PolitiFact | Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address: annotated

The Poynter Institute

Get PolitiFact in your inbox.

Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address: annotated

National

President Barack Obama delivers the 2015 State of the Union address.

Lauren Carroll

By Lauren Carroll January 20, 2015

Steve Contorno

By Steve Contorno January 20, 2015

Joshua Gillin

By Joshua Gillin January 20, 2015

Jon Greenberg

By Jon Greenberg January 20, 2015

Angie Drobnic Holan

By Angie Drobnic Holan January 20, 2015

Louis Jacobson

By Louis Jacobson January 20, 2015

Katie Sanders

By Katie Sanders January 20, 2015

Read “Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address: annotated” by PolitiFact on Genius

Sources are noted in the annotations.

Read About Our Process

The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter

stated on June 22, 2017 a meeting with small business owners:

Says of Georgia, "for four years in a row, we are the No. 1 state to do business in."

half-true

half-true

stated on July 6, 2017 a press conference in Poland:

Says Barack Obama found out about Russia "in August. Now, the election was in November. That's a lot of time. He did nothing about it."

barely-true

barely-true

stated on July 2, 2017 an episode of "Fox News Sunday":

7 million people the Congressional Budget Office says won't have health insurance coverage under the Senate health care bill "don't exist."

half-true

half-true

stated on June 13, 2017 a congressional hearing:

"It's a longstanding policy of the Department of Justice not to comment on conversations that the attorney general has had with the president of the United States."

half-true

half-true

Kimberley Strassel

stated on May 28, 2017 "Meet the Press" on NBC:

In 2008, "candidate Obama, he's not even president-elect, sends William Miller over to Iran to establish a back channel and let the Iranians know that should he win the election, they will have friendlier terms."

false

false

stated on May 23, 2017 an online article:

"Rubio: ‘Rape victims should be in custody if there is suspicion that they’re planning abortion.’ "

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on May 21, 2017 an episode of "Fox and Friends":

Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich "apparently was assassinated at 4 in the morning, having given WikiLeaks something like 53,000 emails and 17,000 attachments. ... It turns out, it wasn’t the Russians."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on May 17, 2017 an episode of the "Rush Limbaugh Show":

"What Trump is alleged to have done is actually no different than what Barack Obama did in April last year when he made it known that he didn’t want Hillary prosecuted."

barely-true

barely-true

Richard Blumenthal

stated on May 9, 2017 a press conference:

"What does Trumpcare do? Yank tax credits away from veterans unlike any other American."

half-true

half-true

stated on May 4, 2017 blog headlines:

Under the House Republican health plan, sexual assault is a pre-existing condition.

barely-true

barely-true

stated on May 2, 2017 her book "Women Who Work":

"40 percent of American households have female primary breadwinners."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on April 30, 2017 an interview on CBS:

"General Flynn got his clearance from the Obama administration."

true

true

stated on April 28, 2017 the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting:

"For the first time in the modern political era, we have confirmed a new justice in the first 100 days."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on April 25, 2017 the daily White House press briefing:

Trump has "worked with Congress to pass more legislation in his first 100 days than any president since Truman."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on April 26, 2017 a tweet:

The Ninth Circuit has an overturned record "close to 80%."

half-true

half-true

Donald Trump
stated on December 2, 2023 in a speech in Iowa:

“With the historic Abraham Accords, I even made peace in the Middle East.”

By Amy Sherman • December 5, 2023
Gavin Newsom
stated on November 30, 2023 in a debate:

"When (Ron DeSantis) was in Congress, he supported amnesty."

By Maria Ramirez Uribe • December 5, 2023
Facebook posts
stated on November 29, 2023 in a Facebook post:

Audio shows breaking news that “Biden approves $5,200 for Americans older than 25.”

By Loreben Tuquero • December 5, 2023
Instagram posts
stated on December 1, 2023 in an Instagram post:

The Palestinian flag before 1948 included the Star of David.

By Sara Swann • December 5, 2023
Instagram posts
stated on December 1, 2023 in a photo:

The International Space Station is in a pool, not in space.

By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • December 5, 2023
Facebook posts
stated on December 2, 2023 in una publicación en Facebook:

Imagen muestra "potente terremoto … en medio de una tormenta solar" en Filipinas.

By Maria Briceño • December 5, 2023
Jodi Emerson
stated on November 7, 2023 in Wisconsin Assembly:

"On most campuses, you cannot destroy a chalked message unless you were the one that wrote it. You can't dump water on it, you can't even walk over it."

By Hope Karnopp • December 5, 2023
X posts
stated on December 26, 2023 in una publicación en X:

"El Papa acaba de inventar La Cruz LGBT”.

By Maria Briceño • December 4, 2023
Ron Johnson
stated on November 10, 2023 in X, formerly Twitter:

"In order to be a poll worker on the conservative side, you have to register through the Republican Party of Wisconsin."

By Hope Karnopp • December 4, 2023
Bryan Steil
stated on September 28, 2023 in Public appearance:

“Washington, D.C., allows noncitizens to vote in (municipal elections)" so a Russian citizen, after living in Washington for 30 days can "vote for mayor in Washington, D.C. And they don’t even need to show their ID to do it.”

By Ricardo Torres • December 4, 2023