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U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy announced he is leaving office in September. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy announced he is leaving office in September. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy announced he is leaving office in September. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Eric Litke
By Eric Litke August 26, 2019

With U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy announcing he is leaving office in September, let’s take a look back at how the Wisconsin Republican has fared on the PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter over the years.

Duffy — a former Ashland County district attorney and cast member of MTV’s "The Real World" franchise — was elected to Congress in 2010.

Since then we’ve fact-checked him 22 times. Those yielded two ratings of Mostly True, eight of Half True, nine of False or Mostly False and three of Pants on Fire. Here’s a sampling:

Nov 3, 2017 — Says special counsel Robert Mueller "has brought in Democrat campaign donors at a very high level" on his team of lawyers (Half True)

Sept. 20, 2017 — Vermont had to "scrap" its single-payer health insurance program because it was "going bankrupt." (False)

July 27, 2017 — Republicans have " won a thousand seats since Obamacare." (Mostly True)

Feb. 24, 2017 — "Abortion providers like Planned Parenthood do little other than provide abortions." (Pants on Fire)

July 19, 2016 — "Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have left us with $19 trillion in debt." (Mostly False)

March 24, 2013 — The United States spends "$2.2 billion on free cell phones, $27 million on Moroccan pottery classes" and pays for "the travel expenses for the watermelon queen in Alabama." (Half True)

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