Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

$

The week in fact-checks Aug. 27 (video)

National
By Jim Tharpe
August 26, 2015

PolitiFact Georgia editor Jim Tharpe breaks down the week in fact-checks.

Our Sources

Sources in related items.

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Jim Tharpe
Bloggers
stated on November 29, 2016 in Townhall.com :
Hillary Clinton in 2005 co-sponsored legislation that would jail flag burners.
True
By Jim Tharpe • December 2, 2016
Various media reports 2
stated on November 10, 2016 in news media reports:
Newt Gingrich has been a proponent of selecting a president by popular vote instead of the Electoral College.
True
By Ariella Phillips, Jim Tharpe • November 16, 2016
Social Media
stated on October 17, 2016 in social media sites:
Creflo Dollar has endorsed Republican Donald Trump for president.
Pants on Fire!
By Jim Tharpe • October 19, 2016
Newt Gingrich
stated on September 19, 2016 in in a Facebook post and video:
Hillary Clinton said, “with a straight face, that the terrorist attacks this weekend were caused by Donald J. Trump”
Half-True
By Jim Tharpe • September 23, 2016
Jim Barksdale
stated on September 15, 2016 in On his campaign website:
In Georgia, women earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men.  
Half-True
By Jim Tharpe • September 16, 2016
Jimmy Carter
stated on August 22, 2016 in interview with an AP reporter in Memphis:
Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president in 2016 are “quite unpopular.”
True
By Jim Tharpe • August 31, 2016
Allen Buckley
stated on July 13, 2016 in a campaign statement:
“U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has voted for $7 trillion of our national debt!”
Mostly True
By Jim Tharpe • August 10, 2016
Video for Atlanta Super Bowl bid presentation
stated on May 24, 2016 in Super Bowl bid:
“Our population has grown from about 1 million in the 1970s to almost 7 million today.”
Half-True
By Jim Tharpe • June 8, 2016
Georgians for Bernie Sanders for President
stated on May 23, 2016 in Facebook post.:
Polls show Bernie Sanders would do better than Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head battle against Donald Trump.
Mostly True
By Jim Tharpe • June 8, 2016
Vernon Keenan
stated on April 26, 2016 in Newspaper interview :
The city of Clarkston “can’t decriminalize marijuana. Only state legislators and Congress can do that.”
True
By Jim Tharpe • May 11, 2016
Viral media reports
stated on March 22, 2016 in Newspaper, television and social media:
Emory University students were provided counseling after someone wrote “Trump 2016” in chalk on campus.
Mostly False
By Jim Tharpe • March 31, 2016
Romney allies
stated on March 18, 2016 in The New York Times:
Mitt Romney did not “endorse” Ted Cruz, even though he said he is voting for Cruz and urged others to do likewise.  
Half-True
By Jim Tharpe • March 24, 2016
Donald Trump
stated on March 13, 2016 in Donald Trump on Sunday, March 13th, 2016, in an interview on "Meet the Press":
Says a YouTube video shows Thomas DiMassimo, the man who rushed Trump at an Ohio rally, “dragging the American flag on the ground like it was a piece of garbage.”    
True
By Jim Tharpe • March 17, 2016
Viral BuzzFeed
stated on April 20, 2015 in video:
Women make only 78 percent of what men make for the same job.  
Mostly False
By Jim Tharpe, Nancy Badertscher • April 22, 2015
Jimmy Carter
stated on March 24, 2014 in Television interview :
Women in the U.S. get 23 percent less pay than men for the same exact work.
Mostly False
By Jim Tharpe • April 4, 2014

The week in fact-checks Aug. 27 (video)

Clear
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
Donald Trump
stated on August 3, 2026 in remarks in the Oval Office:
“There was vandalism” at the Reflecting Pool.
False
By Amy Sherman, Louis Jacobson • August 4, 2026
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on August 2, 2026 in an interview with Dana Bash on CNN:
The U.S. “had the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth.”
False
By Grace Abels • August 4, 2026
United Democracy Project
stated on July 28, 2026 in an ad:
“With our democracy on the line against Donald Trump in 2024, El-Sayed told Democrats to vote uncommitted — even after Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer warned those efforts would help elect Donald Trump.”
Half-True
By Gracey Abernethy • July 31, 2026
Haley Stevens
stated on July 27, 2026 in a debate:
“No,” she hasn’t taken money from utility companies for her U.S. Senate campaign.
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • July 29, 2026
James Fishback
stated on July 23, 2026 in X post:
The U.S. Congress just “voted to merge our military with Israel’s military.”
False
By Samantha Putterman • July 29, 2026
Senate Leadership Fund
stated on July 25, 2026 in an ad:
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson hit a female colleague.
False
By Amy Sherman • July 28, 2026
Mike Collins
stated on July 21, 2026 in an X post:
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff “voted against the Laken Riley Act.”
False
By Ben Brasch • July 28, 2026
Social Media
stated on July 14, 2026 in publicaciones en redes sociales:
“El Congreso acaba de elegir la única versión de reforma horaria que Estados Unidos ya probó, odio y derogó”.
True
By Alex Min • July 27, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed
stated on July 6, 2026 in an interview:
A Michigan Senate primary poll “seems to be funded by AIPAC.”
False
By Caleb McCullough • July 24, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on July 22, 2026 in a speech in Georgia:
“They caught thousands of votes in New Jersey where illegal aliens were allowed to vote. Thousands and thousands.”
Mostly False
By Amy Sherman, Louis Jacobson • July 24, 2026
Republican National Committee
stated on July 3, 2026 in a post on X:
New York Democrats are communists for “trying to force” New Yorkers to conserve energy.
Pants on Fire!
By Jill Terreri Ramos • July 24, 2026
Social Media
stated on July 14, 2026 in a social media post:
“Congress just picked the one version of clock reform America has already tried, hated, and repealed.”
True
By Alex Min • July 20, 2026
Sherrod Brown
stated on July 1, 2026 in an X post:
Since the passage of the “Jon Husted-backed” HB 6, Ohioans’ residential utility rates have gone up $663 a year.
Half-True
By Gracey Abernethy • July 20, 2026
Jon Ossoff
stated on June 27, 2026 in a campaign speech:
President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Mike Collins “doubled health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians and threw 300,000 Georgians off their insurance altogether.”
Mostly True
By Ben Brasch • July 16, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on July 8, 2026 in remarks at a press conference:
The AI industry needs “more energy than the entire country produces right now … In fact some people say almost double.”
Mostly False
By Louis Jacobson • July 14, 2026
X posts
stated on July 12, 2026 in X posts:
A photo showing Mitch McConnell and his wife is from his 2023 hospitalization or is AI generated.
False
By Caleb McCullough • July 13, 2026
Load More