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PolitiFact’s annotated transcript of the second presidential debate

National
Clinton Tight 2
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Allison Graves
By Allison Graves
October 10, 2016
By Joseph Cariz
October 10, 2016
By Katherine Burns
October 10, 2016
By Rachel Tiede
October 10, 2016

PolitiFact is annotating the second presidential debate at Washington University on Medium. Follow along through the link.

 

 

Our Sources

Linked in Medium.

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Allison Graves
Democratic Governors Association
stated on July 13, 2018 in a post on Medium:
Says Adam Putnam “backed a water bill that gutted water quality regulations.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • July 18, 2018
Rick Scott
stated on June 13, 2018 in an ad:
Says Sen. Bill Nelson “voted for higher taxes” 349 times.
False
By Allison Graves • July 5, 2018
Ron DeSantis
stated on June 28, 2018 in a Fox News debate:
Says Adam Putnam “endorsed the Schumer-Obama Gang of Eight immigration amnesty.”
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 29, 2018
Bill Nelson
stated on June 21, 2018 in an ad:
Says he “actually wrote the bipartisan law that makes it illegal to drill off Florida’s coast.”
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 29, 2018
Adam Putnam
stated on June 7, 2018 in an interview with Fox News:
Florida taxpayers “pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens.”
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • June 26, 2018
New Republican PAC
stated on June 11, 2018 in a political ad:
Says Bill Nelson voted for “cuts to Medicare providers” and voted to weaken “Social Security protections” as a U.S. senator.
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • June 15, 2018
Andrew Gillum
stated on June 20, 2018 in a debate:
Under Philip Levine, Miami Beach “passed a resolution to ban assault rifles, which was not enforceable and never enforced. He passed a resolution to raise the minimum wage, which actually no one got the benefit of because it was not enforced.”  
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 9, 2018
Florida Democratic Party
stated on June 6, 2018 in in a press release:
“Flip Flop! After opposing term limits for decades, Adam Putnam adopts Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis’ position.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • June 8, 2018
Ron DeSantis
stated on June 2, 2018 in during a BBQ :
“The bulk of the problem with the opioid epidemic is the fentanyl and all the synthetic drugs coming across the southern border.”  
Half-True
By Allison Graves • June 7, 2018
Florida House Majority Office
stated on May 17, 2018 in a video:
It is a “myth” that “per-student funding only rose by 47 cents this year.”
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • May 30, 2018
Senate Majority PAC
stated on May 21, 2018 in in an ad:
Says Bill Nelson is “one of America’s most independent senators.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • May 24, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 14, 2018 in a post on Facebook:
“BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump On His Way To Donate Kidney To Melania Trump.”
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 15, 2018 in a post on Facebook:
“Legendary Actor Sidney Poitier: Donald Trump might become ‘The Greatest Of All Time.’ ”  
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
The Collective super PAC
stated on May 11, 2018 in an ad:
Says Gwen Graham “voted against President Obama 52 percent of the time.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 14, 2018 in a post on the Internet:
Says Julia Roberts told Celine Dion, “If you hate Trump you can go in your country.”
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 15, 2018

PolitiFact’s annotated transcript of the second presidential debate

Clear
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
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
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