PolitifactNC
Fact-checking final presidential debate
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden engaged in their second and final debate of the campaign on Thursday night, and truth wasn't always evident in their statements.
Posted — UpdatedRALEIGH, N.C. — President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden engaged in their second and final debate of the campaign on Thursday night, and truth wasn't always evident in their statements.
WRAL News and PolitiFact checked the following statements during the debate:
- Trump said his administration reduced the mortality rate from coronavirus by 85%: Half-true
- Biden said Trump has no plan to fight the pandemic: False
- Trump said Biden called him xenophobic: Mostly false
- Trump said 99 percent of coronavirus cases were harmless: False
- Trump said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was safe to go to Chinatown: False
- Trump said the number of coronavirus cases is rising only because of increased testing: False
- Trump said a laptop belonging to Biden's son, Hunter Biden, linked Biden to inappropriate meetings with foreign officials: Unproven and denied by the Bidens.
- Trump said the Obama administration spied on his campaign: False
- Biden said the trade deficit with China grew to record levels under Trump: Half-true
- Trump said Biden tried to cut Medicare and Social Security for years: Mostly false
- Trump said he has built more than 400 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border: False
- Biden said the Trump administration's policy on asylum seekers forces them to wait in Mexico for the first time: Mostly true
- Trump says he's done more for Black people in the U.S. than any other president: No evidence
- Biden says the 1994 crime bill didn't lead to mass incarceration: Half-true
- Trump said the so-called "Green New Deal" plan would cost $100 trillion: False
- Trump said the U.S. is energy independent: Half-true
- Biden referred to Trump's claim that wind-energy turbines cause cancer: Pants on fire
- Trump said Biden's energy plan would end using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to drill for oil: False
- Trump said the unemployment rate for Black Americans is the lowest ever: Mostly true
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