We review the criminal referrals against Trump

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An update from FactCheck.org
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** The Case Against Donald Trump
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The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol voted this week to issue four criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump.

The four charges against the twice-impeached former president were obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting, assisting or aiding an insurrection. The Justice Department isn’t obligated to act on these referrals.

Our staff reviewed the 154-page executive summary of the committee's final report and examined the specific criminal statues cited in the report and the penalties for each.

Our article covers how, according to the committee, Trump "repeatedly lied" about the 2020 election even after his advisors told him that "there was no evidence of fraud sufficient to change the results of the election"; how he "inflamed and exacerbated the mob violence" on Jan. 6, 2021; and how he sought to “prevent or delay" the counting of Electoral College votes.

Read the full story, "The Facts Underpinning Jan. 6 Committee Criminal Referrals ([link removed]) ."
HOW WE KNOW
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced a plan last week to conduct a surveillance study of myocarditis in people who die within a few weeks of COVID-19 vaccination using autopsy results. He said the study will be done in collaboration with the University of Florida. Science Editor Jessica McDonald contacted the university, which told her it was “still looking into this topic.” Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
A recent report ([link removed]) from the Commonwealth Fund found in the last two years, COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. has prevented 3.2 million deaths and 18.5 million hospitalizations and saved more than $1.15 trillion in medical costs. So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported nearly 1.1 million ([link removed]) COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. -- which is about 16% of the global total ([link removed]) of nearly 6.7 million deaths.
WORTHY OF NOTE
This will be our last newsletter of the year. Our office will be closed from Dec. 24 through Jan. 2.

Thanks to all of our readers, subscribers and donors. We wish all of you a happy and healthy new year!
REPLY ALL

Reader: Is Putin's purpose of invading Ukraine to fight Nazism?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the purpose of his invasion is to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine. As reported ([link removed]) by NPR, Putin said:

"The purpose of this operation is to protect people who for eight years now have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime," he said, according to an English translation ([link removed]) from the Russian Mission in Geneva. "To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation."

We wrote about Putin’s claim in our story “The Facts on ‘De-Nazifying’ Ukraine ([link removed]) .”

As Deputy Managing Editor Rob Farley wrote in that story, more than 300 historians who study genocide, Nazism and World War II signed a statement that said Putin’s rhetoric about de-Nazifying fascists among Ukraine’s elected leadership is “propaganda.”

Rob interviewed one of the authors of that statement, Eugene Finkel, an associate professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, who told him that the influence of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi faction is relatively small.

“Neo-Nazi, far right and xenophobic groups do exist in Ukraine, like in pretty much any other country, including Russia,” Finkel said. “They are vocal and can be prone to violence but they are numerically small, marginal and their political influence at the state level is non-existent. That is not to say that Ukraine doesn’t have a far-right problem. It does. But I would consider the KKK in the US and skinheads and neo-Nazi groups in Russia a much bigger problem and threat than the Ukrainian far right.”


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Trump Swapped Prisoners, Too ([link removed]) ": Criticizing the Biden administration’s recent prisoner swap of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner as “a one-sided disaster,” former President Donald Trump wrongly boasted that his administration “got 58 hostages released from various hostile countries without paying any money, or giving up anything.”
* "DeSantis’ Dubious COVID-19 Vaccine Claims ([link removed]) ": While announcing a request for a grand jury probe into “crimes and wrongdoing” related to the COVID-19 vaccines, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his panel of contrarian experts repeatedly suggested the shots were too risky. But such claims are unsupported and based on flawed analyses.
* "Biden’s Story About Uncle Frank Doesn’t Add Up ([link removed]) ": President Joe Biden told a detailed story about how as vice president he presented one of his uncles, Frank Biden, with a Purple Heart, which his uncle refused to accept. But the facts of Biden’s story don’t add up.
* "Autopsy Study Doesn’t Show COVID-19 Vaccines Are Unsafe ([link removed]) ": To date, the benefits of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination outweigh the risks, which include a rare but increased risk of myocarditis, or heart inflammation. Social media posts, however, are citing a German autopsy study to misleadingly suggest otherwise.
* "Grant Wahl Died from Aortic Aneurysm, No Link to COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed]) ": American sportswriter Grant Wahl died unexpectedly while covering the soccer World Cup in Qatar, and purveyors of vaccine misinformation have suggested that his death was caused by COVID-19 vaccination. He actually died from the rupture of an aortic aneurysm that he didn’t know he had.
* "Our Annual Fundraising Appeal ([link removed]) ": Please consider a donation to FactCheck.org. Your support has helped us extend the life of FactCheck.org, which will celebrate its 20th year in 2023.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Las transfusiones de sangre no transfieren la vacuna contra el COVID-19 ([link removed]) ": Una transfusión de sangre de una persona vacunada, no transfiere la vacuna a una persona no vacunada. Sin embargo, propagadores de desinformación de alto perfil siguen promoviendo el falso y arraigado argumento de que sí lo hace.

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