CBS News is fact checking some of the statements made by speakers during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which is taking place in Chicago through Thursday, Aug. 22.
The convention began with unity as the theme, and the featured speakers Monday are President Biden and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and a host of others.
Some of the comments that CBS News’ Confirmed team fact checked involved Democrats’ comments about GOP nominee Donald Trump’s record as president, as well as the Biden administration’s record.
CBS News is covering the DNC live.
Fact check on Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez’s claim that Trump promses “to terminate the Affordable Care Act”: Misleading
Details: In 2016, former President Donald Trump promised to repeal and replace the nation’s health care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), if elected. During his presidency, he backed attempts by Republicans to repeal parts of the law while carrying over other parts.
In this election cycle, Trump has continued to criticize the law but has said he doesn’t support terminating all of its policies outright. In November, Trump said he intends to “replace” the Affordable Care Act with another package of health reforms.
In March, he said that he was “not running to terminate the ACA” but instead to make it better and cheaper.
By Alexander Tin, Amelia Donhauser
Fact check on California Rep. Robert Garcia’s claim that Trump “told us to inject bleach into our bodies”: False
Details: In an April 2020 White House news briefing with members of the government’s coronavirus task force, Trump, who was then president, speculated about combating COVID-19 by injecting disinfectant into the body. He suggested doctors should study this possibility, but he did not tell people to inject bleach into their bodies.
“I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said. “And is there a way we can do something like that — by injection inside or almost a cleaning — because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me.”
The White House later said Trump’s comments were taken out of context. A day later, Trump told reporters that he was being sarcastic when he raised the possibility of injecting disinfectants.
“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” he said.
By Amelia Donhauser
Fact check on Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin’s claim that the U.S. economy added 16 million jobs during the Biden administration: True, but needs context
Details: Under President Biden, the U.S. economy has added more than 15.8 million jobs, according to July data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, it’s important to note that the number includes roughly 9 million jobs that were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. economy under Mr. Biden has seen an increase of approximately 6.4 million jobs above February 2020 levels, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
By comparison, 6.7 million jobs were created in the first three years of former President Donald Trump’s term between January 2017 and February 2020, before the pandemic left Trump with record job losses.
By Laura Doan
contributed to this report.