The Poynter Institute

English Español

Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

I would like to contribute

Warm your hands

National

Bill Adair

By Bill Adair December 21, 2007

If you're chilly today, scroll down to the lower left of our home page and warm your hands by our Attack File. It is ablaze with three Pants on Fire rulings for chain e-mails.

stated on October 7, 2014 in a debate :

"The Common Core was not put together by the Department of Education in Washington. It was put together by governors and by states."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on October 3, 2014 in a news release:

Says Thom Tillis "refuses to say what we should do to combat ISIS."

mostly-true

mostly-true

Protect Oregon Driver Licenses

stated on April 21, 2013 in a campaign website statement:

Gov. Kitzhaber oversaw creation of the Oregon driver card law "behind closed doors without allowing any input from citizens who represent the public interest."

barely-true

barely-true

stated on July 18, 2014 in a campaign debate:

Oregon "is the most trade-dependent state in the nation"

false

false

stated on February 26, 2016 in a test of the fact-checking widget:

"This is a test of the fact-checking widget."

false

false

Donald Rumsfeld

stated on February 17, 2013 in an op-ed in the "Washington Post":

Says wrestling was a favorite sport of Abraham Lincoln.

true

true

18% of the American public

stated on September 6, 2012 in a test:

true

true

18% of the American public

stated on August 22, 2012 in a statement:

true

true

stated on June 26, 2012 in a message forwarded to many people:

Says "a lip-reading instructor at the River School, a Washington, D.C., school for the deaf" has determined that during 9/11 ceremonies, Michelle Obama said, "All this for a damn flag."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on January 8, 2012 in a Republican debate in New Hampshire.:

Says President Barack Obama "is a socialist."

pants-fire

pants-fire

Michele Bachmann

stated on November 22, 2011 in a Republican debate in Washington:

Says Apple CEO Steve Jobs told President Obama that the company moved factories to China because it needed 30,000 engineers.

true

true

18% of the American public

stated on November 3, 2016 in a test conducted on an obscure PolitiFact site.:

"This is a test of the Share the Facts widget."

true

true

Republican Party of Florida

stated on March 19, 2010 in a news release:

The Democratic health care plan is a "government takeover of nearly 20 percent of our economy."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on March 2, 2010 in the State of the State address:

Cover Florida "is available to any Floridian, offering basic coverage for about $150 a month, instead of the typical $600 a month."

barely-true

barely-true

C.W. Bill Young

stated on February 20, 2010 in a speech to Pinellas County Republicans.:

The Democratic health care plan is a "government takeover of our health programs."

pants-fire

pants-fire

Donald Trump
stated on May 2, 2024 in remarks to reporters:

“I’m not allowed to testify” because of a gag order.

By Amy Sherman • May 3, 2024
Facebook posts
stated on April 30, 2024 in a Facebook reel:

Video shows “protesters at Harvard replace American flag with Palestinian flag.”

By Sara Swann • May 3, 2024
Joe Biden
stated on May 1, 2024 in a campaign event:

Former President Donald Trump told Time magazine that “states should monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans.”

By Samantha Putterman • May 3, 2024
Viral image
stated on April 27, 2024 in a Facebook post:

Four people “tested positive” after a Texas pool was “infected with AIDS.”

By Ciara O'Rourke • May 3, 2024
Facebook posts
stated on May 1, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook:

El 1 de mayo de 2024 confirmaron el fallecimiento del presidente de México Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

By Maria Briceño • May 3, 2024
Facebook posts
stated on April 20, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook:

Video muestra a Alexa diciendo que los siete libros apócrifos agregados a la Biblia por la iglesia católica son "historia inventada y manipuladas que solo hablan de brujería, idolatría y consulta a los muertos".

By Maria Briceño • May 2, 2024
Viral image
stated on April 26, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Airbnb is expecting large-scale government actions and lockdowns to begin on June 6, 2024, according to a newly obtained email.”

By Ciara O'Rourke • May 2, 2024
Greg Steube
stated on April 14, 2024 in an X post:

Immigrants in the country illegally cost “Florida taxpayers $566 million for 54,000 hospital visits.”

By Maria Ramirez Uribe • May 2, 2024
Kamala Harris
stated on May 1, 2024 in a speech:

In his Time magazine interview, Donald Trump “said states have the right to monitor pregnant women to enforce these bans, and states have the right to punish pregnant women for seeking out abortion care.”

By Louis Jacobson • May 2, 2024
Nancy Pelosi
stated on April 29, 2024 in an interview with MSNBC:

Former President Donald Trump “has the worst record of job loss of any president.”

By Louis Jacobson • May 2, 2024