FactCheck.org's Weekly Update

In a hyped press briefing the eve before the Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump falsely said that convalescent plasma had been “proven to reduce mortality by 35%,” even though the therapy has not yet been shown to be effective for COVID-19.

On six separate occasions, President Donald Trump has claimed that Europe’s excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic is 33% to 40% higher than America’s. But that’s only possible when cherry-picking numbers or ignoring Europe’s larger population.

FactCheck.org Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley spoke with WBAL-TV in Baltimore and seven other Hearst TV stations around the country about fact-checking the Democratic convention.

In this video, we review five false, misleading or exaggerated claims from President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on Aug. 27 at the Republican National Convention.

A compendium of the president’s falsehoods and factual distortions that may be repeated during the convention.

Posts on social media falsely claim that the man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, “wouldn’t have been shot if he was still in prison for raping the 14 year old.” There’s no evidence he was ever charged with such a crime — let alone convicted and imprisoned. Jacob Blake was charged in July with sexually assaulting an adult woman, but has not been convicted.

Posts circulating on social media this summer falsely claimed that Black Lives Matter activists were responsible for the beating of five elderly white people shown in the posts’ photos. But the pictures have been online for at least five years — and most early uses identify the photos as originating in South Africa.

A baseless conspiracy theory on Facebook suggests that the California wildfires were started by a “powerful laser.” The meme spreading the theory uses the same photos that circulated in 2018 to advance a similar claim.

The prime-time programming for the Democratic National Convention every night on TV included a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the phrase “under God.” Two individual Democratic caucuses omitted those words during daytime meetings — prompting claims that misleadingly suggested they were dropped throughout the convention.

Facebook posts falsely claim that under Joe Biden, the “tax rate on a family making 75000 dollars would go from 12% to 25%.” Biden’s proposal does not call for a tax increase on those making less than $400,000, though analysts say an increased corporate tax rate could effectively result in a small tax increase for middle-income earners. 

Posts on social media repeat an error reported by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business in July, claiming that major corporations were donating large sums of money to Black Lives Matter. The companies have pledged support for racial equality initiatives, but haven’t specified Black Lives Matter as a beneficiary.

President Donald Trump accepted his party’s nomination in a speech filled with familiar falsehoods.

The vice president accepted his party’s nomination and then delivered a speech filled with false and misleading claims..

The fact-checking fodder included claims about the economy, the Democratic nominee and the president’s actions. 

On Day 1, Republicans made numerous false and misleading claims on tax cuts, the economy, immigration and COVID-19, among other topics.