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Live: Fact-checking Trump’s Cabinet nominees’ Senate confirmation hearings

Congress Military Veterans
Kristi Noem sworn in Senate confirmation hearing for DHS secretary 1-17-2025
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, is sworn in for her Senate confirmation hearing, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
By PolitiFact Staff
January 14, 2025

Starting Jan. 14, the Republican-led U.S. Senate plans to hold hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, with the aim of confirming their appointments directly after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. 

PolitiFact will provide fact-checking and analysis on some of these public reviews for officials who are in line to run, for example, the State, Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, Interior, Transportation and Veterans Affairs Departments and the CIA.

RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: Did Pete Hegseth’s tattoos bar him from National Guard service in 2021?


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Donald Trump
stated on December 8, 2021 in an interview with Hugh Hewitt:
Gas prices were “$1.86 when I left” the White House.
False
By PolitiFact Staff • December 8, 2021
Louise Slaughter
stated on September 5, 2017 in a tweet:
Rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “will harm our economy.”
True
By PolitiFact Staff • September 10, 2017
Bloggers
stated on March 2, 2017 in a headline:
“Doctors who discovered cancer enzymes in vaccines all found murdered.”
Pants on Fire!
By PolitiFact Staff • April 4, 2017
David Menchetti
stated on November 28, 2016 in testimony before the Illinois House Labor and Commerce Committee:
“The causation standard in Indiana is exactly the same as it is in Illinois.”
True
By PolitiFact Staff • December 19, 2016
Kasim Reed
stated on September 16, 2016 in a White House press conference:
“If you look at any real analysis,” the Trans-Pacific Partnership is “going to generate better-paying jobs that are more stable.”
Half-True
By PolitiFact Staff • September 30, 2016
Kasim Reed
stated on November 17, 2015 in press release:
While the smoking rate nationally has fallen, more than 18 percent of Georgians still light up.  
Mostly True
By PolitiFact Staff • November 30, 2015
NextGen Climate Action Committee
stated on August 8, 2014 in a campaign ad:
Says Rick Scott “is letting Duke (Energy) keep collecting billions” despite troubled power plants.
Half-True
By PolitiFact Staff • August 13, 2014
Georgia Department of Transportation
stated on July 19, 2011 in a press release:
The Northwest Corridor highway project in Cobb and Cherokee counties “is expected to create over 9,700 jobs statewide.”
False
By PolitiFact Staff • August 10, 2011
Republican National Committee
stated on June 5, 2008 in in a news release:
Obama couldn’t have afforded his home without Rezko’s help.
False
By PolitiFact Staff • June 17, 2008

Live: Fact-checking Trump’s Cabinet nominees’ Senate confirmation hearings

Clear
Social Media
stated on July 20, 2026 in an X post:
North Carolina “processed 1,031,350 duplicate [voter] registrations.”
Half-True
By Paul Specht • August 28, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on August 23, 2026 in una entrevista:
La “inmigración ilegal desenfrenada” durante la administración Biden es la causa de “un brote de sarampión en ciertas partes del país”.
False
By Samantha Putterman • August 27, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on August 23, 2026 in an interview:
“Rampant illegal immigration” during the Biden administration is the cause of “a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country.”
False
By Samantha Putterman • August 27, 2026
JD Vance
stated on August 24, 2026 in a speech in Brewer, Maine:
Drug overdoses decreased in Maine because the Trump administration “sealed the border.”
False
By Amy Sherman • August 26, 2026
Social Media
stated on August 23, 2026 in social media posts:
Products marked as beef on U.S. store shelves “might just be from a foreign country that was buying horses from the U.S. government for the slaughter.”
False
By Maria Briceño • August 25, 2026
Jon Husted
stated on August 4, 2026 in a Fox News interview:
When he was a senator, Sherrod Brown “supported Social Security payments for illegals, healthcare for illegals and COVID checks for illegals.”
False
By Cami Henry-Seymore • August 25, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on August 8, 2026 in an ad:
Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly said he supports “gender-changing surgeries on kids.”
False
By Samantha Putterman • August 19, 2026
Randy Fine
stated on August 16, 2026 in a fundraising email:
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “requiring ID” to shop at city-run grocery stores.
False
By Amy Sherman • August 18, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed
stated on August 5, 2026 in an interview:
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers “helped to architect the legislation that kicked off the opioid epidemic.”
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • August 17, 2026
Alexander Vindman
stated on July 27, 2026 in an X post:
Then-Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody transferred “$10 million in taxpayer money meant for children’s health care to a campaign fund.”
Half-True
By Samantha Putterman • August 13, 2026
Ron Johnson
stated on August 10, 2026 in a Fox News Digital video:
There is “an 82% miscarriage rate with women who got the (COVID-19 vaccine) injection in the first or second trimester.”
False
By Caleb McCullough • August 12, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 10, 2026 in remarks in the Oval Office:
When the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are given together in the combined MMR vaccine, “there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal.”
Pants on Fire!
By Amy Sherman, Madison Czopek • August 11, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 10, 2026 in remarks while signing an executive order:
There are vaccines the size of a “bottle of soda … poured into a little child’s body.”
Pants on Fire!
By Grace Abels, Louis Jacobson • August 11, 2026
X posts
stated on August 8, 2026 in X posts:
Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed “openly calls for Sharia law in America.”
Pants on Fire!
By Amy Sherman • August 10, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in a Fox News interview:
Prices are “all coming down now. The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”
Mostly False
By Louis Jacobson • August 10, 2026
Mike Rogers
stated on August 5, 2026 in a campaign statement:
Abdul El-Sayed “believes America deserved 9/11.”
Pants on Fire!
By Caleb McCullough • August 7, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on July 22, 2026 in X post:
“Senate Bill 484 ensures that utility rates will not go up due to data centers.”
Half-True
By Samantha Putterman • August 7, 2026
Seth Moulton
stated on August 5, 2026 in an Instagram post:
“DOJ Epstein files reveal Senator Ed Markey was part of Epstein lobbying effort.”
Mostly False
By Amy Sherman, Caleb McCullough • August 6, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in una entrevista en Fox News :
En Venezuela, “Estamos ganando cientos de miles de millones de dólares (en ingresos petroleros), y ellos también”.
False
By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in a Fox News interview:
In Venezuela, “We’re making hundreds of billions of dollars (in oil revenue), and so are they.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2026
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