Fact-Checkers Weigh In on Final Debate

The third presidential debate in Las Vegas was another busy night for the fact-checkers, who had an assortment of false claims, dubious statements, mischaracterizations, and exaggerations to look at from both candidates. Their verdict on some of the more controversial claims:

• Donald Trump: "Her plan is going to raise taxes and even double your taxes. .... We'll have a massive, massive tax increase under Hillary Clinton's plan." ABC News rates this "mostly false," noting that Clinton has talked about raising the taxes of high earners, but none of her proposals involve doubling anybody's taxes.

• Donald Trump: "We've lost our jobs. We’ve lost our businesses. We're not making things anymore." The New York Times says "no, no, no" to this: Some 10 million more Americans have jobs since President Obama took office, and manufacturing output is at an all-time high.
• Hillary Clinton: "What I have put forward doesn't add a penny to the debt." False, according to ABC: Estimates vary, but most analysts agree that debt will go up under her economic plan, with the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget putting the figure at $200 billion over a decade.
• Donald Trump: "Hillary wants to give amnesty. She wants to have open borders." Wrong, according to Politico's Wrongometer: Clinton supports deferred action plans, not full amnesty—and in the leaked speech extract Trump was apparently referring to, Clinton was talking about open borders for energy.
• Donald Trump: "Clinton flip-flopped on the Trans-Pacific Partnership." He's right on this one, according to the Guardian: She praised the trade deal on multiple occasions between 2010 and 2014, then opposed it as a presidential candidate.
• Hillary Clinton: Trump bought Chinese steel for the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Correct, according to the Times: Reports state that Trump used steel and aluminum for projects including the Vegas hotel, which was completed in 2008.
• Donald Trump: "When you ran the State Department, $6 billion was missing ... It is gone. $6 billion." The Washington Post took a thorough look at this claim last week. It concluded that the figure Trump is referring to comes from a 2014 management alert. No money was stolen or misplaced, but auditors found that there were paperwork problems like incomplete files on deals worth around $6 billion, largely deals in Iraq dating back to the George W. Bush administration.

(More presidential debate stories.)