Category: Fact Check

As the U.S.’ fentanyl crisis continues, one social media user said the government has done less to stop it than it has to stop the distribution of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, two drugs many Americans sought to use early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Feb. 26 Instagram post said, “Food for thought: Why did the government do more to stop the distribution of ivermectin & hydroxychloroquine than to stop the distribution of Fentanyl?!”

A caption with the post read, “Imagine if the Biden administration actually focused on the things they truly mattered!”

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The Instagram post is wrong about the government’s actions on ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine distribution. Both drugs are Food and Drug Administration-approved for certain uses and are for sale in the U.S. 

Doctors also have the authority to prescribe the drugs off label for uses other than the ones for which they are approved. That typically happens when there are no effective treatment options for a condition, such as in the early days of the pandemic before vaccines and antiviral treatments were widely available.

The FDA in March 2020 first granted emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate as COVID-19 treatments during former President Donald Trump’s administration. 

Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug that is also used to treat diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It soared in popularity in March 2020, before it received the FDA’s emergency use authority, after Trump touted the drug as a COVID-19 treatment.

The agency rescinded its authorization three months later after data showed hydroxychloroquine wasn’t effective in treating COVID-19 and the drug presented risk of adverse cardiac events.

The FDA has never authorized ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. In humans, ivermectin is used in tablet form to treat parasites and in topical form to treat lice and some skin conditions. There is also an animal version used to treat heartworm disease and parasites.

After some people grew interested in using the drug as a COVID-19 treatment, the FDA in 2021, under President Joe Biden, warned that studies showed the drug wasn’t effective in treating or preventing COVID-19. The warning came amid reports it received that people were self-medicating with the animal version, which is unsafe for humans.

The FDA, however, said in a court hearing in a lawsuit accusing it of interfering with doctors’ judgment in treating COVID-19 patients that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19. In an August 2023 X post about ivermectin, the agency wrote that doctors may prescribe patients approved drugs for unapproved uses when they deem it appropriate.

The Instagram post is also wrong to suggest that Biden isn’t trying to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl into the U.S., a problem that has plagued the country through multiple administrations.

Data shows fentanyl overdoses remain a major problem, but that does not mean the government hasn’t expended significant money and resources on the issue.

In 2021, 70,601 people died from synthetic opioid overdoses, primarily fentanyl, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows an increase in the amount of fentanyl seized by border authorities since Biden took office. About 27 thousands pounds of fentanyl was seized in fiscal year 2023 and more than 7,000 pounds have been seized so far this fiscal year (October through January). Experts told PolitiFact that a rise in drug seizures could signal that more drugs are flowing into the country.

In his 2023 State of the Union speech, Biden called for a “major surge” to stop fentanyl production and trafficking, with more drug detection machines at the border and stronger penalties for trafficking.

Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget calls for spending $535 million in U.S. Customs and Border Protection for technology, including $305 million for “non-intrusive inspection systems” with a primary focus on detecting fentanyl at ports of entry, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a March 2023 statement.

Here are some other moves the Biden administration has taken in response to the fentanyl crisis:

• In March 2022, at the administration’s request, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted to control three chemicals used to produce illicit fentanyl.

• In July, the White House launched the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, an effort with more than 80 countries to coordinate approaches to battle the issue.

• In August, Biden announced $450 million in new funding to tackle drug abuse and trafficking.

• In October, Biden issued a $1.2 billion supplemental funding request to Congress to help stop fentanyl’s flow into the country at the southern border by providing funding for more border patrol agents, law enforcement officers and “cutting-edge inspection machines.” That money has been tied up in Congress for months after Republicans rejected a bipartisan deal that would have provided border money, along with as money for Israel and Ukraine.

• In November, Biden announced the resumption of bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics with China, a large source of the precursor chemicals Mexican cartels use to produce illicit fentanyl.

• In December, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced a Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force aimed at cracking down on illicit financial networks that support drug cartels and traffickers.

Our ruling

An Instagram post’s claim that the government has done more to stop ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine distribution than to fentanyl’s flow into the U.S. is wrong. Both the legal drugs are available for prescribed and off-label uses, though the FDA warned that neither was effective in treating COVID-19. Meanwhile, Biden has made efforts to slow the flow of fentanyl. We rate the claim False.

Ahead of his 2024 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said that legislation under his watch boosted private sector investment in the semiconductor industry.

“I signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which attracted $640 billion in private companies’ investments that are building factories, creating jobs in America again,” Biden said Feb. 12 at a Washington, D.C., conference for county officials. 

The White House has repeated this figure on numerous occasions, but attributed it to multiple pieces of legislation signed by Biden — not just the CHIPS Act. Economists told us that these numbers are based on company announcements and all of the spending may not come to fruition or could be years from now. Investments increased before the legislation passed.

The CHIPS Act led to more investment

Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits or microchips, are “the brains of modern electronics,” the Semiconductor Industry Association says. They are often made from silicon and are used in medical devices, communications devices, computing, defense, transportation, clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced wireless networks, the association says.

The CHIPS and Science Act, introduced in 2021 by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, passed as a rare example of bipartisanship, with 17 Republicans voting for it in the Senate and 24 in the House joining Democrats in support. Biden signed it into law in August 2022. Lawmakers wanted to pass the bill amid a global semiconductor shortage and to help the U.S. compete with China.

Analysts at the consulting company McKinsey said the CHIPS Act is a $280 billion spending package over 10 years that includes research money as well as $53 billion for manufacturing.

A Semiconductor Industry Association analysis updated Feb. 26 said that $256 billion in private investments had been announced across 22 states since 2020, when precursor legislation to the CHIPS and Science Act was proposed. 

For example, news outlets reported that GlobalFoundries, a semiconductor manufacturer, said in February it would invest more than $12 billion over the next 10-plus years after the U.S. Commerce Department agreed to give the New York-based company $1.5 billion. GlobalFoundries will use the money to expand and create manufacturing capacity to produce more chips.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote in August that the private sector and federal government have made “significant strides” in implementing the law. But the chamber called for additional steps to expand the talent pipeline, including investing in K-12 education. The chamber added that “immigration reform is also necessary to meet current and future talent needs for the semiconductor industry.”

We found multiple instances when Biden or the White House described the $640 billion figure as stemming from his broader agenda — not just the CHIPS and Science Act: 

• The White House’s website says that during the Biden administration, “private companies have announced $649 billion so far in commitments to invest in 21st century industries like $235B Semiconductors & Electronics.” It then lists other industries, too. The website says that the White House arrived at that dollar amount by looking at press releases, information from industry associations and news articles. The website notes several bills passed during the Biden administration including the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

• In Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 18 Biden said, “Thanks to the Investing in America agenda, private companies have invested over $640 billion — let me say it again — $640 billion in advanced manufacturing here in America.”

• A Jan. 29 press release said, “Since President Biden took office, private companies have announced more than $640 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments, including over $230 billion in semiconductor manufacturing.” 

• A Feb. 14 White House press release said, “To date, the administration has now launched over 50,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects and mobilized over $640 billion in private sector clean energy and manufacturing investments.”

Biden’s numbers are based on announcements

Three economists told us that Biden’s numbers are based on what companies have announced. That’s not the same as dollars already spent.

“These are announcements and announcements are great but are not actual investments,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum. Some of these investments may never happen, he said, and if they happen we won’t know when that will be.

Dean Baker, co-founder of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, said that if the economy-stimulating effects of all three bills are considered, Biden’s numbers seem reasonable. He added that estimating how much bills spur private investment is hard because no one knows how much investment might have absent the legislation.

“There clearly has been a huge uptick in investment and we know this will continue into the future, based on companies’ commitments,” he said. “Of course, the latter are never hard data until their investment is actually carried out. Companies are always free to change their plans, and they do.”

Sanjay Patnaik, an economist at the Brookings Institution, a Washington. D.C., think tank, said some investments will take a long time to manifest because they involve building new plants. Also, he said, it is hard to separate the CHIPS Act’s effects on investments in semiconductor manufacturing and jobs from other factors, such as rising demand from the artificial intelligence boom.

There are geopolitical considerations, too: Companies want to rely less on China and worry about a military conflict arising between China and Taiwan, a noted chip manufacturing hub. So, to diversify their manufacturing, these companies may consider making chips in the U.S. 

“Based on the limited analysis and data out there, announced investments in the semiconductor industry appear to have increased somewhat following the enactment of the CHIPS Act,” and other legislation, Patnaik said. “However, in some cases, investments already seemed to have ramped up before passage of the act (this could have been companies investing in anticipation of the bill being approved or it could have been a trend that was reinforced by the bill).”

Our ruling

Biden said the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act “attracted $640 billion in private companies’ investments.”

The White House website says private companies have announced investments in semiconductors and electronics manufacturing worth $235 billion, not $640 billion, since Biden was elected. 

Biden didn’t mention that the $640 billion investment refers to projects shaped by CHIPS and two other bills he signed —  the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

It’s also important to note that the $640 billion is based on companies’ announcements. Not every project will come to fruition, and those that do may not materialize for years. Biden or the White House have described the $640 billion figure more accurately before.

In this instance, however, we rate the statement Mostly False.

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A Democratic congresswoman from North Carolina says the battleground state offers voters more time to participate in elections than in any other state. 

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross on Jan. 25 announced a bill to make each state’s congressional redistricting processes more transparent — an effort that follows a contentious redistricting effort in her home state. North Carolina legislators on both sides of the aisle have a history of drawing new election maps behind closed doors, raising suspicion among opponents that they’re influenced by outside political groups. 

Ross concluded a recent press conference by addressing the media, “Please remind your readers and your viewers that you can start voting in the primary already.”

She added, “North Carolina has the longest voting period in the country, because we’re a military state, and we have the most ways of voting.”

North Carolina is home to several military bases. To comply with federal voting laws accommodating members of the military, the state mails absentee ballots to eligible U.S. citizens overseas at least 45 days before an election. 

We wondered about the timeframe for civilian voters, though. Does North Carolina offer the longest voting period in the nation? 

The answer: for one major type of election — but not for the other.

General versus primary absentee voting periods

To judge voting periods, Ross measured the length of time between two dates: when absentee ballots are mailed to voters, and the final day a ballot can be postmarked. PolitiFact North Carolina also considered the final day an absentee ballot could be accepted. 

To check Ross’ claim, we relied on information from the National Conference of State Legislators, a bipartisan organization advocating for the interests of state governments. The NCSL tracks election laws in each state. We also contacted election officials in states that appeared to have some of the longest voting periods.

General elections: When it comes to general elections — typically held in November on even-numbered years — North Carolina stands out.

North Carolina is the only state that mails absentee ballots to voters 60 days before the general election. North Carolina elections officials will begin mailing out absentee ballots on Sept. 6 for the Nov. 5 general election.

Delaware state law allows for absentee ballots to be sent up to 60 days in advance of a general election, as the NCSL noted. But that’s not what happens in practice, according to the office of Delaware’s state election commissioner. Absentee ballots are typically mailed 30 to 45 days before an election, a spokeswoman for the Delaware office told PolitiFact.

North Carolina also stands apart from Delaware and other states because it’s a “no-excuse” absentee state — meaning any voter can request an absentee ballot without providing a reason, such as being sick or out of town.

In other words, for general elections, North Carolina has the longest voting period in the nation that’s open to every registered voter.

Primary elections: North Carolina’s absentee voters have comparatively less time to fill out their ballot during primary elections. 

North Carolina state statutes instruct elections boards to mail absentee ballots 50 days before a primary and allow the state elections board to shorten the window to 45 days. That’s what the board voted to do this year to account for the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Jan. 15. North Carolina started mailing out absentee ballots Jan. 19 for the March 5 primary. 

Compared with other states, North Carolina’s 45-day primary voting period is long — but it’s not the longest. Here are some states that caught our attention:

• Alabama allows absentee voting to start 55 days ahead of its elections. Eligible absentee voters started receiving ballots on Jan. 10 for the March 5 primary, Jeff Elrod, the state’s director of elections, told PolitiFact.

• Wisconsin separates its presidential primary from others. Although absentee ballots will be mailed to civilians less than a month before the April 2 presidential preference election, they’ll go out 47 days ahead of the Aug. 13 primary for congressional and legislative races. 

• South Dakota’s absentee voting window is 46 days long. The state will begin mailing ballots on April 19 for its June 4 primaries, said Rachel Soulek, director of elections for the Secretary of State’s office.

• Elections officials in Michigan and Pennsylvania told us that it’s possible for absentee ballots to be mailed 50 days before a primary, but that delivery dates vary by county and ballots don’t always go out that early.

• Like North Carolina, Minnesota and Virginia began mailing out ballots on Jan. 19 ahead of their March 5 primaries. However, they allow ballots to arrive later than North Carolina does. In North Carolina, absentee and mail-in ballots must arrive before polls close at 7:30 on Election Day. In Minnesota, they’re due by 8 p.m. on Election Day. In Virginia, they must be postmarked by Election Day but can be received as late as noon on the Friday following the election.

Ways to vote

Ross also said North Carolina offers the “most ways of voting.” North Carolina does offer a wide range of voting methods: absentee-by-mail, absentee through online portal (for military, eligible overseas and visually impaired voters), in-person early voting, in-person Election Day, curbside and provisional.

At least a half dozen states — including Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina and South Dakota — offer a similar menu of voting options as North Carolina, according to researchers for the U.S. Vote Foundation, a voter education nonprofit.

But offering the most voting options doesn’t necessarily mean that a state offers the easiest ballot access, said Andrew Garber, counsel for the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program.

“It’s difficult to compare the number of ‘ways’ different states have to vote because the voting rules across states differ in many nuanced ways,” Garber said in an email. “A state that has a lot of ‘ways’ to vote may still not be that accessible for its voters.”

For example, a state may have in-person early voting but limit voting hours or offer only a few voting sites. North Carolina’s same-day voting registration rules offer another example, Garber said. The state offers same-day registration — which lets eligible residents register to vote at an early voting site and vote the same day. But new laws enacted last year instruct election officials to scrap a voter’s ballot if the county’s address verification form is returned to the elections board as undeliverable.

The law, which is being challenged in court, disqualifies ballots from registered voters “even after they (present) photo ID and proof of residence” at the polls, Garber said.

Our ruling

Ross said “North Carolina has the longest voting period in the country … and we have the most ways of voting.”

For general elections, that’s accurate. North Carolina is the only state that requires absentee ballots to be sent 60 days before Election Day. But this year, the state’s voting window for this year’s primary elections does not stand out.

Ross’ claim about having the “most ways” of voting could also give North Carolinians the impression the state offers the easiest ballot access. That’s not necessarily the case as other states have similar offerings.

Ross’ claim is partially accurate. We rate it Half True.

Is Miss Americana threatening to leave the U.S.? Social media users claimed that if former President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, pop singer Taylor Swift would go into exile — and see herself out.

“BREAKING: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus say they will leave the United States if Donald Trump becomes President in 2024,” read the text in a Feb. 5 Instagram post. 

(Screenshot from Instagram)

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Relax, Swifties. That’s a hoax; Swift made no such promise.

Swift has spoken out against Trump in the past, but there is no evidence she threatened to leave the country if he won the 2024 presidential election. We found no news reports, statements or Nexis search results that support this claim. 

We reached out to a representative for Swift, who declined to comment.

The post also mentioned singer Miley Cyrus, who said in March 2016 that she would move if Trump became president. She later backtracked and said she’s not leaving the country, saying that comment was “dumb.”

But Swift didn’t threaten a similar move. We rate that claim False.

After thousands of AT&T customers temporarily lost cellphone service Feb. 22, some social media users began speculating about what caused the outage.

A Feb. 22 Instagram reel’s narrator said, “A lot of people are blaming a solar flare that occurred last night and early this morning for this disruption because moments after it occurred is when the initial reports of outages started coming in.”

The Instagram post’s caption read, “This Major Solar Flare and Cellular Service outage could just be a coincidence, but it is odd and interesting to think about.”

Another Instagram post, also shared Feb. 22, also questioned whether a solar flare caused the outage.

(Screengrab from Instagram)

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

But solar flares weren’t to blame for this outage. Solar flares happen when magnetic fields on the sun reach a point of instability, releasing powerful bursts of electromagnetic radiation that can last minutes to hours, NASA said. NASA uses a scale, with B being the lowest and X being the strongest, to classify how strong solar flares are. Within each letter class, there’s another scale from 1 to 9, although X flares can go higher than 9.

Both of the recent solar flares were in the X-1 class, NASA said — so, relatively strong.

Depending on their intensity, solar flares can disrupt communication, radar and navigation systems on Earth, but it is “highly unlikely” these recent flares contributed to the widespread cellphone outages, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Solar flares affect only the side of the Earth the sun is facing. Because it was nighttime in the United States when the flares occurred, they couldn’t have affected radio communication there, Ryan French, a solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory, said in a YouTube video about the event.

The sun emitted two strong solar flares, with one peaking at 6:07 p.m. EST on Feb. 21 and one at 1:32 a.m. EST on Feb. 22, NASA and NOAA said.

AT&T customers in the U.S. began reporting service problems at about 3:30 a.m. EST on Feb. 22, according to Downdetector, which tracks cellular and internet outages. On that day, the site said the reported outages for AT&T peaked at almost 74,000. AT&T said wireless service was restored to all affected customers by 3:10 p.m. EST.

When we asked AT&T about what triggered the outage, a spokesperson referred us to a company webpage. It said technical issues that occurred during work to expand AT&T’s network caused the temporary service disruption.

AT&T also ruled out that a “cyberattack,” or a computer network hack, caused the outage, although that claim also circulated social media. The company said there was no evidence a third party was involved in the outage or that customer data was compromised. AT&T is offering a $5 credit to affected customers.

During the outage, AT&T said customers could still make calls and send text messages using Wi-Fi. In place of cell service, some iPhone users saw an “SOS” symbol on their screens; Apple said in these instances, users can still make emergency calls.

Some people who use other cellphone carriers, such as Verizon and T-Mobile, also reported service snags Feb. 22. Verizon and T-Mobile both said their networks were operating normally that day and problems were likely caused when trying to reach people on different networks.

We rate the claim that solar flares caused AT&T’s cellphone outage False.

A truck with a turbocharged engine boasts enhanced performance and fuel efficiency. TurboTax is one option for filing tax returns online. Turbo cancer … doesn’t exist.

But that didn’t prevent Instagram users from sharing alarming claims about a meat alternative Feb. 22. 

“Study Reveals Bill Gates’ Fake Meat Causes ‘Turbo Cancers’ in Humans,” read the post’s caption. “Bill Gates’ lab-grown meat causes cancer in humans who consume it, according to a disturbing new study.” 

An image accompanying the post showed Gates, who co-founded Microsoft Corp., and a screenshot that purported to show something Gates posted on X: “Cancers found in fake meat are totally harmless to humans.” 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

(Screenshot from Instagram.)

Gates, a billionaire who has invested heavily in charities and climate research, has invested in companies creating meat substitutes using plant-based ingredients and laboratory technology. 

The original article with a headline that matched the Instagram post was published Feb. 23, 2023, on The People’s Voice, a website that has spread misinformation before. We’ve fact-checked the site’s false headlines numerous times, and Baxter Dmitry — who is credited with writing the article — is a byline seen often on misinformation sites. 

The article doesn’t cite a specific study that supports its claims that “fake” or lab-grown meat causes cancer. 

It linked to a Bloomberg News article about some lab-grown meat companies’ use of “immortalized cells,” or cells that proliferate indefinitely. Cancer researchers told Bloomberg News that “because the cells aren’t human, it’s essentially impossible for people who eat them to get cancer from them, or for the precancerous or cancerous cells to replicate inside people at all.”

Bloomberg News noted that there are no long-term health studies backing the scientific consensus that immortalized cells are safe to consume. Bloomberg News also said “there’s no evidence that cultured meat cells are going to become cancerous in a diner’s body.” 

Scientists who study cultivated meat told The Associated Press that it’s inaccurate to say that immortalized cells used to create lab-grown meat are cancerous.

The People’s Voice article also linked to a Children’s Health Defense article about a protein used in plant-based Impossible Burgers; it did not mention lab-created meat. Children’s Health Defense is an anti-vaccine legal advocacy group created by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

Neither the Bloomberg News nor the Children’s Health Defense articles contained the word “turbo” or the phrase “turbo cancer.” The term “turbo cancer” was popularized by anti-vaccine activists, who’ve repeatedly claimed — contrary to available evidence — that COVID-19 vaccines cause unusually aggressive, fast-growing cancer. 

PolitiFact searched the Nexis database for news reports containing mentions of “turbo cancer” and “lab-grown meat,” and found nothing.

Also, an advanced X search for the comment Gates allegedly posted about “cancers found in fake meats” showed no results.

Our ruling

An Instagram post claimed a study revealed “Bill Gates’ Fake Meat Causes ‘Turbo Cancers’ in Humans.” 

We found neither reliable studies nor news reports supporting the claim that lab-grown meat causes fast-growing cancer that some people are calling “turbo cancer.” 

We traced this claim back to an article on a website known for spreading misinformation. That article did not provide the study that purportedly supported the claim and it showed no proof that lab-grown meat is unsafe. 

We rate this claim False.

RELATED: What Bill Gates has to do with livestock, lab-grown meat

News headlines and social media posts claim former President Donald Trump forgot his wife’s name. 

“Experts warn Donald Trump may be suffering from dementia after calling wife Melania ‘Mercedes,’” one Feb. 26 Facebook post said. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

But Trump didn’t mistakenly call his wife the wrong name. The claims take Trump’s comments during his Feb. 24 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference out of context. 

During the speech, at around the 54-minute mark,Trump praised former first lady Melania Trump. 

“She was a great first lady, people love her,” Trump said. 

The crowd erupted in cheers and gave the former president a standing ovation.

“Oh look at that, wow,” Trump responded, looking to his left at the audience. “Mercedes, that’s pretty good.”

Trump was talking to Mercedes Schlapp, his former White House strategic communications director and wife of CPAC chair Matt Schlapp. We found no information in media reports about whether Melania Trump attended CPAC. 

Late night talk show host Seth Meyers also poked fun at Trump, showing the clip from Trump’s speech before welcoming President Joe Biden on his show. 

“I’m sorry, Mercedes? You had a nuclear meltdown when Biden messed up the president of Egypt and you can’t remember your wife’s name?” Meyers said. “Guys, I hate to say it, his mind is slipping.”

It was an incredible privilege to welcome President Trump to his 14th @CPAC appearance!

We’re in this fight against globalism together! #WhereGlobalismGoesToDie pic.twitter.com/QQGnjGPKcS

— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 25, 2024

Trump looked to his left when he mentioned Mercedes during the crowd’s standing ovation for Melania, and then again at the end of the speech. 

“So now, I’m going to the place I’m supposed to be. I’m going to South Carolina. I’m supposed to be there,” Trump said. “And if I do poorly I’m going to blame Mercedes. Forget about that. I’m gonna blame Mercedes. Because I am supposed to be there and I’m not there.”

Trump has previously made gaffes and mistakenly used the wrong names for people when giving speeches. 

During an October 2022 deposition in the case that found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump mistook a picture of Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples. 

“That’s Marla,” Trump said, pointing to a picture of Carroll. “That’s my wife.”

In January, Trump was trying to refer to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., but called her Nikki Haley, his Republican presidential primary opponent.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has not updated a policy that would let migrants in the U.S. without legal status buy firearms, as social media posts have claimed. 

In an Instagram reel, a woman says, “My husband owns a gun shop, and he just called me to tell me that the ATF has made updates to their background check policy and effective today, they give an exemption to illegal immigrants to be able to purchase firearms. Now, this strangely coincides with California, New York and Chicago making it legal for illegals to be police officers.” 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The Gun Control Act is codified in federal law at 18 U.S.C. 922, which says it is unlawful to sell a firearm or ammunition to any person who is illegally or unlawfully in the United States. 

Kristina Mastropasqua, an ATF spokesperson, said the agency cannot make or change federal law, including the Gun Control Act, as only Congress holds that power. 

Also, background checks are run by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

PolitiFact previously found that although an Illinois law enacted in 2024 makes it legal for noncitizens to become police officers, that law applies only to those who are both legally allowed to work in the U.S. and own a firearm. Because federal law says only immigrants who are in the U.S. legally may own a firearm, immigrants who are unlawfully in the country are ineligible to become police officers. 

That is also true of a 2022 California law, which made it legal for noncitizens who have work authorization and can legally possess a gun to become police officers. 

Information by the New York City Police Department says only U.S. citizens may apply to the police force. 

We rate the claim that the ATF updated its background check policy to allow “illegal immigrants” to purchase firearms False. 

An American Red Cross questionnaire asking blood donors about their vaccination status does not show that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe, as some social media users have claimed. 

Multiple Instagram posts shared screenshots from an American Red Cross blood donor survey that asked, “Have you EVER had a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine?” 

The posts includes text without proper punctuation that says, “The American Red Cross is now asking blood donors if they ever received the Covid vaccine If you answer Yes, they want you to call ahead to see if you’re still eligible I thought the vax was ‘safe and effective’? What info are they hiding from us?” 

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

First, the question is not new. American Red Cross spokesperson Daniel Parra told PolitiFact in an email that the organization has been asking potential donors if they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 since December 2020.

All blood collectors ask every potential donor about their vaccine history, Parra said, because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires various wait times to donate blood depending on the vaccine donors received. 

For example, people who received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are asked to wait four weeks before donating blood, and those who received a hepatitis B vaccine are asked to wait 21 days before giving blood, according to American Red Cross guidance. 

Parra said people who received a COVID-19 vaccine are asked to provide the name of the vaccine’s manufacturer to ensure they received an FDA-approved vaccine. If their vaccine was approved by the FDA, then they can give blood without a waiting period. If they can’t remember the name of the manufacturer, they must wait two weeks from their vaccination before they can give blood.

FDA guidance was updated in 2022 to say that COVID-19 vaccine recipients do not need a waiting period for blood donation unless they received a live-attenuated viral COVID-19 vaccine, in which case they should wait two weeks.

Live-attenuated vaccines are distinct because they contain a weakened form of the germ that can cause an infection. They are included in some bacterial and viral vaccines to provide immunity against future infection. The Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies, a non-profit representing blood collectors and other institutions involved in transfusion medicine, says wait periods are recommended because it is possible that blood donors who have received live-attenuated vaccines can pass the virus to others through blood donations.

Carly Pflaum, an FDA spokesperson, told PolitiFact via email that no live-attenuated viral COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for use in the U.S., and all FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines are nonreplicating, inactivated or mRNA based.

However, a live-attenuated COVID-19 vaccine is under development in the clinical trial stage. This vaccine would be administered intranasally and produce an immune response to multiple COVID-19 strains and variants. 

There is no scientific evidence showing U.S.-approved COVID-19 vaccines contaminate blood transfusions and put recipients at risk. “The COVID-19 vaccine is designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness, but vaccine components themselves are not found within the bloodstream,” Parra said. 

We rate the claim that an American Red Cross questionnaire asking blood donors about their vaccination status proves COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous False.