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Supporters cheer as President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at John P. Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.


Gene J. Puskar

AP

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump is persisting with the myth that Democratic rival Joe Biden proposes to ban fracking. Biden doesn’t.

TRUMP: “One of the most important issues for Pennsylvania is the survival of your fracking industry. Joe Biden has repeatedly pledged to abolish fracking. He’s a liar. He’s a liar.” — remarks Tuesday night at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

THE FACTS: That’s false. Biden has repeatedly pledged not to abolish fracking.

His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, underscored that point multiple times in the vice presidential debate. None of that has dissuaded the president from repeatedly and wholly distorting Biden’s position.

At one of the Democratic primary debates, Biden misspoke when he addressed the subject, saying that if he became

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., questions Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.


Tom Williams

AP

WASHINGTON

The senator leading Supreme Court confirmation hearings Tuesday launched into revisionist history on “Obamacare,” implying it was designed to help Democratic states like California, New York and Massachusetts while doling out less to states like his, South Carolina.

In doing so, Sen. Lindsey Graham skipped over the fact that health insurance is generally more expensive in places with a high cost of living. Also, South Carolina is among 12 conservative states that have not adopted the law’s Medicaid expansion, a big source of federal subsidies.

A look at the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman’s remark during questioning of nominee Amy Coney Barrett:

GRAHAM: “Under the Affordable Care Act, three states get 35% of the money, folks. Can you

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President Donald Trump walks out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to return to the White House after receiving treatments for COVID-19, Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, in Bethesda, Md.


Evan Vucci

AP

WASHINGTON

Sidelined but not silenced, President Donald Trump demonstrated anew this past week he can’t be relied on to give a straight account of the disease that has afflicted millions, now including him. He heralded the arrival of a COVID-19 cure, which did not happen, and likened the coronavirus to the common flu even while knowing better.

The week featured the only vice presidential debate of the 2020 campaign and an emphasis on policy lacking in the virulent Trump vs. Joe Biden showdown of the week before.

Vice President Mike Pence asserted Trump respects the science on climate change when actually the president mocks it, and Pence defended a White House gathering that the government’s infectious disease

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WASHINGTON — Sidelined but not silenced, President Donald Trump demonstrated anew this past week he can’t be relied on to give a straight account of the disease that has afflicted millions, now including him. He heralded the arrival of a COVID-19 cure, which did not happen, and likened the coronavirus to the common flu even while knowing better.

The week featured the only vice presidential debate of the 2020 campaign and an emphasis on policy lacking in the virulent Trump vs. Joe Biden showdown of the week before.

Vice President Mike Pence asserted Trump respects the science on climate change when actually the president mocks it, and Pence defended a White House gathering that the government’s infectious disease chief branded a super-spreader event. His Democratic rival, California Sen. Kamala Harris, tripped on tax policy while wrongly accusing Trump of dismissing the pandemic as a hoax.

A review:

CORONAVIRUS

TRUMP, on

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WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris tussled Wednesday in the first and only vice presidential debate before the Nov. 3 election, coming as the coronavirus sidelined President Donald Trump at the White House.

A look at how the running mates’ statements from Salt Lake City stack up with the facts:

HEALTH CARE

PENCE: “President Trump and I have a plan to improve health care and to protect preexisting conditions for all Americans.”

THE FACTS: There is no clear plan. People with preexisting conditions are already protected by the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, and if the Trump administration succeeds in persuading the Supreme Court to overturn it, those protections will be jeopardy.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order declaring it the policy of the U.S. government to protect people with preexisting conditions, but Trump would have to go back to Congress to work out legislation

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis Friday cut short the week’s political arguing and even quieted his Twitter account for a time. But the wild presidential debate produced plenty of distortions in the campaign for the election a month away. Here’s a review:

HEALTH INSURANCE

TRUMP: “We guaranteed preexisting conditions.”

THE FACTS: That’s not true. Protections for people with preexisting conditions are not guaranteed by Trump’s recent executive order, even though the president has said that’s “affirmed, signed, and done, so we can put that to rest.”

If the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare as unconstitutional, Congress and the president would have to enact legislation to replace the health law’s guarantee that people with medical problems can’t be denied coverage or charged more on account of a health condition.

Various Republican proposals debated in 2017 as replacements for Obamacare would have weakened the law’s standard. For example, one idea

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden sparred Tuesday in their first of three debates, hoping to sway undecided voters planning to cast ballots by mail and in person in the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 election.

A look at how their statements from Cleveland stack up with the facts:

ECONOMY

BIDEN: Trump will be the “first (president) in American history” to lose jobs during his presidency.

THE FACTS: No, if Trump loses re-election, he would not be the first president in U.S. history to have lost jobs. That happened under Herbert Hoover, the president who lost the 1932 election to Franklin Roosevelt as the Great Depression caused massive job losses.

Official jobs records only go back to 1939 and, in that period, no president has ended his term with fewer jobs than when he began. Trump appears to be on track

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Social media users are sharing a photograph of an alleged official notice from Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves. The letter, which is fabricated, purportedly announces that face coverings will no longer be required in the state starting Oct. 1, 2020. This claim is false.

Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS

Examples are visible on Facebook here , here and Twitter here ,  here . 

The poorly fabricated document (see pixeled watermark of the state seal and grammatical errors) starts by saying: “This is a formal letter to all of the Residents and Business in Mississippi, the beginning of October 2020 the statewide mask requirements will be abolished.’   The signature featured in the fabricated letter also differs from Reeves’ authentic signature visible in official documents  here   . 

Renae Eze, a spokesperson for the governor’s office told Reuters via email that this letter “is an absolute fake”.

“As we have throughout the entire pandemic, our

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President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Harrisburg International Airport, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in Middletown, Pa.


Steve Ruark

AP

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump isn’t providing all the facts when he promises that people with preexisting medical problems will always be covered by health insurance if “Obamacare” is ruled unconstitutional.

Eager to get conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett quickly confirmed to the Supreme Court, which is hearing his challenge to the Affordable Care Act, Trump asserts that “far cheaper” and “much better” plans will replace the Obama-era law. He also points to a new executive order offering protections. But his claims are illusory.

Various GOP bills, in fact, have been seen over the years as providing less than what “Obamacare” already provided, and it’s unlikely an executive order will have much effect.

In a momentous past week, Trump painted a fantastical portrait of a coronavirus that affects “virtually

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  • President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is traveling to North Carolina and Florida. Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP / Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
    President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is traveling to North Carolina and Florida. less
    President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. … more


    Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP


Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP

President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, before boarding Marine One for a short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is traveling to North Carolina and Florida. less
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on the
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