Harris. Harris is the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee for president. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Threads on July 23, 2024. The post's caption read:…

Did BBC News make a meme from an "inaudible" quote by Joe Biden? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to support the claim that BBC News created such a meme. It appears to be a mashup that riffs on White House transcripts, which insert "(Inaudible)" when microphones don't capture clear speech, and on a line from a Biden-Harris…

Did President Joe Biden err in saying "end of quote" in his remarks after the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity on July 1, 2024, as some social media posts implied? No, that's not true: There are many ways of signifying a quote in spoken language, including the use of "quote-unquote" or "quote-end of quote" to set off the quoted…

While discussing a flash poll after CNN's June 27, 2024, presidential debate, did CNN Political Director David Chalian use a name for former first lady Michelle Obama that implied she is a transgender male? No, that's not true: Chalian did not call Michelle Obama "Big Mike." The 31-second-long video clip used to make this claim includes AI-generated fake audio. While…

Did President Joe Biden "literally" fall asleep during the first 2024 presidential debate with his opponent former President Donald Trump on June 27? No, that's not true: No candidate fell asleep, as a recording of the event confirms. A screenshot from the live broadcast, shared on social media, showed a brief moment when Biden was looking down. The claim appeared…

Will CNN implement a one- to two-minute delay during the 2024 U.S. presidential election debate on June 27, 2024? No, that's not true: CNN stated that such a delay will not happen. Instead, the organization said the debate will be aired "live" and that the claim was a "conspiracy theory." The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X…

Did the Biden White House introduce a rule banning Christian symbols from an Easter egg contest in 2024? No, that's not true: The restrictions, which include "religious symbols" and "overtly religious themes," have been in place since the 1970s. Presidential administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, have used the same language in collaboration with the American Egg Board, the sponsor of…

Was Hillary Clinton executed on December 31, 2018? No, that's not true: The former U.S. senator and secretary of state has been seen numerous times since that date in public settings. She has been photographed, videotaped and given live interviews that prove that she was alive, as of September 1, 2023. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on…

Did the staff of presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee suppress political speech leading up to the 2020 election against then-President Donald Trump when it requested certain tweets be reviewed? No, that's not true: all of the deleted tweets we were able to review apparently violated Twitter's Terms of Service -- in particular, the rule that forbids…

Was President Joe Biden caught in a child predator sting by NBC "Dateline" host Chris Hansen and a decoy pretending to be a 13-year-old girl? No, that's not true: This video mashup uses clips from two unrelated videos that were filmed more than a decade apart to fabricate a dialogue. Some of the footage is from a 2007 "Dateline" segment…