Biden Makes Flawed Comparisons with Trump

During a speech in South Carolina on Feb. 27, Joe Biden touted his record as president while criticizing his successor, President Donald Trump. But during his remarks, Biden made several false, misleading, or exaggerated claims.

• The former president claimed that his administration created “2.2 million additional jobs” during his last year in office compared with “185,000 jobs” in the first year of Trump’s second term. But the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that Biden inflated job gains on his watch and undersold job gains under Trump.
• He claimed that the economy experienced “record growth” during his administration, which is not supported by data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. There was higher quarterly and annual economic growth under other presidents.
• He also said that “border crossings” in the U.S. were lower the day he left office than when he entered office. Yes, but total apprehensions of people illegally crossing the southern border in Biden’s last year were still more than double the number in the last year of Trump’s first term.

Biden was in South Carolina to celebrate winning the state’s Democratic presidential primary six years earlier. Biden’s win there helped propel him to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' FactChecking Claims in Casey Means’ Surgeon General Confirmation Hearing

During her confirmation hearing to become surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means had several back-and-forths with senators, who pressed her on topics including vaccines, her qualifications, and the disclosure of her conflicts of interest.

Means was first nominated by President Donald Trump to be surgeon general in May. The president had scrapped his prior pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, after she misled on where she obtained her medical degree. Means testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Feb. 25, after her scheduled October nomination hearing was postponed because she went into labor.

Means, an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has a medical degree but is not a practicing physician. In nominating Means, Trump cited her “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials” and said she would “work closely” with Kennedy. She is an author, wellness influencer, and co-founder of Levels, a company that offers continuous glucose monitoring and other testing to people who sign up for a monthly membership. (For people without diabetes, there isn’t good evidence that wearing these monitors improves health, and health insurance doesn’t cover these services.) Means has said in government filings that she would divest her Levels stock and stock options if confirmed.

We looked into the sometimes-dueling claims from Means and the senators:

• Senators from multiple parties asked Means about her beliefs on whether vaccines cause autism, correctly noting the extensive scientific literature that has not identified any such link. Means avoided directly sharing her views, instead misleadingly referencing rising autism rates and urging more research into the issue. Experts have said that it’s unclear how much of a true increase in autism there has been.
• Means said that “anti-vaccine rhetoric has never been a part of my message.” Vaccines are not her primary topic, but Means has made numerous public statements discouraging or questioning vaccines that have included incorrect or misleading information.
• Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Means disagreed over whether she meets the requirements to be Surgeon General because her medical license is inactive. A legal expert told us it’s an “open question,” but it’s a break from precedent for a nominated physician to lack an active license.
• Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said Means had failed to disclose financial relationships with companies when promoting products as a wellness influencer, a claim Means denied. The exact timing of the payments relative to Means’ posts is uncertain, but an analysis by the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen suggests “potential” violations of federal rules.

The HELP committee includes 11 Democrats and 12 Republicans and is led by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who has emphatically defended vaccination. Two Republicans said following the hearing they were uncertain about their votes to advance Means’ nomination to the full Senate, and Cassidy did not comment.

The role of the surgeon general, according to the HHS website, is to be the “nation’s doctor” and to communicate the “best available scientific information” to the American people. The role requires leadership in addressing public health threats and advancing related science. The surgeon general also leads the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, a branch of the uniformed services dedicated to protecting public health.

Assessing Trump’s Claims on Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Capabilities

In discussing his reasoning for launching U.S. airstrikes on Iran, President Donald Trump said, “An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American.” But arms control experts have disputed his claim that Iran “soon” could have missiles capable of reaching the U.S., and they say there’s a lack of evidence that the country “attempted to rebuild” nuclear enrichment facilities damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

Trump first made his case for the U.S. and Israeli military bombing, which started on Feb. 28, in two videos that day and the next. In his first remarks, he said, “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.” He specifically focused on stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. The White House on March 2 sent out a list of 74 times Trump has said something similar, saying in the press release, “This position — rooted in longstanding, bipartisan American policy — guides his actions to ensure the leading state sponsor of terrorism cannot threaten the world with nuclear devastation.”

Legality of Latest Iran Attack in Question

Many Democrats have claimed that President Donald Trump didn’t have the legal authority to unilaterally order the Feb. 28 joint military airstrikes with Israel that resulted in the death of the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Experts have told us that, under an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, congressional approval of the use of military force against another country is required. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives the power “To declare War” to Congress.

However, in practice, several presidents have unilaterally ordered military action abroad without authorization from Congress.

In this story, we’ll look at what Democrats have said about Trump’s latest military order and review what experts already told us in similar past cases.

Claims of Illegality

Not long after the attack on Saturday, several Democrats were quick to criticize Trump’s military operation in official statements or media appearances. 

Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said in a Feb. 28 statement on his congressional website, “President Trump promised no more forever wars. Instead, he has illegally dragged us into another one without congressional authorization and no long-term strategy.”

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia called it an “illegal war” on “Fox News Sunday” on March 1.