Trump’s Presidential Bid

“Here we go again.” That’s how we began our article on former President Donald Trump’s official announcement that he’s running for president.

Trump covered a lot of familiar territory in his Nov. 15 speech. We had previously fact-checked several of the claims he made – and/or we had heard the assertions in rallies Trump held in the run-up to the midterm elections.

For instance, Trump claimed that “Joe Biden has intentionally surrendered our energy independence.” But the U.S. never stopped importing oil and other forms of energy when Trump was president.

He wrongly claimed that he had “completed” the border wall he promised.

In talking about gas prices, he cherry-picked the pandemic low in prices during his administration and greatly exaggerated the price now. The average price per gallon was $3.80 the first week of November, but
Trump claimed “now it’s hitting 5, 6, 7 and even $8.”

He downplayed the risk of climate change, incorrectly stating that sea level rise will be just “one-eighth of an inch over the next 200 to 300 years.” Scientists project an increase of 10 to 12 inches in the next 30 years alone for U.S. coastlines.

Five FactCheck.org staffers compiled our article, fact-checking 12 claims.

So, right on the heels of the midterms, the 2024 campaign cycle is officially underway.  

Read the full story, "FactChecking Trump’s Presidential Bid Announcement."

Reader: Where are the documents to confirm your articles? Where are your qualifications? Without hard evidence it is concluded that this is misinformation. 

FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson: Thank you for your question. In our articles, we explain the source of the data and other information we provide, and we include hyperlinks to the original source. Occasionally, we are not able to link to the material if it's not available online, but for the most part, we are able to provide these links so that you can check out where we got the information for yourself. In fact, we encourage our readers to do so. 

We also have a webpage that explains our process, including how we select material to write about, how we conduct our research and how the editing process works. 

Here's part of what we say about our research:

We rely on primary sources of information. Our sources include: the Library of Congress for congressional testimony; the House Clerk and Senate Secretary’s office for roll call votes; the Bureau of Labor Statistics for employment data; the Securities and Exchange Commission for corporate records; the IRS for tax data; the Bureau of Economic Analysis for economic data; and the Energy Information Administration for energy data – to name a few.

We rely on nonpartisan government agencies for expertise, analyses and reports, including the Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the federal inspectors general.

We also rely on a few respected and trustworthy outside experts, such as the Kaiser Family Foundation on health care data, the Tax Policy Center for tax data and the National Conference of State Legislatures. We also interview experts on other topics as needed – for instance, in researching issues on foreign countries, we would contact experts on those areas. When quoting experts, we disclose relevant biographical information, such as their previous work in government or campaigns — if applicable.

Our goal is to use the best evidence.

As for our qualifications, we are journalists, with a wealth of experience among the staff. Our science editor also earned a Ph.D. in immunology. You can read about our staff members here, as well as our nonpartisanship policy, by which all employees are required to abide.

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Wrapping Up

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

• "FactChecking Trump’s Bizarre Claim of Stopping DeSantis’ 2018 Election ‘From Being Stolen’": President Donald Trump claimed he “sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys” to Broward County during the 2018 election to stop “ballot theft” and help Ron DeSantis become Florida’s governor. But a spokesman for the county elections office said there was no “federal law enforcement presence” for that election.
• "Posts Falsely Claim to Show Hobbs in Arizona Election Tabulation Room": An image shared on social media shows a woman with glasses and brown hair in an Arizona ballot tabulation room. The posts falsely identify the woman as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, who is the secretary of state, implying that Hobbs was illegally influencing the count. The woman pictured is an election observer, not Hobbs.
• “Ballot Processing Continues in Closely Watched States Amid Unfounded Claims of Fraud”: Close Senate races are underway in some states that have different laws regarding voting deadlines and tabulation. But some high-profile Republicans — including former President Trump — have suggested, without any evidence, that “they” are trying to “cheat.” Officials in those states say they are simply trying to count every legitimate vote.

• "Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 reducen, no aumentan, el riesgo de muerte fetal": No hay ninguna relación entre la vacunación contra el COVID-19 y un mayor riesgo de muerte fetal, a pesar de lo que se afirma en línea. De hecho, se ha demostrado en múltiples estudios que la vacunación reduce el riesgo de muerte fetal al proteger a las personas embarazadas y a sus bebés del coronavirus.