chengxuphd/liar2 huggingface dataset:
Statement: As Florida secretary of state, Kurt Browning "allowed 1,800 illegal voters to register in Florida.
Speaker: heather fiorentino
About the speaker: Heather Fiorentino is the superintendent of Pasco County's public schools. She was elected superintendent in 2004, after serving six years in the Florida House of Representatives and five years on the New Port Richey City Council.
Date: August 7, 2012
Location: florida
Topics: immigration;elections;message machine 2012
Context: a campaign mailer
Fact-check justification: Fiorentino accused Browning of "allowing 1,800 illegal voters to register in Florida." Her number is . The state's initial list of 180,000 names never identified voters as illegal, but rather created a starting point for further verification. The state later stopped using the list, deeming the data unreliable. The secretary of state does not register voters in Florida, nor does he have the authority to remove them from the rolls. That's the job of county elections supervisors. And Browning was not secretary of state during the entire time the people on that list registered to vote. Fiorentino played fast and loose with her  in an effort to discredit her opponent on election eve. We rule her  !
Statement: The NCAA will "get billions" from the men's basketball tournament. "Players get a trophy.
Speaker: arian foster
About the speaker: Arian Foster is a running back for the Houston Texans.
Date: March 19, 2014
Topics: education;sports;punditfact
Context: a tweet
Fact-check justification: Foster said that the NCAA gets billions, while the winning players walk away with just a trophy. The revenues that come from the college basketball championship might be close to $1 billion, but there’s no sign that they have reached the $2 billion level. In addition, much of that money leaves the NCAA and goes to the schools. About a quarter of the total turns into scholarships for student-athletes. If Foster was talking about the NCAA’s lucrative multi-year contracts with broadcasters, his numbers are more accurate on the revenue side, but players still end up getting a lot more than a trophy. We don’t know what he had in mind. Overall, Foster’s point that the NCAA and colleges get a lot more out of the deal than the players is accurate. His specifics, however, are off. On balance, that comes to a .
Statement: Obamacare will provide coverage for abortions, despite the president's commitment that it would not.
Speaker: karen handel
About the speaker: Karen Handel is the former secretary of state of Georgia. She is also the former chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Handel, a Republican, lost the runoff for the GOP nomination for Georgia governor in 2010.
Date: September 11, 2012
Location: georgia
Topics: abortion
Context: a book
Fact-check justification: Handel’s  that the law will provide coverage for abortions could have been made more precisely. States can bar all plans participating in the state exchanges from covering abortions. That’s not mentioned in Handel’s book. Basically, abortions can be performed under the health care law, depending on which state you reside in. Because that bit of detail was not mentioned, we rate Handel’s entire  .
Statement: Says that as of March 2018 compared with 2017, "there's been a more than 200 percent increase in the number of people who are apprehended coming across the border. And, I'll tell you this, there's been a more than 200 percent increase in apprehension of heroin coming across the border.
Speaker: greg abbott
About the speaker: Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.
Date: April 9, 2018
Location: texas
Topics: immigration;drugs
Context: an interview by Trey Ware of San Antonio's KTSA radio station
Fact-check justification: Abbott said that as of March 2018 compared with 2017, "there’s been a more than 200 percent increase in the number of people who are apprehended coming across the border. And, I’ll tell you this, there’s been a more than 200 percent increase in apprehension(s) of heroin coming across the border." This  has an element of  in the 200-plus percent escalation in apprehensions when you compare the chosen months, though it’s worth noting that the percentage starts from border apprehensions in March 2017 setting an 18-year-low. Meantime, we found, border apprehensions in the first half of fiscal 2018 trailed apprehensions in the comparable stretch of 2017. We didn't find  that border heroin seizures have lately increased more than 200 percent. We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
Statement: Says Marsha Blackburn "at the behest of the pharmaceutical industry, co-sponsored a law that weakened DEA enforcement efforts against drug distribution companies that were supplying corrupt doctors and pharmacists who peddled narcotics to the black market.
Speaker: phil bredesen
About the speaker: Phil Bredesen served as governor of Tennessee from 2003 to 2011 and became the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018.
Date: August 24, 2018
Location: national
Topics: drugs
Context: a press release
Fact-check justification: Bredesen said that "at the behest of the pharmaceutical industry," Blackburn was a leading force behind a law that weakened the ability of the DEA to go after drug distributors that facilitated the flow of opioids into the black market. The record shows that Blackburn was critical of the DEA and was an early leader in reining in DEA powers. It is also a matter of record that the industry spent nearly $1.3 million lobbying for those changes and increased its donations to Blackburn as the legislative process played out. The only uncertainty concerns what prompted Blackburn’s actions, and the meaning of "behest" has some wiggle room. It can be both a command and a strong suggestion. Blackburn’s office declined to answer our question about her contacts with the industry. Nearly a year after the controversial legislation came to light, Blackburn switched her position. Because additional information is needed, we rate this  .
Statement: Greta Thunberg staged an arrest in Germany.
Speaker: viral image
About the speaker: Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
Date: January 17, 2023
Topics: climate change;facebook fact-checks
Context: an Instagram post
Fact-check justification: (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Claudia Suthor, a spokesperson for the Aachen police in Germany, told PolitiFact that Thunberg, among other protesters detained, was not arrested but required to give her information to officers before she was released.   Suthor said the event was not orchestrated: "We are not the extras for the staging of Greta Thunberg." Christian Wernicke, a journalist who was reporting on the protest for German news outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung, told the BBC that Thunberg wasn’t the first protester police detained, and that the video shows officers "deciding how they would proceed with the identity check and waiting to take Greta to the police vehicle." We rate claims that Thunberg staged her arrest in Germany .
Statement: Photo shows "the aftermath of the 'CHOP' Zone' in Seattle, WA. July 2020.
Speaker: viral image
About the speaker: Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
Date: August 31, 2020
Topics: facebook fact-checks
Context: a Facebook post
Fact-check justification: But as Reuters points out in its fact-check of a similar post , it appears to be a screenshot of a live feed of the intersection where Junction Avenue and Main Street meet in the city. We don’t know when the screenshot was taken.   Regardless, this Facebook post misuses a photo of the aftermath of a trash fire in Brooklyn to  that Seattle protesters were responsible for the mess. That’s .   We rate this post .
Statement: GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn has proposed that birth control should only be legal for MARRIED couples.
Speaker: tweets
About the speaker: Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.
Date: May 8, 2022
Topics: abortion
Context: a tweet
Fact-check justification: Social media users are claiming that Blackburn proposed limiting contraception use to married couples only. Blackburn has not made any such proposal, either in the Senate or in public statements. She critiqued a Supreme Court ruling, Griswold v. Connecticut, that overturned the state’s ban on contraception on the basis of a married couple’s right to privacy. But Blackburn has not elaborated on her issue with the ruling, saying only that it was "constitutionally unsound." Without proof that Blackburn wants to limit contraception use to married couples, we rate this  .
Statement: Illegal border crossings are up 173% from 1 year ago and 28% since January when President Biden stopped the wall & deportations and started catch & release.
Speaker: richard hudson
About the speaker: Richard Hudson is a Republican Congressman representing North Carolina's 8th District.
Date: March 15, 2021
Location: north carolina
Topics: immigration;border security
Context: a tweet
Fact-check justification: Hudson said "Illegal border crossings are up 173% from 1 year ago and 28% since January when President Biden stopped the wall & deportations and started catch & release." Hudson’s numbers are slightly off, but his point about illegal crossings rising nearly 200% is accurate. However, experts say the reasons for the rise in border crossings are complex and not fairly summarized by pinning the blame on border wall construction and Biden’s deportation policies. We rate this  . PolitiFact reporter Miriam Valverde contributed to this article.
Statement: Not one Democrat showed up to listen to border officials about the dangerous situation at our border. Not one!!! NOT ONE!
Speaker: viral image
About the speaker: Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
Date: May 12, 2019
Topics: border security;corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks
Context: a Facebook post
Fact-check justification: But the Facebook post claims that no Democrats showed up to listen to border officials, which just isn’t . We rate this Facebook post . Correction: This story was updated to reflect that Sen. Gary Peters is from Michigan. Previously, the story said he was from Minnesota.
Statement: Scott Walker was elected governor on a promise not to take campaign contributions "from the date of his inauguration until the signing of the state budget," but broke it by taking nearly $5.6 million.
Speaker: one wisconsin now
About the speaker: One Wisconsin Now is a liberal advocacy group that focuses on advancing "progressive leadership and values."
Date: September 26, 2014
Location: wisconsin
Topics: campaign finance;elections;state budget
Context: a news release
Fact-check justification: Our rating One Wisconsin Now said Walker was elected governor on a promise not to take campaign contributions "from the date of his inauguration until the signing of the state budget," but broke the promise by taking nearly $5.6 million in contributions. Walker made such a promise during his failed campaign for governor in 2006, specifically noting the period would begin Jan. 3, 2007. But he did not make it again during his successful run in 2010. We rate the  . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page .
Statement: Over the course of one four-year term, it costs taxpayers more than $1 million simply to operate" the governor's mansion.
Speaker: bob wirch
About the speaker: Wisconsin state Sen. Bob Wirch, a Democrat from Pleasant Prairie in Kenosha County in southeastern Wisconsin, has served in the Senate since 1996. He survived a recall election in 2011. Wirch served in the state Assembly from 1992 to 1996.
Date: November 15, 2010
Location: wisconsin
Topics: state budget
Context: a news release
Fact-check justification: Wisconsin is one of 44 states that provided a governor’s residence as of 2004, according to the most recent survey done by the National Governors Association. Here’s how three of the other six treat their governors: OK, let’s bring all this mansion talk home. In calling on Governor-elect Scott Walker to save taxpayer dollars, state Sen. Bob Wirch said selling or leasing the governor’s mansion would enable the state to cut more than $1 million over four years on the cost of operating the mansion. Based on the latest budget and expenditure figures, the operating costs do exceed $1 million over four years. We rate Wirch’s statement .
Statement: The United States' regulations "are among the most difficult in the world.
Speaker: rick scott
About the speaker: Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.
Date: November 14, 2011
Location: florida
Topics: environment;economy;health care;regulation
Context: a press release
Fact-check justification: Scott said "our regulations are among the most difficult in the world." As his , he cites companies moving their oil rigs from the Gulf Coast overseas and a medical device manufacturer cutting more than 1,000 jobs "because of new Obamacare taxes." Even if some companies move overseas or cut jobs and attribute those actions to overregulation, that doesn't mean that regulations in the U.S. are among the most difficult in the world. The reports we found ranked the U.S. between 4th and 10th for business climate. Scott, along with other political or business leaders, certainly can point to concerns about the number, cost or impact of regulations. But Scott hasn't proven that our country's regulations are among the most difficult in the world. In fact, the  we found points in the opposite direction. We rate this  .
Statement: The shutdown of the Keystone Pipeline project will mean "nearly 2,000 (union jobs lost) with Wisconsin companies
Speaker: ron johnson
About the speaker: Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.
Date: January 21, 2021
Location: wisconsin
Topics: environment;energy;jobs
Context: Facebook post
Fact-check justification: Johnson said in a Facebook post that shutting down the construction of the Keystone pipeline would result in "nearly 2,000 (union jobs lost) with Wisconsin companies" Based on the information we could find, the number checks out. Two Wisconsin companies were among the six that have been awarded construction contracts, and roughly 2,000 jobs are involved. That said, readers could have easily understood Johnson to mean permanent jobs, when they would be only temporary. And the total represents a peak, not current jobs. We rate his  .
Statement: U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn "earned as much as $300,000 running a nonprofit that had laid off 90 workers.
Speaker: ending spending action fund
About the speaker: The Ending Spending Action Fund describes itself as “an independent organization that proudly supports candidates regardless of party affiliation who favor enhancing free enterprise, reducing the size of government, and balancing our nation's budget.” It was founded in 2010 under another name by Joe Ricketts, a businessman who founded TD Ameritrade and whose family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball club, according to Open Secrets, a website that tracks money in politics. Ricketts has said he is a registered independent.
Date: July 20, 2014
Location: georgia
Context: television attack ad
Fact-check justification: But a bit of context is needed. Layoffs following mergers are common. And a nonprofit’s success can hinge on whether the public believes that it’s operating as efficiently as possible. Nunn’s salary at Points of Light, meanwhile, was less than her predecessor’s. We rate the statement in the ad as .
Statement: Says Mitt Romney was clear that he "would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy.
Speaker: barack obama
About the speaker: Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Date: October 22, 2012
Location: national
Topics: debates;jobs
Context: the final debate
Fact-check justification: Obama said Romney would not provide government assistance to the car companies, even if they went through bankruptcy. Romney’s term "post-bankruptcy financing" can have two meanings. It can refer to money used during bankruptcy and money used right afterwards. The distinction has great practical significance in this case, because without the loans in the middle of a bankruptcy, there might be no automakers to lend to on the other side. We can't know for sure which meaning Romney had in mind. However, Obama made a strong assertion. He said Romney would offer no government aid even if the carmakers went through bankruptcy. Romney’s words were vague and quite limited in number but he did speak of a government guarantee, and that would be the case whether he meant for loans during or after bankruptcy. We rate Obama's statement .
Statement: Republican candidate for governor "Karen Handel has run a 100 percent negative campaign.
Speaker: nathan deal
About the speaker: Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.
Date: July 30, 2010
Location: georgia
Topics: message machine 2010;negative campaigning
Context: a press release
Fact-check justification: The  that Handel has run "a 100 percent negative campaign" is an attack in itself. And the fact remains that both of Handel's TV ads are negative, and the majority of pages in Handel's mailers are focused on attacks. While Deal's campaign paid too little attention to the positive elements of her campaign, the overall impression its statement gives is . Handel's campaign is negative. We rule Deal's accusation .
Statement: Two-thirds of Wisconsin corporations don't pay state income taxes.
Speaker: one wisconsin now
About the speaker: One Wisconsin Now is a liberal advocacy group that focuses on advancing "progressive leadership and values."
Date: April 18, 2011
Location: wisconsin
Topics: corporations;income;taxes
Context: a news release and report
Fact-check justification: The two-thirds number is solid, the trend is long-term and it is reflected by federal tax data as well. For some corporations, tax breaks reduce the bottom line to zero in tax liability. But the group failed to note that some share of those non-paying businesses simply don’t make enough to pay taxes. We can’t say how significant that detail is because the data doesn’t exist. On the -O-Meter that rates as .
Statement: On Sandra Day O'Connor: "I think one reason she was a good judge is she had no judicial experience" before she joined the Supreme Court.
Speaker: harry reid
About the speaker: Harry Reid is a former U.S. senator from Nevada. He served as the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. Senate immediately prior to leaving office.
Date: May 11, 2010
Location: national
Topics: kagan nomination;supreme court
Context: a speech on the Senate floor
Fact-check justification: In 1975, O'Connor was elected a judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, where she served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, according to her biography on the U.S. Supreme Court Web site. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated O'Connor to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. We asked Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, if we were missing something, and he wrote that Reid had simply misspoken. So, O'Connor had six years of judicial experience before she was nominated for a seat on the highest court. We find Reid's  to be .
Statement: About 78 to 81 House Democrats "are members of the Communist Party. ... It's called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Speaker: allen west
About the speaker: Allen West announced in July 2021 that he is running for the Republican primary for Texas governor. He served for about a year as chairman of the Texas Republican Party, stepping down in June 2021. West represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013. Lieutenant Colonel West retired from the Army in 2004 after 22 years of service.
Date: April 10, 2012
Location: florida
Topics: candidate biography
Context: Jensen Beach, Fla
Fact-check justification: West said, "I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party." West said he was referring to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and that the Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its ally. But just because the Communist Party has spoken positively about the Progressive Caucus doesn’t mean that the Democrats in that Caucus are communists. Heck, West has often pointed out that he and U.S. Rep.  Dennis Kucinich  -- a liberal Democrat from Ohio -- agreed on a  resolution  calling for withdrawing from Libya. That doesn’t make West a Democrat. West is using guilty by association here, and has failed to prove that any member of Congress is a communist. !
Statement: Our president has labeled Americans as soft.
Speaker: rick perry
About the speaker: Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.
Date: October 18, 2011
Location: texas
Topics: economy
Context: an online video
Fact-check justification: Carney also said that the comment pertained to political leaders in Washington and that previous administrations had not acted to ensure the economy was as robust as possible. Our sense is Perry took Obama's "soft" comment and amped it up for maximum effect. Saying the country had gotten soft in the past, as Obama did, is less immediate, personal and provocative than saying Americans are currently soft. Also, Perry's statement ignores that Obama also told the TV reporter that he "wouldn’t trade our position with any countries on Earth" and that American universities, scientists and workers are the best in the world. We rate Perry's comment .