FOX31 Denver

Fact-checking the first presidential debate

DENVER — The FOX31 Problem Solvers fact-checked the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Candidate: Donald Trump

Claim: “My father gave me a very small loan in 1976.”

Verdict: False

Reason: Trump’s “small loan” was anywhere between $1 million and $14 million, according to the WSJ which tracked down records

Candidate: Hillary Clinton

Claim: “Donald thinks climate change is a hoax.”

Verdict: True

Reason: Trump posted a tweet — calling global warming a hoax — on several occasions within the last several years.

Candidate: Hillary Clinton

Claim: “Debt free college.”

Verdict: False

Reason: While Clinton’s campaign website does highlight a policy to create free tuition, it does not address room and board, which generates debt. Room and board at the University of Colorado can cost close to $20,000 a year.

Candidate: Donald Trump

Claim: “I did not support the war in Iraq.”

Verdict: False

Reason: As the Problem Solvers revealed earlier this year, there is no public record of Trump being against the war before the invasion. Also — as Buzzfeed uncovered — Trump seemed to agree with the Iraq invasion during a Howard Stern interview. 

Candidate: Donald Trump

Claim: “You called it the gold standards of trade deals.”

Verdict: True

Reason: Trump is correct that Clinton called the TPP trade deal a “gold standard.” Video from a speech in Australia proves that.