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The Truth-O-Meter scorecard for the first 2016 presidential debate

By Katherine Burns October 19, 2016

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 2016. We published 18 fact-checks from that debate and cross-referenced another 16 previous fact-checks of similar statements to see how they compared on the Truth-O-Meter. See the full scorecard below followed by brief summaries of the fact-checks that make up the scorecard.

 

Hillary Clinton

True - 6 fact-checks

Clinton said in the debate that according to "independent experts," Trump's tax plan "would blow up the debt by over $5 trillion and would in some instances disadvantage middle-class families compared to the wealthy." We rated this True.

Clinton said Trump "started his career back in 1973 being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination because he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans." We rated this True.

Clinton said, "The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African-American men, more than the next nine causes put together." We rated this True.

Clinton said of Trump’s tax plan: "In fact, it would be the most extreme version, the biggest tax cuts for the top percent of the people in this country than we’ve ever had." Earlier this year, Wisconsin State Senator Jennifer Schilling said under Donald Trump’s tax plan "the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers -- people earning multiple millions of dollars a year, on average -- would get more tax relief than the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers combined." We rated this True.

Clinton said, "If you’re a young African-American man and you do the same thing as a young white man, you are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted, and incarcerated." In a campaign ad, she made a similar statement that we rated True.

Clinton said Trump "has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers." She made the same statement during a rally a few months prior to the debate. We rated it True.

Mostly True - 7 fact-checks

Clinton said Trump "was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis. He said back in 2006, ‘Gee, I hope it does collapse because then I can go in and buy some and make some money.’ " We rated this Mostly True.

Clinton claimed Trump once suggested that he "would try to negotiate down the national debt." We rated this Mostly True.

Clinton said, "For 40 years, everyone running for president has released their tax returns."

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. said several days before the debate that except for Trump, "every other major party nominee" for the past 40 years has released their tax returns. We rated this Mostly True.

Clinton said to Trump, "you’ve taken business bankruptcy six times." In a previous statement, Clinton said Trump had "bankrupted his companies not once, not twice but four times." Our check found it was in fact six times, and we rated this statement Mostly True.

Clinton said Trump "actually advocated for the actions we took in Libya and urged that Gadhafi be taken out, after actually doing some business with him one time." Earlier in September, Clinton said Trump is "on record extensively supporting (the) intervention in Libya." We rated this Mostly True.

Clinton said, "I spent a year-and-a-half putting together a coalition that included Russia and China to impose the toughest sanctions on Iran." Last year, Clinton said "I spent 18 months putting together the sanctions against Iran so that we could force them to the negotiating table." We rated this Mostly True.

Clinton said, "President Obama got a deal that put a lid on Iran’s nuclear program without firing a single shot." During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, she said, "We put a lid on Iran's nuclear program without firing a single shot." We rated this Mostly True.

Half True - 2 fact-checks

Clinton said Trump "publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans’ (emails)." We rated this Half True.

Clinton said, "The biggest (trade deal), a multinational one known as CAFTA, I voted against. And because I hold the same standards as I look at all of these trade deals." Previously, she said, "I opposed the only multilateral trade deal that came before the Senate while I was there." We rated this Half True.

Mostly False - 1 fact-check

Clinton said that "the only years that anybody's ever seen" of Trump’s tax returns "showed he didn't pay any federal income tax." We rated this Mostly False.

 

Donald Trump

True - 2 fact-checks

Trump said during the first debate, "In Chicago, they've had thousands of shootings, thousands since Jan. 1. Thousands of shootings." We rated this True.

Trump said, "We have a trade deficit with all of the countries that we do business with, of almost $800 billion a year." He previously made a similar statement, which we rated True.

Mostly True - 3 fact-checks

Trump said Clinton called the Trans-Pacific Partnership "the gold standard. You called it the gold standard of trade deals. You said it’s the finest deal you’ve ever seen." We rated this Mostly True.

Trump said, "These people that we were going to deport for good reason ended up becoming citizens. Ended up becoming citizens. And it was 800. And now it turns out it might be 1,800, and they don't even know." We rated this Mostly True.

Trump said to Clinton, "I do want to bring up the fact that you were the one that brought up the words super-predator about young black youth." Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee made a similar statement which we rated Mostly True.

Half True - 1 fact-check

Trump said that Obama "doubled" the debt "in a course of almost eight years, seven-and-a-half years, to be semi- exact." Trump has said in the past that Obama has doubled our national debt, and we rated this Half True.

Mostly False - 6 fact-checks

Trump said, "I did not — I did not — I do not say that. I do not say that" climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. We rated this Mostly False.

Trump said of New York City, "murders are up." We rated this Mostly False.

Trump said "no, you’re wrong," responding to the assertion that stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York. We rated this Mostly False.

Trump said "I was just endorsed by ICE." He repeated this assertion in the second debate. We rated this Mostly False.

Trump said "China is totally powerful as it relates to North Korea." He previously said China has "total control, just about, of North Korea." We rated this Mostly False.

Trump said a hostage negotiation in Iran was "One of the great giveaways of all time, of all time, including $400 million in cash." He previously asserted that this $400 million was ransom. We rated this Mostly False.

False - 6 fact-checks

Trump said, "You will learn more about Donald Trump by going down to the Federal Elections" Commission to see the financial disclosure form than by looking at tax returns. We rated this False.

Trump said, "I did not support the war in Iraq … The record shows that I’m right." We rated this False.

Trump said that top Clinton advisers "were pressing" birther movement stories "very hard." We rated this False.

Trump said, "NATO is opening up a major terror division. ... I'm sure I'm not going to get credit for it, but that was largely because of what I was saying and my criticism of NATO." We rated this False.

Trump said to Clinton, "You heard what I said about (the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal), and all of a sudden you were against it." We rated this False.

Trump said: "When I did an interview with Howard Stern, very lightly, first time anyone’s asked me that, I said, very lightly, I don’t know, maybe, who knows?" In a previous fact-check on Trump’s support for the Iraq War, we looked into his conversation with Howard Stern. "Shock jock Howard Stern asked Trump if he supported the looming invasion.Trump responded ‘Yeah I guess so.’" We rated his claim False.

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The Truth-O-Meter scorecard for the first 2016 presidential debate