Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
President Obama’s Syrian policy, Donald Trump and ISIS, Hillary Clinton and taxes, and Facebook post about Target stores and urinals in the women’s bathrooms.
They all took a recent ride of the AJC Truth-O-Meter, courtesy of PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
Want to see how their fared? Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Want to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia). You can also follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga).
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Spokesman John Kirby on Monday, April 25th, 2016 in a State Department news briefing:
Says President Barack Obama never said, “No boots on the ground” in Syria.
We accept that there are legitimate reasons for differentiating between a large ground force and a smaller number of special operations forces.
Still, it’s clear that Obama repeatedly used the term “no boots on the ground,” sometimes with extensive caveats about what constituted “boots on the ground” and sometimes not. And by repeatedly using that phrase, he reaped the benefits of calming the public about the extent of U.S. involvement. That counts as a message to us.
We rate the claim False.
New Day for America on Monday, April 25th, 2016 in a robocall:
Says “Hillary Clinton has promised to raise taxes by $1 trillion dollars.”
Clinton’s plan does, in fact, call for raising a trillion dollars, but it would do so over 10 years — longer than she could serve as president, even if she were re-elected.
So if she brought in roughly $100 billion per year, even a two-term Clinton administration couldn’t fulfill a promise to bring the total to $1 trillion.
Also, the statement ignores another key bit of data — that the money would be raised by tax changes targeted to the richest Americans, a group that has seen its top tax rate drop dramatically since the 1950s and early 1960s, when the marginal tax rate was over 90 percent.
The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
We rate it Half True.
Donald Trump on Wednesday, April 27th, 2016 in a foreign policy speech:
“ISIS is making millions of dollars a week selling Libyan oil.”
Experts and news reports say ISIS has attacked Libya’s oil fields in recent months, amid the country’s instability.
But they roundly reject Trump’s claim that ISIS jihadists based in that country have been able to seize, refine and sell the oil for “millions of dollars a week.” Instead, they say, the terrorist group is focused on disrupting oil markets and preventing rivals from getting the oil in Libya.
We rate Trump’s claim False.
Facebook posts on Friday, April 22nd, 2016 in a Facebook post:
Says Target installed urinals in a women’s bathroom to “accommodate the ones who have giblets.”
A popular Facebook post alleged last week that Target installed urinals in a women’s restroom in California.
Target representatives told us the claim is “inaccurate,” and that the company has no plans to change its restrooms, and never did.
Best we can tell, the Facebook post is a one-off picture that hasn’t surfaced in any other form (other than the thousands of people sharing it).
This claim rates Pants on Fire.
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