CNN Fact-Checker Daniel Dale Gives DNC Speeches Thumbs-Up: ‘Very Few Falsehoods’

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale gave the Democratic National Convention speeches a thumbs up by approvingly noting there were “very few falsehoods or misleading claims tonight.”

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) that kicked off in Chicago Monday night kept rolling on Tuesday with Day Two speeches from former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, and a host of others.

Dale — who rose to prominence cataloging tens of thousands of Trump lies and misleading statements — joined CNN anchor Jake Tapper during late-night CNN coverage of the DNC to parse the evening’s speeches.

After noting how few false statements were made, Dale went through them — including a mostly-true chunk from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and a generous parsing of Trump’s infamous remarks about disinfectant:

JAKE TAPPER: Want to get a fact check of what we heard from the States tonight. Let’s bring in CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale. Daniel, there were a lot of assertions made on the stage behind me. What’d you think?

DANIEL DALE: I thought there were very few false or misleading claims tonight. I heard a lot of factual statements, subjective opinions, personal stories, uncheckable predictions.

Obviously will not try to fact check Lil Jon.

But there was at least a smattering of material. So let’s look at a couple of claims. Listen to something that Senator Bernie Sanders said about the situation when President Biden took office.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Remember where we were. Three and a half years ago. We were in the midst of the worst public health crisis in 100 years, and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. 3000 Americans were dying every day and our hospitals were overwhelmed with Covid patients. Unemployment was soaring. That was the reality the Biden-Harris administration faced as they entered the Oval Office.

DANIEL DALE: A good chunk of that was true. But the Sanders claim that Biden and Harris faced soaring unemployment when they took office three and a half years ago is false.

Unemployment did soar four and a half years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, March and April 2020, it spiked to 14.8%.

But it then started quickly coming down. It had fallen way down to 6.4% in January 2021, the month Biden was sworn in. So they inherited an elevated but declining unemployment rate, not a soaring one.

Now listen to this claim from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

GOV. JB PRITZKER: During Covid, we supported small businesses and jobs. And Donald, well, Donald told us to inject bleach.

DANIEL DALE: That’s misleading. Yes Donald Trump did make ill informed remarks. We remember at a Covid press briefing in April 2020, wondering about whether scientists could somehow test or study the possibility of treating the virus by injecting disinfectant into people.

Yes, those comments prompted household disinfecting companies to warn people not to try them at home.

But Pritzker was still exaggerating like President Biden has in making similar claims recently, Trump never actually advised Americans to go inject bleach.

And before Democrats scoff, people can go watch the tape for themselves. It shows Trump was musing to a government science official about doctors, experts, looking into the possible use of disinfectants. He never said Americans should go inject themselves. Jake.

JAKE TAPPER: All right. Daniel Dale, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

Watch above via CNN coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

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