Former President Donald Trump has woven a web of lies that have exhausted even the most seasoned fact-checker. His false claims include a wide range of topics from abortion, the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the economy, his presidential record to his legal cases, the results of the 2020 election and claims of Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Despite efforts from reporters, politicians and activists to correct him on the record, Trump continues to promote baseless accusations. Take a look at some of the most popular falsehoods that the Republican Party presidential nominee has made throughout the years.
1.The claim: Trump kept his promise to build a 1,000-mile wall at the U.S.-Mexico border during his first term in office
Our rating: False
In an interview with TIME Magazine, Trump said, “I built a tremendous wall… I completed what I said I was going to do, much more than I said I was going to do.”
The former Republican president promised the nation that he would build a 1,000-mile wall at the southern border to regulate immigration, however during his presidency his administration managed to build a wall that reached roughly 458 miles.
2. The claim: Trump delivered a “peaceful and patriotic” speech on Jan. 6, 2021
Our rating: False
Trump told TIME Magazine that he “made a speech that was peaceful and patriotic that nobody reports… the [Jan. 6] committee never used those words. They refused to allow those words.”
The United States House Select Committee on the January 6 attack did in fact include Trump’s words in their report. The committee members found that although Trump asked his supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically,” he also told them to “fight like hell” and used language that incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol.
3. The claim: Trump issued an order to send 20,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned down the offer
Our rating: False
Trump did not issue an order to deploy 20,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Speaker Pelosi did not have the authority to turn down the request.
4. The claim: President Joe Biden is behind Trump’s hush-money trial conviction
Our rating: False
Trump claims Biden and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are to blame after a jury found the former president guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush-money trial. Trump purports that attorney Matthew Colangelo deliberately left the DOJ in 2022 for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to join a team that would later bring charges against him.
There is no evidence to support that President Biden was behind the District Attorney office’s decision to bring the case against Trump nor is there evidence to support that Biden influenced Colangelo’s career decision.
Our source: CNN
5. The claim: The 2020 presidential election was “stolen” due to election fraud
Our rating: False
The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into Trump’s election fraud claims following the 2020 election and was unable to find any evidence of election fraud.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” said Attorney General William Barr.
Our source: AP News
6. The claim: Trump denies that he called for parts of the U.S. Constitution to be eliminated
Our rating: False
Following the 2020 election, Trump took to Truth Social and wrote, “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Our source: Truth Social
7. The claim: FBI data showing that violent crime dropped in 2023 is fabricated
Our rating: False
FBI data shows that violent crime rates, including homicides, dropped in 2023.
Our source: FBI
8. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris has only promoted her Indian heritage and “all of a sudden" claimed her Blackness
Our rating: False
While speaking with Black reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago in July 2024, Trump falsely claimed that Harris “all of a sudden” turned into “a Black person” while running for office.
Harris has always identified as Black and South Asian. She also graduated from Howard University, an HBCU.
Our source: CNN
9. The claim: Trump won a “Man of the Year” award in Michigan
Our rating: False
There is no evidence to support that Trump received this reward. In fact, an award like this does not exist in Michigan.
Our source: CNN