Fact-checking the Democratic convention: What Kamala Harris, others got right (and wrong)

Vice President Kamala Harris and the dozens of speakers that preceded her at Thursday's Democratic National Convention attacked former President Donald Trump on an array of fronts, including abortion, diplomacy and his litany of criminal charges.

Not all of it was true.

The USA TODAY Fact Check team followed along to sort fact from fiction and add context where it was missing.

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Kamala Harris claim: Trump tariffs would cost households $4,000 per year

Trump tariffs ‘"would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year ."

This overstates the impact economists project from Trump’s proposed 10% tariff on imported goods.

While Trump has described it as a way to raise revenue , economists say it would mostly be passed along to consumers , effectively making it a tax.

A study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found the tariff, along with a 60% tariff on Chinese goods also proposed by Trump, would lower the average post-tax incomes of American households by about $1,800.

That’s mostly in line with projections from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank that says the tariff would cost households roughly $1,700 each year , and the conservative American Action Forum, which projects additional household costs between $1,700 and $2,350.

– Joedy McCreary

Catch up on our convention fact-checks

We've fact-checked key speakers throughout the Republican and Democratic conventions. Catch up here on what was false, what was true and what was in between from Donald Trump, JD Vance, Tim Walz and a host of others.

• DNC Day 3: Tim Walz | Fact check live blog
• DNC Day 1: Joe Biden | Fact check live blog
• RNC Day 4: Donald Trump | Fact check live blog
• RNC Day 3 : JD Vance | Fact check live blog

Kamala Harris claim: Trump immune from criminal prosecution

“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.”

In July, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that presidents, including Trump, are at least partially immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. But the court’s decision isn’t as clear cut as Harris’ remarks make it seem. It declares that “official” acts by presidents are protected, but steps taken as a candidate are not.

The ruling also leaves room for presidents to be prosecuted under a narrow set of circumstances, related to responsibilities “within the outer perimeter” of presidential duties, or to unofficial acts, as USA TODAY previously reported .

“The parties before us do not dispute that a former President can be subject to criminal prosecution for unofficial acts committed while in office,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the 6-3 majority that divided along ideological lines. “They also agree that some of the conduct described in the indictment includes actions taken by Trump in his unofficial capacity.”

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court gave Trump “all the immunity he asked for and more.” Trump is the first president – former or current – to be criminally charged.

-Chris Mueller

Ruben Gallego claim: VP Harris responsible for veteran benefits expansion, unemployment rate

“Kamala Harris has delivered more benefits to more veterans than ever before and has achieved the lowest veterans unemployment rate in history.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it has granted benefits to 1.1 million veterans and their survivors so far in fiscal year 2024, an all-time record.

The VA said it’s been able to deliver more care and benefits than ever before largely because of the PACT Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022. The White House has described the law as the “most significant expansion of VA Health Care in 30 years.”

It helps deliver more timely health care benefits and services to over five million veterans who may have been exposed to toxic substances – such as through burn pits – while serving the country, the White House said.

But the claim overreaches by giving direct credit to Harris for actions taken by an administration led by Biden. In public remarks in 2022, Harris credited Biden’s leadership for the passage of the PACT Act.

The issue is close to Biden, who has drawn a connection between burn pits and his late son Beau’s fatal brain cancer.

The Department of Veterans Affairs website says the PACT Act is “is perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history.” The Veterans of Foreign Wars , a nonprofit veterans service organization, considered the bill the most significant piece of veterans legislation in history.

On unemployment, the jobless rate among veterans fell to 2.1% in April 2023 – during the Biden-Harris administration – the lowest mark since 2000 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking monthly unemployment for the group, the Military Times reported . For all of 2023, the rate was 2.8%, the lowest rate since at least 2000 , the outlet reported.

The veterans unemployment rate was 3% in July, up from 2.9% the previous month, according to the Department of Labor .

But as with the veterans benefits, referring to this veterans unemployment rate as something Harris has “achieved” overstates her role in the process. USA TODAY found no record of Harris leading initiatives that would justify such a description.

-Andre Byik

Kamala Harris claim: Trump plans to create a ‘national anti-abortion coordinator,’ force reporting on miscarriages and abortions

“He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions.”

This claim does not appear to reference any plan or platform endorsed by Trump, but rather aspects of Project 2025 , a political playbook created by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative groups.

The project calls for increasing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance of abortion information by forcing states that don’t currently provide this information to the CDC, such as California, Maryland and New Hampshire, to do so.

Page 455 of the plan explains this would be done by allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to “use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.” It also calls for information about miscarriages to be collected from the states.

As Harris alludes to, the plan also calls for appointing someone who is “unapologetically pro-life” as the “Senior Coordinator” of the “Office of Women, Children, and Families.”

While Democrats have insisted Project 2025 is Trump’s plan if elected president, he has attempted to distance himself from it. In a July 5 Truth Social post , Trump wrote that he disagrees with parts of the plan and has “no idea who is behind it.” Notably, Trump embraced many of the Heritage Foundation’s policy proposals during his first administration, and some of his allies were involved in Project 2025, as USA TODAY previously reported.

- Brad Sylvester

Kamala Harris claim: Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare

"Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare."

This is a slightly softened version of a claim Harris’ campaign has made before , including a tweet from her campaign claiming Trump attempted to do this "every single year." It oversimplifies a series of budget maneuvers.

Trump didn’t attempt to cut general Social Security retirement benefits, but he attempted – and failed – to reduce spending for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, according to The Washington Pos t. About 8.5 million people receive such disability benefits, but that’s only a fraction of the number who receive retirement and survivor benefits.

Trump did propose cuts to Medicare in his budgets for the fiscal years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, The Post noted. But an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that 85% of his proposed Medicare savings would come from healthcare providers and would lower costs for seniors.

Trump’s last budget, released in February 2020, had about $500 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over 10 years, but most would come from reduced payments to hospitals and other healthcare providers, Forbes reported, citing the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities .

- Chris Mueller

Kamala Harris claim: Trump encouraged Russia to invade allies

“Trump on the other hand threatened to abandon NATO. He encouraged Putin to invade our allies. Said Russia could, quote, ‘Do whatever the hell they want.’”

This claim popped up earlier in the evening by Sen. Mark Kelly, and by President Joe Biden at his State of the Union . Here’s what we reported when Kelly said it:

The quote Harris cited here is technically accurate but significantly oversimplified.

Trump, speaking at a Feb. 10 campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, suggested he might not come to the aid of NATO members attacked by Russia if they weren’t contributing enough money to the alliance, as USA TODAY previously reported .

“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’" Trump said . “I said, ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you.”

Then, Trump added, “In fact I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the time that Trump's comments could endanger lives and undermine the security of NATO members, including the U.S.

- Chris Mueller and Andre Byik

Kamala Harris claim: She secured $20 billion for those hurt by foreclosure crisis

“(I) delivered $20 billion for middle-class families who faced foreclosure.”

This refers to the settlement Harris, as California’s attorney general, negotiated with several large mortgage companies in 2012 to provide relief for struggling homeowners in her state following the foreclosure crisis.

The nation’s five largest mortgage servicers – Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Ally Bank/GMAC Mortgage – were accused of using illicit tactics to wrongfully foreclose on homeowners, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2016 . Harris pulled California out of nationwide mortgage settlement talks in September 2011 when it appeared her state’s share would be roughly $4 billion.

In announcing the deal in 2012, her office said it totaled $18 billion , of which more than $12 billion was to go toward reducing the principal on loans or offering short sales to roughly 250,000 homeowners who owed more than their homes were worth or were behind (or almost behind) on payments. There is a discrepancy in the specific dollar amount, however. While her office announced it as $18 billion, multiple media outlets through the years used the same $20 billion figure that Harris referenced during her address.

Ultimately, about $4.5 billion of that settlement went to lower debt on primary mortgages, the Wall Street Journal reported . The rest went to reduce debt on second mortgages and to short sales, in which banks agreed to allow homes to be sold for less than the mortgage value and wrote off the difference.

– Joedy McCreary

Mark Kelly claim: Trump said Russia could do ‘whatever the hell they want’

“(Trump) invited Russia to do – and these are his words, not mine – whatever the hell they want.”

As P resident Joe Biden did in his State of the Union , Kelly here cites a quote that is technically accurate but significantly oversimplified.

Trump, speaking at a Feb. 10 campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, suggested he might not come to the aid of NATO members attacked by Russia if they weren’t contributing enough money to the alliance, as USA TODAY previously reported .

“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?’" Trump said . “I said, ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you.”

Then, Trump added, “In fact I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the time that Trump's comments could endanger lives and undermine the security of NATO members, including the U.S.

-Chris Mueller

Al Sharpton claim: Trump paid for newspaper ads urging death penalty for five teens

“(Trump) spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for the execution of five innocent young teenagers.”

Sharpton is referring to the Central Park Five , a group of Black and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted of assaulting a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989.

Less than two weeks after the attack, Trump took out $85,000 worth of full-page ads in The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post and New York Newsday. The ads proclaimed in all caps, “Bring back the death penalty and bring back our police," going on to condemn a "dangerously permissive atmosphere which allows criminals of every age to beat and rape a helpless woman and then laugh at her family's anguish."

The ads did not, however, explicitly advocate for the Central Park Five to be executed .

In 2002, the group was exonerated after a convicted murder Matias Reyes confessed to assaulting the jogger, which was confirmed by DNA evidence.

Trump did not apologize for the ads when he was asked in 2019 whether he would apologize to the men.

-Chris Mueller

Marcia Fudge claim: Trump was sued over housing for Black people

“He started his career being sued for denying housing to Black families”

This lawsuit is real, though the quick mention leaves out how the case was resolved.

This claim from the former secretary of housing and urban development refers to a lawsuit filed more than half a century ago. Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made the same claim during a debate with Trump in 2016.

Trump was in his late 20s in 1973 when the Justice Department sued him , his father Fred and their management company over allegations of racial discrimination at their housing developments in New York. According to testers for New York City’s human rights division, a Black woman who attempted to rent an apartment at a Brooklyn complex managed by Trump’s firm was told nothing was available, but a white woman was offered a choice of two apartments shortly after.

The case was settled in 1975 after Trump countersued the Justice Department for $100 million for making false statements. That allegation was dismissed.

As noted by NPR , Trump responded in the 2016 debate by emphasizing there was no admission of guilt in the case. Indeed, NPR reports, the Trumps took a settlement offer that included no admission of guilt but required the Trumps to place newspaper ads saying their properties welcomed Black applicants.

"Yes, when I was very young, I went into my father's company — had a real estate company in Brooklyn and Queens," Trump said. "And we, along with many, many other companies throughout the country — it was a federal lawsuit — were sued. We settled the suit with zero, with no admission of guilt."

– Joedy McCreary

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-Eric Litke

DNC background: After brief post-shooting cooldown, rhetoric heats back up

The days following an assassination attempt that left Republican nominee Donald Trump with an injured ear were marked by widespread calls for unity and toned-down rhetoric.

Fewer than six weeks after the shooting, the temperature has gone right back up.

When Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, she also will have the opportunity to respond to Trump's vow that he’s “ not going to be nice ” while peppering Harris with a series of attacks.

It marks a return to the tone that appeared to shift – albeit only temporarily – in the wake of the July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania that left one dead and two others seriously injured. Trump said he rewrote his closing remarks at the Republican National Convention in July to “bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” he told the Washington Examiner.

The FBI identified the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania , and said Secret Service agents killed him at the scene . But officials have been unable to determine his motive, one of the key unanswered questions sparking a significant amount of misinformation.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims stemming from the assassination attempt.

• Fact check roundup: False claims about rally attack spread online
• Claim: Image shows Trump's suit jacket was pierced with a bullet during Pennsylvania rally shooting (False)
• Claim: Thomas Matthew Crooks is not the suspected Trump rally shooter (False)
• Claim: Image shows Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks (False)
• Claim: Alejandro Mayorkas denied requests for additional security at Trump rally (False)
• Claim: Butler, Pennsylvania, police identified Trump shooter as Mark Violets, arrested him at scene (False)
• Claim: Video shows Trump assassination attempt was 'staged,' there were 'no bullets flying’ (False)

– Joedy McCreary

DNC background: Democrats link Trump to Jan. 6 Capitol riot

The Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and former President Donald Trump’s alleged role in the attack, has become a focal point at this week’s Democratic National Convention .

Aquilino Gonell, a former U.S. Capitol police officer, said in a convention speech that rioters beat him with a pole attached to an American flag, and he blamed Trump for summoning protesters to the Capitol.

Trump is accused in a federal indictment of directing his supporters to march on the Capitol in an effort to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

More than 1,200 defendants have been charged in the attack on the Capitol. Trump’s case was overseen by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith . Trump has pleaded not guilty .

USA TODAY has debunked numerous claims about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol:

• Fact check roundup: What's real and not three years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
• Claim: Video shows comedian, not liberal Jan. 6 rioter, posing as Trump supporter
• Claim: No evidence January 6 committee destroyed records, contrary to online claims
• Claim: Image shows man later convicted for role in Jan. 6 riot, not federal agent
• Claim: Video shows a pro-Trump mob with floor plans inside Capitol building on Jan. 6

– Andre Byik

DNC background: Harris’ childhood, ethnicity spawn misinformation

Not long after the Democrats picked Vice President Kamala Harris to replace President Joe Biden at the top of their ticket, several false or misleading claims about her resurfaced.

Many of those originated four years earlier when Harris was picked as Biden’s running mate in 2020. Some question whether Harris – the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father – is eligible for the presidency . Others claim she was raised in Canada , is not African-American and as a prosecutor held Black inmates past their release dates.

USA TODAY has debunked several false claims that center on Harris’ background:

• Fact check roundup: Biden exit, Harris entry spur flurry of false claims
• Claim: Kamala Harris was raised in Canada, is not African-American and held Black prisoners past release dates (Partly false)
• Claim: Kamala Harris is ineligible to succeed Biden because of her parents' citizenship (False)

– Joedy McCreary

DNC background: Democrats, GOP spar over election security claims

As the 2024 election draws closer, Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over concerns about the security and integrity of the voting process.

A bill passed in July by House Republicans and some Democrats would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections – even though data shows the problem of non-citizens voting is virtually nonexistent .

The measure advanced amid repeated, baseless claims from former President Donald Trump – the Republican presidential nominee – that the 2020 election was rigged against him . He referenced the claim in a video shown during his party’s convention in July. However, state-level recounts, reviews and audits of the 2022 midterm elections found no indication of systemic problems with voter fraud.

Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee led by his daughter-in-law have said they will mobilize 100,000 people in battleground states to ensure “transparency and fairness” in a move that has drawn criticism from opponents saying it has the potential to lead to voter intimidation .

USA TODAY has debunked numerous false claims about the integrity of the elections:

• Fact check roundup: False claims about election fraud, candidates swirl amid 2022 midterms
• Claim: Wisconsin offers a free ID card that 'lets illegals vote ’ (False)
• Claim: Biden can’t withdraw from Nevada, Wisconsin ballots (False)
• Claim: Minnesota ballot envelopes are marked with voters' political party (False)
• Claim: 105% of Michigan’s population is registered to vote (False)
• Claim: A software company's contract allows officials to override election results (False)
• Claim: Malware, remote access caused printer problems; 200,000 'ejected' ballots in Arizona (False)
• Claim: A chart shows election fraud in the Michigan AG’s race (False)
• Claim: Blackout in live stream in Nevada points to election theft (False)
• Claim: Fraud due to Texas voting machine adding voters as polls close (False)
• Claim: Photo showing ballots from 2022 midterms in the trash is evidence of fraud (False)
• Claim: Democrats used 47 million mail-in ballots to steal every election (False)
• Claim: Joe Biden did not legally win the presidential election (False)

– Joedy McCreary

DNC background: Project 2025 and that giant book

Vice President Kamala Harris has warned voters about what she describes as the dangers of Project 2025 in the weeks since she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

The project is an effort by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative organizations that resulted in a 900-page playbook for the next Republican president. A full implementation of the guidance in the document would effectively overhaul the federal government .

A slew of Trump’s allies are involved in the project, though Trump has maintained that he is not.

He’s described its proposals as “extreme” and “ absolutely ridiculous ,” though he has not specified what he disagrees with.

Numerous Democratic leaders, including Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Pennsylvania , attacked Project 2025 and attempted to connect it to Trump in their convention speeches. Some speakers, such as comedian Kenan Thompson, used an oversized physical copy of the playbook in condemning it on stage.

USA TODAY has debunked several claims about Project 2025:

• Claim: Page 451 of Project 2025 says the “only valid family” includes a working father, stay-at-home mother (False)
• Claim: Project 2025 is a plan from Trump (False)
• Claim: Project 2025 calls for women to carry “period passports” (False)

-BrieAnna Frank

DNC background: Harris wasn’t ‘border czar,’ but debate continues over immigration policy

In 2021, President Joe Biden announced Harris would lead the administration's diplomatic efforts with Mexico and the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to slow migration to the U.S. southern border. At the time, Harris said the administration “must address the root causes that cause people to make the trek, as the president described, to come here.”

But Harris was never put in charge of the southern border or made "border czar," contrary to some posts on social media . Immigration has been a top issue for voters as encounters with migrants at the southern border have increased under Biden .

Trump, meanwhile, has promised the largest deportation effort in U.S. history if he is elected again. He also said he would reinstate strict immigration policies from his first term, limit asylum access at the U.S. southern border and eliminate automatic citizenship for people born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

In February, Republican lawmakers blocked an immigration bill that would have revamped the country’s immigration and border policies. Biden blamed the bill's failure on opposition from Trump. Since then, Biden has issued executive orders to implement new restrictions on asylum access and speed up the process to get a green card for certain spouses and children of U.S. citizens.

• Claim: Kamala Harris was 'put in charge of the border' (False)
• Claim: 51 million 'illegals' entered US under Biden, Harris (False)
• Claim: Biden executive order granted citizenship to 1 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally (False)
• Claim: Nearly 11,000 “illegals” were processed in Eagle Pass, Texas, in one day in mid-March 2024 (False)
• Claim: The Texas National Guard has deployed tanks to the border with Mexico (False)

- Chris Mueller

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact-checking the Democratic convention: What Kamala Harris, others got right (and wrong)