A Busy Night of FactChecking 

As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were preparing in the days before the debate on Tuesday night, we were preparing, too. 

On debate nights, politicians often resort to false or misleading talking points they have delivered in recent stump speeches, interviews and social media posts. And so part of getting ready as fact-checkers means compiling information from recent (and sometimes not-so-recent) articles we've done on candidates. 

And it’s a good thing we did. The two candidates kept our team of reporters busy all night (and early into the next morning) writing new and rewriting old items. The repeats included Trump’s frequent and unsupported assertion about other countries emptying their prisons and insane asylums and sending people to the U.S. border. They also included Harris’ attempts to tie Trump to policies in Project 2025 -- a project that is being led and funded by the conservative Heritage Foundation -- even when Project 2025 proposals are at odds with Trump's own.  

But they threw us a few curveballs, too. Like Trump’s remarkable claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” As we wrote, the Springfield mayor and police chief say there’s simply no evidence of that. 

In all, we fact-checked more than two dozen false and misleading claims. And we published – as Philadelphia Magazine noted – before most had even had their first cup of coffee on Wednesday morning.

Read all of our fact-checks from the presidential debate in our story, “FactChecking the Harris Trump Debate,” in English or Spanish.

Next up on the debate front, the vice presidential nominees will mix it up on Oct. 1.

Reader: How many officers died as a result of the January 6 attack at the Capitol?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: About 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to multiple official reports. But no officers died that day. 

However, one law enforcement officer died the next day from the complications of strokes, and four others later committed suicide. 

You can get the details of each death in our article, "How Many Died as a Result of Capitol Riot?" 

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Trump Clings to Inaccurate Climate Change Talking Points": Former President Donald Trump, who has famously called climate change a “hoax” for many years, hasn’t used the word lately with respect to climate change. But he still clings to some similar arguments, and other claims he makes about climate change haven’t changed much over the years.
• "A Guide to Project 2025": Project 2025 provides a roadmap for “the next conservative President” to fundamentally change how the federal government works. Former President Donald Trump has claimed he knows nothing about it. Democrats call it “Trump’s Project 2025 agenda.” Here, we take a look at the plan: what’s in it, who wrote it and what the candidates have said about it. 
• "Online Posts Misrepresent Biden’s Proposed Tax on Unrealized Capital Gains": Social media posts have misrepresented a tax proposed in President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget. The 25% tax on unrealized capital gains would apply only to those who have a net worth of more than $100 million, not to all taxpayers as the online posts misleadingly claim.
• "Viral Posts Make Baseless Claim About Harris’ Earrings at the Debate": Social media posts baselessly claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris wore earrings equipped with audio devices in order to cheat during her debate with former President Donald Trump. Similar unfounded claims circulated before or after debates in 2016 and 2020 with Trump’s past political opponents. 
• "FactCheck.org Featured on NBC10, Telemundo62": NBC10 and Telemundo62 in Philadelphia featured FactCheck.org in segments before, during and after the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

• "Verificación del debate entre Harris y Trump": El muy esperado debate entre el expresidente Donald Trump y la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris fue un evento combativo en el que los hechos fueron pisoteados y distorsionados repetidamente.
• "Trump se aferra a argumentos inexactos sobre el cambio climático": El expresidente Donald Trump, quien por muchos años ha calificado al cambio climático como un “engaño”, no ha utilizado esa palabra en relación con el cambio climático últimamente. Pero el candidato sigue aferrándose a algunos argumentos similares y otras afirmaciones que hace sobre el cambio climático no han evolucionado mucho con el paso de los años. 
• "Las cifras de Trump y Harris en el sector manufacturero de EE. UU.": Tanto el expresidente Donald Trump como la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris afirman que ellos contribuyeron a reactivar la industria manufacturera estadounidense, mientras que su contrincante la perjudicó. Y ambos han seleccionado los datos que más les convienen para respaldar sus argumentos. 
• "Harris no ha cambiado su postura respecto del muro fronterizo de Trump": La campaña de Trump quiere que los votantes sepan que la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris dijo haber cambiado su postura para ahora apoyar el muro fronterizo de Trump, pero no quieren que piensen que Harris realmente cumplirá su promesa. Eso es engañoso. 
• "Anuncio televisivo de Trump afirma falsamente que Harris ha ‘soltado’ al IRS para ir por los trabajadores que reciben propinas": El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS, por sus siglas en inglés) no implementó un nuevo programa voluntario que ciertos empleadores podrían haber usado para informar las propinas que ganan sus trabajadores. Pero la propuesta es en parte la base de un anuncio televisivo de la campaña de Trump que afirma falsamente que la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris ha utilizado al IRS “como arma” y que ha “literalmente soltado” a la agencia para fiscalizar a los trabajadores que reciben propinas.