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An update from FactCheck.org
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at podium. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.


** Trump's Indictments Pile Up
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis this week announced a sweeping state indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies for engaging "in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results."

Willis relies on the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act. All 19 defendants are charged with one count of violating the RICO Act, which is associated with organized crime operations.

The indictment lists a total of 41 felony counts, and Trump is facing 13 counts himself.

It was the fourth time in a little more than four months that Trump -- the Republican 2024 presidential front-runner -- has been indicted.

As we have done with the other indictments, our staff worked to bring you a Q&A on the Georgia case. We answer such questions as "Why is this a RICO case?" and "What does the indictment allege?"

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely wrote a separate piece on Trump's co-defendants -- who they are and what they are alleged to have done.

For more, see "Q&A on Trump's Georgia Indictment ([link removed]) " and “Trump’s Co-Conspirators in Georgia ([link removed]) .”
HOW WE KNOW
Curious if something you've heard or read is true? You can check on Google's Fact Check Explorer ([link removed]) -- a fact-checking database that is populated by fact-checking organizations from around the world, including us.
FEATURED FACT
During the Trump administration, the unemployment rate was at or below 4% for 24 straight months, ending in February 2020, before the devastating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic kicked in. Read more ([link removed]) .
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REPLY ALL

Reader: Did Joe Biden lower the deficit by 1 trillion 700 billion dollars?

FactCheck.org Staff Writer D'Angelo Gore: The budget deficit has declined from $3.1 trillion in 2020 to $2.8 trillion in 2021 to $1.4 trillion in 2022. But the decline is mostly due to the expiration of emergency spending for the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the budget deficit ballooned in the first place. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said deficits would have dropped even more if not for policies enacted by the Biden administration.

For more, read "FactChecking Biden’s Reelection Remarks ([link removed]) ."


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Republicans Oversell Archer’s Testimony About Hunter and Joe Biden ([link removed]) ": Congressional testimony by Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, on July 31 led to competing narratives about what Archer said, and how damaging his testimony was to President Joe Biden. We sort through the facts.
* "Posts Exaggerate Significance of Swiss Study on Heart Risk and COVID-19 Vaccination ([link removed]) ": A Swiss study found that after a COVID-19 booster, less than 3% of people briefly had a slightly elevated blood level of a protein that can be a marker of heart injury. No one in the study had any serious heart damage, and other experts say the findings are unlikely to be clinically significant. Viral posts, however, are spinning the results to falsely claim that the study shows the vaccine’s risks are “off the scale.”
* "Post Distorts Florida School Policy on ‘Romeo and Juliet ([link removed]) ’": A Florida school district is allowing students to read only excerpts of “Romeo and Juliet” in class — not passages with sexual content. But a Facebook post incorrectly suggests all Florida high schools are removing the “full text” of the play from classrooms. The state’s education commissioner included the play on a recommended reading list for grades nine to 12.
* "RFK Jr.’s COVID-19 Deceptions ([link removed]) ": Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s battle against vaccines — and against the institutions that promote them — goes back to at least the mid-2000s, as we explain in the first article of this series. But the arrival of COVID-19 gave the environmental attorney fresh grounds to intensify his attacks and a timely platform to gain new followers and revenue. This is the last of a three-part series ([link removed]) .
* "Posts Misrepresent Military’s Response to Maui Wildfires ([link removed]) ": The White House declared the site of the Maui wildfires a disaster area, and the Department of Defense has provided more than 400 troops, air support and other resources in firefighting and recovery efforts. Yet posts on Instagram misrepresent the federal response and one falsely claimed “the military is standing down.”
* "Biden Cherry-Picks Unemployment Record ([link removed]) ": In recent speeches touting so-called Bidenomics, President Joe Biden has repeatedly cited the statistic that “unemployment has been below 4% for the longest stretch in over 50 years.” That’s true, but there’s some cherry-picking going on.
* "Video Misrepresents Lasting Effects of Nuclear Bombs Dropped on Japan During World War II ([link removed]) ": The United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing hundreds of thousands of people to force Japan’s surrender in World War II. A video on social media falsely claims the cities “were never nuked,” reasoning that nuclear bombs would have made those cities “uninhabitable for thousands of years.”

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Los engaños de RFK Jr. sobre el COVID-19 ([link removed]) ": Una y otra vez, Robert F. Kennedy ha tergiversado o distorsionado la ciencia sobre la pandemia o las vacunas contra el COVID-19. Aquí, en el artículo final de esta serie de tres partes, revisamos algunas de las afirmaciones que ha hecho hasta ahora sobre estos temas durante su campaña para disputar al presidente Joe Biden la nominación demócrata.
* "En qué se equivoca RFK Jr. sobre el autismo ([link removed]) ": Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continuamente hace afirmaciones incorrectas o engañosas sobre las vacunas, el COVID-19 y otros temas relacionados con la salud. Pero sus opiniones sobre las vacunas se hicieron conocidas cuando comenzó a promover la idea, totalmente desmentida, de que causan autismo.

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