‘Eating cats’: Fact-checking Trump’s false claims during the presidential debate
In their first and perhaps only debate, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris described the state of the country in starkly different terms. As the two traded jabs, some old false and misleading claims emerged, along with some new ones.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate.Credit: AP
Here’s a look at some of them.
Trump endorses false rumour about immigrants eating pets
Trump: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats … They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The facts: There’s no evidence to support the claim, which Trump and his campaign have used to argue immigrants are committing crimes at a higher rate than others. Authorities in Ohio have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support Trump’s claim.
Trump claims Democrats support abortions ‘after birth’
Data from the Pew Research Centre says 93 per cent of abortions take place during the first trimester, with only 1 per cent occurring after 21 weeks. Most of those take place before 24 weeks, according to Pew data cited by NPR.
Harris: “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That isn’t happening; it’s insulting to the women of America.”
Trump distances himself from Project 2025
Harris: “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”
The facts: Trump has said he doesn’t know about Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for another Republican presidential administration.
The plan was written up by many of his former aides and allies, but Trump has never said he would implement the roughly 900-page guide if he was elected again. On the contrary, he has said it was not related to his campaign.
Trump falsely claims Harris met with Putin before the invasion of Ukraine
Trump: “They sent her to negotiate peace before this war started. Three days later, he went in, and he started the war because everything they said was weak and stupid.”
The facts: Harris hasn’t met Putin. She has, however, met with European leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Harris observed: “I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say you’re a disgrace.”
Trump repeats false claims that non-citizen migrants are being sought to vote
Trump: “A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”
The facts: In recent months, Trump and other Republicans have been repeating the baseless claim that Democrats want migrants to come into the country illegally so they can vote. There’s no evidence of this, nor is there any evidence that noncitizens illegally vote in significant numbers.
Voting by people who are not US citizens already is illegal in federal elections. Trump’s comments suggest that not speaking English is somehow prohibitive for voting in the US – and that’s also not the case.
Trump misrepresents crime statistics
Trump: In criticising the Biden administration, says “Crime is through the roof”.
The facts: FBI data shows a downward trend in violent crime since a coronavirus pandemic spike. Violent crime surged during the pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30 per cent from 2019 to 2020 – the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records. But it was down 6 per cent in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released in March. Murders were down 13 per cent. New FBI statistics released in June show the overall violent crime rate declined 15 per cent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Credit: Matt Golding
Jobs created under the Biden administration
Trump: “Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.”
The facts: This is a mischaracterisation of the government’s process of counting jobs. Every year the Labour Department issues a revision of the number of jobs added in a 12-month period from April through March in the previous year. The adjustment is made because the government’s initial job counts are based on surveys of businesses. The revision is then based on actual job counts from unemployment insurance files compiled later. The revision is compiled by career government employees with little involvement by politically appointed officials.
Trump falsely touts his economic credentials
Trump: “I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country ... They’ve destroyed the economy.”
The facts: This is an exaggeration. The economy grew much faster under presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan than it did under Trump. The broadest measure of economic growth, gross domestic product, rose 4 per cent a year for four straight years under Clinton. The fastest growth under Trump was 3 per cent in 2018. The economy shrank 2.2 per cent in 2020, at the end of Trump’s presidency. And a higher proportion of American adults had jobs under Clinton than under Trump. During the Biden-Harris administration, the economy expanded 5.8 per cent in 2021, although that also includes a bounce-back from COVID.
Inflation is trekking down not up
Trump: “They had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country because I’ve never seen a worse period of time.”
The facts: While praising the strength of the economy under his presidency, Trump misstated the inflation rate under Biden. Inflation peaked at 9.1 per cent in June 2022. It’s now seeing a downward trend. The most recent data shows that as of July it has fallen to 2.9 per cent. Other historical periods have seen higher inflation too – for example, more than 14 per cent in 1980– according to the Federal Reserve.
AP with Chris Zappone
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