Fact check 2016: tall tales from the trail
It's easy to feel like 2016 is a fact-free election: Republican nominee Donald Trump insists on a near-daily basis that he opposed the Iraq war before it started (he didn't) and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton routinely assures audiences she didn't send or receive classified information on her private email server (she did.)
Enter Fact Check 2016: A blog that will dig into the facts, falsehoods, and half-truths behind the candidates' own words.
Pence Denies Trump's Nuclear Views, While Kaine Oversimplifies It
"Don't put words in my mouth. Well, he never said" that more nations should get nuclear weapons, Mike Pence fired back at Tim Kaine when pressed on Donald Trump's views on the topic or proliferation.
Trump didn't exactly say he wanted more countries to get nuclear weapons, but flirted with it and came extremely close. Here's the exchange on CNN that Kaine is referring to.
See reactions to the VP debate on social media:
TRUMP At some point we have to say, you know what, we're better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea, we're better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself, we have...
COOPER: Saudi Arabia, nuclear weapons?
TRUMP: Saudi Arabia, absolutely.
COOPER: You would be fine with them having nuclear weapons?
TRUMP: No, not nuclear weapons, but they have to protect themselves or they have to pay us. Here's the thing, with Japan, they have to pay us or we have to let them protect themselves.
COOPER: So if you said, Japan, yes, it's fine, you get nuclear weapons, South Korea, you as well, and Saudi Arabia says we want them, too?
TRUMP: Can I be honest with you? It's going to happen, anyway. It's going to happen anyway. It's only a question of time. They're going to start having them or we have to get rid of them entirely.
The exchange continues here, and Trump waffles a bit, but overall Trump seems awfully close to embracing a world with a lot more nuclear weapons.
Pence Overstates Trump Remarks on Mexican Immigrants
"He also said and 'and many of them are good people,' you keep leaving that out of your quote," Pence fired back when confronted repeatedly about Trump's remark in his campaign announcement that some Mexican immigrants were "rapists" and criminals.
Trump never said "many of them are good people," he said "some, I assume, are good people."
Pence Wildly Understates Clinton Foundation Charitable Work
In discussing the work of the Clinton Foundation, Mike Pence said "less than 10 cents on the dollar has gone to charitable causes, it has been a platform for the Clintons to travel the world, to have staff."
Pence is absolutely wrong here: 80-90 percent of Clinton Foundation funding goes to program services, which our friends at PolitiFact found is the best measure of charitable work while checking a similar claim two months ago. It is true that less than 10 percent of their funds go to third-party charities, because most of its money goes directly to their projects.
RELATED: The Clinton Foundation
Pence Insists He and Trump Haven't Praised Putin. They Have
"No, we haven't" said Russian President Vladimir Putin is a great leader Pence claimed on Tuesday night, later insisting it's "absolutely inaccurate" for Kaine to say he and Trump have called Putin a strong leader.
Pence said Putin is stronger than Obama, and Trump has said Putin is a great leader, among other praising remarks. Neither said both, but the message is largely the same.
Pence Says Trump Didn't Say Those Insults. He Did.
"To be honest, if Donald Trump said all those things you said he said, in the way you said he said those things, he wouldn't have a fraction of the insults that Hillary Clinton leveled when she said half of our supporters were a basket of deplorables." -- Mike Pence
Pence claimed Trump didn't say a long list of insults, but he did.
RELATED: Poll - Trump's propensity for controversial statements
Here's what Kaine said: "Donald Trump during his campaign has called Mexicans rapists and criminals. He's called women dogs, pigs, slobs, disgusting... He attacked an Indiana-born federal judge and said he was unqualified to hear a federal lawsuit because his parents were Mexican. He went after John McCain, a POW, and said he wasn't a hero because he was captured. He said African-Americans are living in hell, and he perpetrated this outrageous and bigoted lie that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen."
Trump did say all those things. Did he say them all during the campaign? Nearly.
Trump hasn't called women dogs, pigs, and slobs during his 15 month campaign. But when asked about those remarks during a debate, he doubled down: "Only Rosie O'Donnell."
