During Tuesday’s debate with Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, Donald Trump repeated a string of false and misleading claims about immigrants “eating pets” and his ties to Project 2025 and the Central Park Five.
During the first debate of the presidential election cycle in June, when Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee, the moderators took a hands-off approach to fact-checking. The light moderation meant that Trump’s lies and half-truths were not particularly challenged during the primetime debate.
Here are the facts about some of the false claims presented at Tuesday’s debate.
Trump claims crime is on the rise in the US
Donald Trump has claimed that crime is increasing dramatically in the United States.
Fact: Trump is wrong. Crime is actually down. FBI data shows that violent crime fell under Trump’s administration, spiked during the pandemic in 2020, and has continued to decline since.
Violent crime is projected to fall 6% in 2023 and 15% in the first quarter of 2024, according to preliminary FBI data.
According to FBI data, which uses information provided by law enforcement agencies, violent crime had been declining during Trump’s term in office, but spiked in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has been trending downward across the U.S. since 2020, approaching pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Preliminary FBI data for 2023 shows violent crime fell another 6% overall that year.
Although the data is provisional, it includes figures for 80 percent of the country’s law enforcement agencies.
Trump repeats abortion lies
Trump repeated his usual lie: that abortions are being performed in the ninth month of pregnancy.
Fact: Fewer than 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy. When abortions are performed, they are often done in cases of medical emergencies or fetal abnormalities.
Mr Trump also repeatedly suggested abortions might be performed after birth – an act of infanticide that is illegal in all 50 states.
President Trump denies involvement in Project 2025
Trump has denied knowing about Project 2025, a 900-page plan for aggressively right-wing reform of nearly every aspect of the federal government.
Project 2025 proposes removing many appointed positions from the federal government and instead filling agencies with political appointees who are more aligned with and compliant with President Trump’s policy proposals.
THE FACTS: While Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from policies that seek to strip away reproductive, LGBTQ+, and voting rights, his policies are highly consistent with Project 2025.
The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang reports: “Trump is familiar with the Heritage Foundation and has spoken at its events. Heritage leader (Kevin) Roberts has previously said he has had several discussions with Trump. Project 2025’s authors and backers include a number of former Trump administration officials.”
Trump makes false claims about immigration
Donald Trump has made a number of false claims about immigrants, including that they are “taking over cities… they are violently invading.”
Fact: That’s not true. Some U.S. cities have seen an influx of immigrants, most of whom entered legally with work permits or permission to stay in the country until their cases are resolved in court.
These cities do not experience widespread violence, and several large-scale studies, including from the conservative Cato Institute, have found that immigrants are overall less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born people.
Trump claims immigrants are ‘eating pets’ in Ohio town
Trump repeated his baseless claim that immigrants were eating pets in an Ohio town, forcing the host to say there was no evidence.
“In Springfield, they’re eating dogs, they’re eating people who come in there, they’re eating cats, they’re eating the pets of people who live there. This is what’s going on in our country, and it’s unfortunate,” the former president said.
Stories about immigrants eating pets have been circulating in right-wing media in recent days and have been repeated by Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance.
Fact: These are false and unsubstantiated claims.
“You mentioned the story in Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News reached out to the mayor there, and he said he has had no credible reports of specific allegations that pets have been harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” host David Muir told Trump.
The Springfield News-Sun reported Monday that police had “not received any reports of pets being stolen and eaten.”
Trump repeats 2020 election misinformation
Donald Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about the outcome of lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 election.
Former President Trump said “no judge would consider” the lawsuit he and his allies filed over election fraud. “They said we don’t have standing to sue. It’s a technicality. Can you imagine a system where the elected official doesn’t have standing to sue? The president of the United States doesn’t have standing to sue. That’s why we lost,” Trump said.
Fact: It’s misleading. Some cases have been dismissed for lack of standing, meaning the people who brought the cases had no stake in the outcome. Other cases have been decided on the merits. Judges in some cases have found that the evidence presented was speculative or failed to prove fraud.
Trump and Harris debate whether the economy is ‘best’ or ‘worst’
Trump boasted that the U.S. experienced the “best” economy under his administration, but Harris noted that the country left with the “worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression.”
Fact: They are both wrong. Trump is wrong by a large margin, Harris is wrong by a small margin.
Unemployment soared to its highest level since the Great Depression in the wake of the pandemic, but had fallen by the time Trump left office.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s “best economy” claim has been a headache for fact-checkers since he took office. “Best” is a very vague term, but judging by several indicators, including GDP, unemployment and the trade deficit, the economy was far from its peak.
Here are the final numbers for his term, compiled by FactCheck.org:
The economy lost 2.7 million jobs and the unemployment rate rose 1.7 percentage points to 6.4 percent.
Wages grew faster than the rate of inflation: Average weekly wages for all workers increased by 8.4 percent after adjusting for inflation.
After-tax corporate profits increased and the stock market set new records, with the S&P 500 Index rising 67.8%.
The international trade deficit, which President Trump pledged to reduce, has increased: The U.S. goods and services trade deficit in 2020 was the highest since 2008 and 36.3% higher than in 2016.
The number of people without health insurance increased by 3 million.
The federal debt owed to Americans increased from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion.
Home prices increased 27.5 percent and the homeownership rate rose 2.1 percentage points to 65.8 percent.
Trump doubles down on Central Park Five acquittal
Donald Trump continues to maintain the innocence of the Central Park Five, black teenagers who were arrested in 1989 for the rape and assault of a white woman while she was out jogging and convicted based on confessions coerced by police.
At the time, Trump called for the execution of the five children, and when Kamala Harris mentioned his position, Trump argued, “They pleaded guilty… they seriously hurt someone and ultimately killed someone.”
Fact: All were exonerated after the convicted murderers confessed to their crimes in 2002. In 2014, they received a $41 million settlement.
In 1989, before the boys had even gone on trial, Trump reportedly paid $85,000 to rent advertising space in four of the city’s newspapers, including The New York Times, calling for their execution. The headline read, “Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back the Police!” and above the petition read, “I want to hate these robbers and murderers. They should suffer and if they commit murder they should be executed for it. They should set an example for others to think twice before committing a crime or committing a violent act.”