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An update from FactCheck.org
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** U.S. v. Trump, a Historic Indictment
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Former President Donald Trump continues to make history, and not in a good way.

The 45th president of the United States was the first president to be impeached twice.

He was the first to be indicted, when earlier this year he was indicted in the state of New York on charges of falsifying business records.

Now, he is the first to be indicted on federal charges.

On June 9, the Department of Justice unsealed a 44-page indictment ([link removed]) against Trump detailing allegations not only of mishandling sensitive classified documents after he left office, but of obstructing federal officials who tried to get them back. William Barr, who served as Trump's attorney general, described the indictment as "very, very damning."

The former president was arraigned on June 13 in Miami, where he pleaded not guilty. Hours after his arraignment, Trump spoke to supporters at his golf club in New Jersey, where he unleashed a fire hose of false claims.

Our staff put together stories for you on the indictment and his post-indictment speeches -- including the one he gave hours after his arraignment. For more, see "Q&A on Trump’s Federal Indictment ([link removed]) " and "Trump’s Distortions of Federal Indictment ([link removed]) ."

We've also updated our running timeline of events. For that, read “Timeline of FBI Investigation of Trump’s Handling of Highly Classified Documents ([link removed]) .”

Key new entries include Trump's response to the May 11, 2022, subpoena to turn over more classified documents that resulted in 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” and additional counts of “conspiracy to obstruct justice,” “withholding a document or record,” “corruptly concealing a document or record,” and “concealing a document in a federal investigation.”
HOW WE KNOW
We often come across broken links while doing research. Perhaps it has happened to you, too. But don't despair. You may still find the information you want by using the so-called Wayback Machine ([link removed]) . The Wayback Machine is a project of the nonprofit Internet Archive ([link removed]) , which is sort of an online library. If you click on a link and get an error message, copy the URL and paste it in the Wayback Machine's search bar. If the broken link redirects you to another page, then right click on the hyperlink to get the original URL, copy the original URL and paste it in the tool. It's that easy.
FEATURED FACT
Pfizer has developed a maternal vaccine for pregnant people to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The results of the clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a vaccine efficacy of 81.8% against severe RSV-confirmed lower respiratory tract illness requiring a medical visit in the first 90 days after birth and an efficacy of 69.4% through 180 days after birth. RSV causes a mild cold for most people, but infants – particularly young and premature babies – can experience severe infections. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely presented the 2023 Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking ([link removed]) to KING5 News investigative reporter Chris Ingalls on June 9 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The prize, named after FactCheck.org co-founder Brooks Jackson, is given for excellence in TV fact-checking. Ingalls and his team at the Seattle-based station did a five-part series called "The Fraud Crusade" on baseless allegations of voter fraud and voter registration anomalies.

FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson was also at the awards ceremony. The Brooks Jackson Prize has been awarded every two years since 2013 by our parent organization, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in partnership with USC Annenberg’s Cronkite Awards.

C-SPAN covered the event. You can watch Ingalls accept his award and view a clip from his award-winning series here ([link removed]) .
REPLY ALL

Re: mRNA false statement on vaccinated meat
Reader: You wrote that this is false, which shows y’all don’t research. If this is false why have 5 states passed legislation against it? Come on now y’all gotta be smarter than that. No one passes legislation if it’s false. Stop lying to the people we are tired of it.

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: There are no false statements in our story ["Meme Spreads Falsehood About Vaccine Transfer Through Eating Meat," ([link removed]) July 15, 2021]. We are not lying. But perhaps someone else is lying to you.

Our story corrected the false claim that an unvaccinated person can get unintentionally “vaxxed” by consuming meat from a vaccinated animal. As we wrote, livestock such as pigs and cows have always been given a lot of vaccines, but it isn’t possible for vaccines to transfer from animals to humans in this way. Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi, a clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, told us: “That’s not how they transfer.”

Our story also corrected the false suggestion that livestock are being given COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. For our story, we contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. An USDA spokesperson told us that there are no COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in livestock and there are no federal recommendations that livestock should be vaccinated against COVID-19. That is still the case. A news story last month ([link removed]) about the Texas legislation quoted an USDA statement that said the USDA "has not approved and does not have any vaccines under trial to vaccinate livestock for COVID-19 and there are no licensed mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 in animals."

You say, “No one passes legislation if it is false.” You may want to read an item ([link removed]) in an industry trade publication called Pork Business about mRNA vaccines ([link removed]) (not COVID-19 vaccines, but other mRNA vaccines). The article – “Livestock and mRNA Vaccines: What You Need To Know” – is about “misinformation regarding the use of mRNA vaccines in livestock.” It includes an interview with a molecular biologist who explained why current mRNA vaccines being used in swine cannot get into the food that we eat.


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Instagram Post Misleads About Pfizer’s RSV Maternal Vaccine ([link removed]) ": Clinical trial data for Pfizer’s maternal vaccine to protect babies from RSV support the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, according to a vote by an FDA advisory committee. The FDA could soon approve the vaccine. But a popular social media post makes misleading claims about the trial findings.
* "Online Posts Misrepresent Coin Commemorating Trump’s Second Indictment ([link removed]) ": A privately owned company called the White House Gift Shop is selling a coin commemorating the second indictment of former President Donald Trump. But, contrary to a misleading tweet from Sen. Bill Cassidy, the online sales company is not affiliated with the White House in Washington, D.C.
* "Video Distorts Early Coronavirus Research To Promote Baseless Bioweapon Conspiracy Theory ([link removed]) :" Human coronaviruses first identified in the 1960s cause common colds. But a viral video misrepresents early research on common coronaviruses and cites unrelated patents to falsely suggest U.S. scientists created the viruses that cause SARS and COVID-19. The video also is not footage of official testimony before the European Parliament.
* "Posts Misrepresent Virtual Rainbow on Arc de Triomphe for Pride Month ([link removed]) ": A video artist posted an animation of a large rainbow coiling around and through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in celebration of Pride Month. But posts on social media falsely suggested the rainbow had been physically installed and “defaced” the historic structure.
* "Viral Video Makes False Claim About Pride Month Flag Display ([link removed]) ": Rockefeller Center is celebrating Pride Month with a display of rainbow flags to show it is “an inclusive and diverse space for all.” But an Instagram post uses an image of Pride flags at Rockefeller Center while falsely claiming it shows the “United Nations replaces all 193 country flags with LGBT flags.” The U.N. never changes its flag display, a spokesperson told us.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Los respiradores salvan vidas, no causaron ‘casi todas’ las muertes por COVID-19 ([link removed]) ": Los respiradores pueden salvar la vida de los pacientes con COVID-19 en estado crítico. La afirmación en las redes sociales que dice que un estudio muestra que los respiradores mataron a “casi todos” los pacientes de COVID-19 es “ciertamente equivocada”, según el autor del estudio. Las complicaciones asociadas a la ventilación mecánica pueden contribuir a la muerte, pero sin ella, los pacientes a los que se suele conectar a un respirador, morirían.

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