View this email in your browser ([link removed])
An update from FactCheck.org


** Trump's Busy Week
------------------------------------------------------------

With an indictment looming, former President Donald Trump held the first rally of his 2024 campaign in Waco, Texas, and he sat down for his latest interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Four FactCheck.org staffers reviewed his remarks, which, as usual, touched on a wide variety of subjects. Not only did he repeat many claims our staff has fact-checked before — he also made new false and unsupported statements, including about his legal troubles.

When he and Hannity discussed the FBI search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump brought up an $18 million settlement in a case about former President Richard Nixon’s presidential materials. As interesting as Nixon's case was, our team found that it has no parallels to Trump’s situation -- despite the impression he gave viewers.

In addition, immigration experts told our fact-checkers that there is no evidence that South American countries are emptying their prisons and “mental institutions” and sending those people to the U.S., as Trump claimed.

Likewise, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researcher informed our team that there is no evidence for Trump's claim that the number of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. is “probably” five times higher than the government's official figure.

For our full analysis -- including the claims Trump won’t stop repeating -- read "FactChecking Trump’s Rally, Fox Interview ([link removed]) ." For information on the events leading to his indictment ([link removed]) , read our Q&A ([link removed]) .
HOW WE KNOW
We often need to consult with experts. For an item on the federal investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents, Managing Editor Lori Robertson interviewed Jason R. Baron, who was the director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration for 13 years. Now a professor at the University of Maryland, Baron was also a source for us in 2016 when Hillary Clinton was the subject of an FBI investigation into her handling of classified records. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution lists three qualifications to serve as president: He or she must be at least 35 years old upon taking office, a U.S. resident for at least 14 years and a “natural born Citizen, or a Citizen" of the U.S. “Anyone can be president so long as they meet the constitutional qualifications and do not trigger any constitutional disqualifications," Josh Chafetz, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, told us. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
International Fact-Checking Day is April 2 -- a day to celebrate our shared interest in obtaining accurate information and guarding ourselves against disinformation and misinformation.

Fact-checking organizations that are members of the International Fact-Checking Network, a project of the Poynter Institute, conceived ([link removed]) the day and first celebrated it in 2017. Visit the IFCN website ([link removed]) to see what it plans this year.

You can join us on Twitter April 2 using the hashtag #FactsMatter.
REPLY ALL

Reader: Is fentanyl coming over the US borders through illegal and legal immigrants?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We wrote about seizures of fentanyl at the southern border in a story ([link removed]) that we did last year.

In that story, we included a chart ([link removed]) that showed the majority of seizures occur at legal ports of entry -- meaning people (citizens and noncitizens) who are legally travelling into the U.S. in trucks and other vehicles through the legal entry points.

The chart shows, for example, that in April 2022 federal agents seized 988 pounds of fentanyl at legal entry points by the Office of Field Operations and 294 pounds in between legal ports of entry by the U.S. Border Patrol. Those carrying drugs in between legal ports of entry are crossing illegally into the U.S.

In February 2023, the most recent month on record ([link removed]) , there had been 1,902 pounds of fentanyl seized at legal ports of entry and 380 pounds seized in between legal ports of entry.


** Wrapping Up
------------------------------------------------------------

Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Q&A on Grand Jury Investigation of Trump in New York ([link removed]) ": The week came and went and former President Donald Trump was not charged with a crime, as he had predicted. But a grand jury is expected to reconvene on March 27. Here’s what to know about Trump’s case.
* "Memes Make False Equivalence Between Clinton, Trump and Payments to Women ([link removed]) ": Former President Bill Clinton settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with Paula Jones in a case that was a matter of public record. Former President Donald Trump made a secret payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, which may lead to criminal charges against him. Social media posts falsely claim the situations are similar and Trump is being treated differently by prosecutors.
* "Stormy Daniels Said 2018 Letter Denying She Had Sex With Trump Is a ‘Lie’" ([link removed]) : Porn actor Stormy Daniels maintains that she had sex with Donald Trump in 2006. Daniels said a letter she signed under pressure in 2018, claiming the affair “never happened,” was a “lie.” But some conservatives are misleadingly citing that letter as proof that Trump and Daniels were never intimate and she was not paid “hush money.”
* "Old Hoax Shows Up in Posts About Nashville School Shooter ([link removed]) ": False claims about the shooter at a Christian elementary school in Nashville have been swirling on social media. Police shot and killed the suspect, whom they identified as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale. The person was not named “Samantha Hyde” — a reference to a long-running internet hoax.
* "Posts on Social Media Use Different Photos of Fetterman to Boost Bogus Claim ([link removed]) ": Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been hospitalized since Feb. 15 for treatment of depression, an aftereffect of a stroke. Social media posts use two photos of Fetterman — taken years apart — to falsely claim the Democrats are using a body double for Fetterman. Differences in the photos are due to camera focal lengths and lenses, experts said.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Qué dice, y qué no dice, la revisión Cochrane sobre las mascarillas para el COVID-19 ([link removed]) ": Algunas personas han difundido en internet los resultados de una revisión Cochrane para afirmar erróneamente que las mascarillas “no funcionan” contra el coronavirus. Pero la principal conclusión de la revisión es que, según ensayos controlados aleatorizados, no se sabe con certeza si las medidas de uso de mascarillas en la población ayudan a frenar la propagación de enfermedades respiratorias.
* "No hay pruebas de que los científicos recibieran una subvención por cambiar de opinión sobre el origen de la pandemia, a pesar de lo que se afirma ([link removed]) ": El representante republicano Jim Jordan sugirió infundadamente que el exdirector del NIAID, el Dr. Anthony Fauci, otorgó a los científicos una de las subvenciones, por valor de 9 millones de dólares, para alterar la narrativa científica sobre cómo se inició la pandemia del COVID-19.

Do you like FactCheck.Weekly? Share it with a friend! They can subscribe here ([link removed]) .
Donate to Support Our Work ([link removed])

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
We'll show up in your inbox every Friday with this fact-focused rundown. But you can message us any day of the week with questions or comments: [email protected].
Copyright © 2023 FactCheck.org, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
FactCheck.org
Annenberg Public Policy Center
202 S. 36th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3806

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=eea1de17ad-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_03_30_06_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-eea1de17ad-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D)
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed][UNIQID]&c=ff9a7620f9&utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=eea1de17ad-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_03_30_06_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-eea1de17ad-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D)
.

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
FactCheck.org: A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania . 202 S 36th St. . Philadelphia, Pa 19104 . USA