FACT CHECK: A look at the false and misleading claims made during the Trump-Harris debate

In their first and perhaps only debate, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris described the state of the country in starkly different terms. As the two traded jabs, some old false and misleading claims emerged along with some new ones.
Here’s a look at false and misleading claims made by the candidates.
TRUMP: “I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. … They’ve destroyed the economy.”
THE FACTS: This is an exaggeration. The economy grew much faster under Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan than it did under Trump. The broadest measure of economic growth, gross domestic product, rose 4 per cent a year for four straight years under Clinton. The fastest growth under Trump was three per cent in 2018. The economy shrank 2.2 per cent in 2020, at the end of Trump’s presidency. And a higher proportion of American adults had jobs under Clinton than under Trump. During the Biden-Harris administration, the economy expanded 5.8 per cent in 2021, though much of that reflected a bounce-back from COVID.
TRUMP: “They had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country, because I’ve never seen a worse period of time.”
THE FACTS: While praising the strength of the economy under his presidency, Donald Trump misstated the inflation rate under Biden. Inflation peaked at 9.1 per cent in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency from a low of 0.1 per cent in May 2020. It’s now seeing a downward trend. The most recent data shows that as of July it had fallen to 2.9 per cent. Other historical periods have seen higher inflation, which hit more than 14 percent in 1980, according to the Federal Reserve.
HARRIS: “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”
THE FACTS: Trump has said he doesn’t know about Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for another Republican presidential administration.
The plan was written up by many of his former aides and allies, but Trump has never said he’ll implement the roughly 900-page guide if he’s elected again. On the contrary, he has said it’s not related to his campaign.
HARRIS: “What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump’s plan would actually explode the deficit.”
THE TRUTH: The Penn-Wharton Budget Model did find that Trump’s tax and spending plans would significantly expand the deficit by $5.8 trillion over ten years. But it also found that Harris’ plans would increase the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the same period.
A presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is seen from the spin room, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Matt Slocum/AP Photo)
TRUMP: “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on Day 1.”
THE FACTS: Trump’s statement ignores the fact that without a law approved by Congress, a president can only ban fracking on federal lands.
The federal government owns about two per cent of Pennsylvania’s total land, and it is not clear how much of that is suitable for oil or gas drilling.
Republicans have criticized Harris for “flip-flopping” on the issue, noting that Harris said in the 2020 campaign that she opposed fracking, a drilling technique that is widely used in Pennsylvania and other states.
Harris has since said repeatedly that she won’t ban fracking if elected, and she reiterated that in Tuesday’s debate.
TRUMP, criticizing the Biden administration: “Crime is through the roof.”
THE FACTS: In fact, FBI data has shown a downward trend in violent crime since a coronavirus pandemic spike. Violent crime surged during the pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30 per cent in 2020 over the previous year — the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records
Violent crime was down six per cent in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released in March. Murders were down 13 per cent. New FBI statistics released in June show the overall violent crime rate declined 15 per cent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. One expert has cautioned, however, that those 2024 figures are preliminary and may overstate the actual reduction in crime.
TRUMP: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
THE FACTS: There’s no evidence to support the claim, which Trump and his campaign have used to argue immigrants are committing crimes at a higher rate than others.
Authorities in Ohio have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support Trump’s claim.
“TRUMP: “Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.”
THE FACTS: This is a mischaracterization of the government’s process of counting jobs. Every year the Labor Department issues a revision of the number of jobs added in a 12-month period from April through March in the previous year. The adjustment is made because the government’s initial job counts are based on surveys of businesses. The revision is then based on actual job counts from unemployment insurance files that are compiled later. The revision is compiled by career government employees with little involvement by politically appointed officials.
TRUMP: “A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”
THE FACTS: In recent months, Trump and other Republicans have been repeating the baseless claim that Democrats want migrants to come into the country illegally so they will vote.
There’s no evidence for this, nor is there any evidence that noncitizens illegally vote in significant numbers in this country.
Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections. It can be punishable by fines, prison time and even deportation. While noncitizens have cast ballots, studies show it’s incredibly rare, and states regularly audit their voter lists to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.
Trump’s comments suggest that not speaking English is somehow prohibitive for voting in the U.S. — and that’s also not the case. In fact, the Voting Rights Act requires certain states to provide election materials in other languages depending on the voting-age population’s needs.
Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin, David Klepper, Ali Swenson, Matthew Daly and Chris Rugaber contributed to this story