Donald Trump repeatedly made false and misleading claims, ranging from immigrants “eating pets,” to his ties to the far-right 2025 Project and the exonerated Central Park Five, among other topics, during his debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
In the first debate of this US presidential political cycle, held in June – when Joe Biden was still the Democratic candidate – moderators completely ignored correcting Donald Trump’s hoaxes. Passive moderation meant that Trump’s lies and half-truths were not challenged during the prime-time debate. In this case, ABC moderators repeatedly interrupted the former president for lies he told, such as accusing Democrats of allowing “abortions at nine months and newborns” or migrants of “eating dogs, cats and pets.”
Here are the facts about some of the false claims made during Tuesday’s debate.
Trump repeats his lies about the 2020 election
Donald Trump has focused in the debate on lies about the 2020 election and the lawsuits filed to challenge the results that removed him from the White House after his loss to Joe Biden.
Thus, the former president assured that “no judge has reviewed” the lawsuits that he and his collaborators have presented for electoral irregularities. “They said we have no legitimacy. A technicality. Can you imagine a system in which a person participating in an election has no legitimacy? The president of the United States has no legitimacy. “That’s how we lost,” Trump said.
Facts: This is false. Some lawsuits have been dismissed for lack of standing, meaning that those who brought them were not directly affected persons. Others have opted for consistency. In some cases, judges have found that the evidence presented was speculative or did not demonstrate fraud.
Trump says crime has increased in the US
Donald Trump said crime has increased dramatically in the United States.
And the reality is that Trump is wrong: Crime has gone down. FBI data shows that violent crime declined under the Trump administration, rebounded in 2020 during the pandemic, and continued its downward trend afterward.
Of course, preliminary FBI data shows violent crime falling 6% in 2023 and 15% in the first quarter of 2024.
Violent crime declined throughout most of Trump’s presidency, according to FBI data using information provided by law enforcement. However, that number spiked in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And that trend has been downward since 2020 in the United States, approaching pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Preliminary FBI data for 2023 shows that overall violent crime declined by another 6% that year.
Although the data is preliminary, it includes figures from 80% of the country’s security forces.
Trump continues to lie about abortion
Trump repeated one of his usual lies: that abortions occur in the ninth month of pregnancy.
Fact: Less than 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy; and when they do occur, they are usually due to medical emergencies or fetal abnormalities.
Trump has also repeatedly suggested that abortions should occur after birth. That would be infanticide, and it is illegal in all 50 states.
Trump lies about immigration
Donald Trump has made a series of false statements about immigration. Among other accusations, he said immigrants are “taking over cities… They’re coming in through violence.”
Fact: This is false. While some American cities have seen an influx of immigrants, most have arrived legally, with work permits or permission to stay until their cases are resolved in court.
There has been no widespread violence in these cities, and immigrants are generally less likely to commit crimes than those born in the United States, according to several major studies, including one from the conservative Cato Institute.
Trump claims immigrants ‘eat pets’
Trump repeated an unfounded claim that immigrants were eating pets in an Ohio town, prompting the moderator to tell him there was no evidence of that.
“In Springfield, they eat the dogs, they eat the cats… They eat the pets of the people who live there. And that’s what’s happening in our country, and it’s unfortunate,” the former president said.
The story of immigrants allegedly eating pets has been circulating in right-wing media in recent days and was picked up by Trump’s vice presidential candidate, JD Vance.
The facts: These are false and unfounded statements.
“You mention Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News reached out to the city manager there. ‘He told us there are no credible reports of specific allegations of pets being harmed or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,’ moderator David Muir told Trump.
The newspaper Springfield News-Sun reported Monday that police “have not received any complaints related to the theft and consumption of pets.”
Trump lies about his economic legacy
Trump boasted that the US had its “best” economic period under his administration, while Harris stressed that he had left the US with “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”.
Facts: Both are wrong; Trump by a lot and Harris by a little.
Although unemployment hit its worst level since the Great Depression immediately after the pandemic, it fell again when Trump left office.
Meanwhile, Trump’s “better economy” line has been the bane of fact-checkers since he took office. Better is a very vague term, but by several measures, such as GDP, unemployment, and the trade deficit, the economy was far from its best.
Here are some final numbers from his term, compiled by FactCheck.org:
The economy lost 2.7 million jobs. The unemployment rate rose 1.7 percentage points to 6.4%.
Wages have risen faster than inflation. The average weekly wage of all workers increased by 8.4% after inflation.
After-tax corporate profits rose and the stock market hit new records. The S&P 500 index rose 67.8%.
The international trade deficit that Trump had promised to reduce has widened. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in 2020 was the largest since 2008 and increased by 36.3% compared to 2016.
The number of people without health insurance has increased by 3 million.
Federal debt held by the public increased from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion.
House prices rose 27.5% and the homeownership rate increased 2.1 percentage points to 65.8%.
Trump doubles down on accusations over exonerated Central Park Five
Donald Trump has doubled down on his claims about exonerating the Central Park Five, black teenagers arrested for the 1989 rape and assault of a white woman jogging in the park and convicted on the basis of confessions coerced by police.
At the time, Trump had called for the execution of the five minors. When Kamala Harris brought up Trump’s position, he dug deeper: “They said [sic] guilty… They seriously injured one person, they finally killed one person.
Facts: They were all exonerated after a convicted murderer confessed to the crime in 2002. They received $41 million in compensation in 2014.
In 1989, before the two boys were tried, Trump paid $85,000 for an ad in four city newspapers, including the New York Times, calling for their execution. The headline read: “Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!” With his byline above, Trump wrote: “I want to hate these thieves and murderers. They must be made to suffer, and when they kill, they must be executed for their crimes. They must serve as an example for others to think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence.”
Trump denies involvement in Project 2025
Trump has denied any knowledge of Project 2025, a 900-page plan for an aggressive right-wing overhaul of nearly every aspect of the federal government.
The 2025 plan suggests eliminating many appointed positions in the federal ranks and filling agencies with more politically aligned positions that are more committed to Trump’s policy positions.
Fact: While Trump has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from the platform, which seeks to eliminate reproductive, LGBTQ+ and voting rights, his policies largely align with Project 2025.
According to Rachel Leingang of the Guardian, “Trump is well acquainted with the Heritage Foundation and has spoken at its events. [Kevin] Roberts, the Heritage leader, has previously said he and Trump have spoken several times. The authors and supporters of Project 2025 include many former Trump administration officials.
