Blog

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced off tonight in the second presidential debate tonight and made charges about each other's records while defending their own characters and careers.

The debate was a high-stakes evening for the Trump campaign, which was in turmoil following the release on Friday of a 2005 video showing the GOP presidential nominee carrying on a lewd conversation about women.

The debate, at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., followed a town hall meeting format and half of the questions came from the audience while the others were posed from the co-moderators Martha Raddatz of ABC News and CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Fact-check No. 1: Trump said that Clinton started the "birther" movement.

Trump: "You’re the one that sent the pictures around your campaign, sent the pictures around with president Obama in a certain garb. That was long before I was ever involved. So, you actually owe an apology."

Our grade: False

Explanation: A Politico report has linked Clinton’s most ardent supporters to the circulation of an e-mail suggesting President Barack Obama was born in Kenya during the 2007-2008 primary campaign. But no evidence has ever been found connecting this claim with Clinton herself or her campaign. The Trump campaign has circulated what they define as several pieces of evidence linking the Clinton campaign to the start of the birther movement, which Trump mentioned tonight, but they don’t hold up.

Fact-check No. 2: Trump said the U.S. has an $800 billion trade deficit.

Trump: "Last year, we had an almost $800 billion trade deficit. Other words, trading with other countries. We had an $800 billion deficit. It's hard to believe. Inconceivable."

Our grade: Yes and No

Explanation: According to Census Bureau data the United States had a combined deficit in goods and services of $500 billion in 2015. Donald Trump seems to be referring only to the deficit in goods which was $763 billion in 2015. The U.S. though, exports more in services that in goods and when the two are combined, the total deficit is actually lower -- it is a little over $500 billion when both are combined.

Trump would be more accurate if he clarified his statement to say a goods trade deficit.

Fact-check No. 3: Trump said the U.S. gave Iran $150 billion in one-sided transaction.

Trump: "When I look at the Iran deal and how bad a deal it is for us. It's a one sided transaction where we're giving back $150 billion to a terrorist state really the number one terror state, we've made them a strong country from really a very weak country just three years ago. When I look at all of the things that I see in all of the potential that our country has, we have such tremendous potential. Whether it's in business and trade, where we're doing so badly."

Our grade: False

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said lifting certain financial sanctions only gives Iran access to $56 billion, and it’s not plausible to call it a one-sided transaction considering the changes Iran has made to its nuclear program, including an agreement to reduce its stockpile of enriched nuclear material and to cease further enrichment, effectively extending the time it would take Iran to build a bomb from a few months to one year.

The $150 billion figure is at the high end of estimates. The U.S. Treasury has put the figure closer to $56 billion. The chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, Garbis Iradian, also estimates the number figure at around $60 billion.

Fact-check No. 4: Trump accused Clinton of deleting e-mails after a subpoena for those documents was issued.

Trump: "There has never been anything like this, where emails, and you get a subpoena, you get a subpoena and after getting the subpoena you delete 33,000 e-mails."

Grade: Mostly True

Explanation: The timeline produced by the FBI shows the emails were deleted after the Benghazi committee subpoena, but Clinton argues that orders to do so were made earlier and mistakenly not carried out.

It’s not known whether Platte River Networks decided to delete her email to protect them from a subpoena, but the fact is they were deleted after the subpoena from Congress was issued. The catch is that they were instructed by Clinton’s lawyers to be deleted prior to that, except that they forgot to do it, according to a report produced by the FBI. An unnamed staffer at PRN had an “oh s---” moment, according to the FBI’s investigation, after realizing he hadn’t deleted them yet.

It’s also important to note that FBI Director James Comey testified that during the course of the FBI’s email investigation investigators "didn't find any evidence of evil intent and intent to obstruct justice."

Fact-check No. 5: Trump's said health insurance costs are rising by 68 percent, 59 percent, 71 percent.

Trump: "When I watch the deals being made, when I watch what’s happening with some horrible things like Obamacare, where your health insurance and health care is going up by numbers that are astronomical, 68 percent, 59 percent 71 percent."

Grade: Mostly False

Explanation: While healthcare and health insurance costs have been rising, there does not appear to be any basis to these specific numbers. Healthcare costs have been on the rise, and in a number of categories –- health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs, employer costs to ensure employees, to name a few. However, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, the costs that matter to individuals do not appear to be near these percentages –- at least not year-on-year. According to the HHS report, the average premium under ObamaCare for 2016 plans rose to $408 per month, which is about a 9 percent increase from this time last year.