Fact-checking DNC Day 1: See what Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton got right and wrong

Hannah Hudnall, Chris Mueller, Brad Sylvester and Eric Litke, USA TODAY
Updated ·13 min read
14

President Joe Biden kicked off the first night of the Democratic National Convention less than a month after ending his reelection campaign. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran for president in 2016, also addressed the convention.

USA TODAY was there to dig into the speakers' claims, separating truth from fiction and providing context when the speakers failed to. Here are our fact checks on Biden, Harris, and other speakers who touched on key issues.

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Joe Biden claim: Illegal border crossings are below levels under Trump

"There are fewer border crossings today than when Donald Trump left office."

It is true that apprehensions at the southern border dropped to 56,408 in July, the lowest monthly total since September 2020, according to data from Customs and Border Patrol. But this fails to paint the whole picture.

Illegal border crossings have spiked under the Biden administration, according to The Washington Post. Data from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics shows there were more than 1 million illegal border crossings on the southern border from 2021 to 2023, with a record-breaking 2.2 million occurring in 2022. Such border crossings never exceeded 1 million per year under Trump.

-Brad Sylvester

Joe Biden claim: Biden administration raised pay for teachers 

“Kamala and I … gave public school teachers a raise.”

In his State of the Union address in March, Biden advocated for teacher pay raises, but we didn't find any evidence his administration has accomplished this on a broad basis. There has been legislation introduced in both the House and Senate to raise minimum salaries to $60,000 for public K-12 teachers, but neither bill has gained traction.

The Biden administration did publish rules Aug. 16 that require large operators of Head Start programs to put employees on a path to earning what their counterparts in local school districts make by 2031. But contrary to Biden's claim, this isn't a raise for public school teachers.

Some states, which typically have more sway on teacher salaries, have taken steps on their own to increase pay for teachers. In 2023, Arkansas set starting teacher pay at $50,000 and guaranteed every teacher at least a $2,000 raise, The Wall Street Journal reported. And in March, South Dakota set a minimum teacher salary of $45,000, which will increase with inflation. Other states considering new pay policies include Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia.

 -Chris Mueller

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Joe Biden claim: Billionaires pay only 8.2% in taxes 

“We have a thousand billionaires in America. Know the average tax rate they pay? 8.2%”

This is misleading.

Biden’s 8.2% figure is based on a 2021 analysis from White House economists on the tax rate of the 400 wealthiest families in the U.S. from 2010 to 2018. But the analysis used an equation that included “unrealized” gains as part of the total taxable income of these families – increases from something like a stock rising in value that hasn’t been cashed out (or taxed) because the stock hasn’t yet been sold. These unrealized gains are not typically considered taxable income, according to Vanguard.

The taxes paid based on actual taxable income are significantly higher. The New York Times reported the country’s 400 richest people paid 23% of their income in taxes in 2018.

Biden is also slightly off when it comes to the number of billionaires in the U.S. There are roughly 800 billionaires in the U.S., as USA TODAY previously reported. These 800 hold more wealth than the bottom half of American families.

-Brad Sylvester

Joe Biden claim: Murder up 30% under Trump; violent crime now at 50-year low

“On (Trump’s) watch, the murder rate went up 30%, the biggest increase in history. ... Violent crime has dropped to the lowest level in more than 50 years.”

The first of these two crime-related claims by Biden is accurate. In 2020, The New York Times reported the U.S. had the largest rise in murder – nearly 30% – since records began to be kept in 1960, according to data gathered by the FBI.

Before that, the largest one-year increase in total murders was 1,938 in 1990. There were about 21,500 murders in 2020, about 5,000 more than in 2019.

The violent crime claim may be accurate, but we don’t yet have official data to prove it. The FBI has not yet released the final 2023 violent crime figures, which come out each October.

Crime data expert and former CIA analysist Jeff Asher told PolitiFact the preliminary estimates for 2023 show a violent crime rate that would be the lowest in 50 years. The most recent official data, from 2022, shows a violent crime rate of 370 per 100,000 people, which would be the third-lowest in the last 50 years, behind 2014 and 2019.

-Chris Mueller

Joe Biden claim: Biden administration achieved smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years 

“(Under our administration, there’s) the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years.”

This statement, which Biden also made in his 2024 State of the Union speech, is inaccurate, according to an array of experts. Far from a record low, numbers show the gap is growing.

A study from three Duke University faculty members found the average gap in net worth between Black and white households grew from $841,900 to $1.15 million from 2019 to 2022, a rise of 38%.

The Urban Institute also found a rise looking at a much longer time span.

In 1995, the institute reported the wealth of white families was about $370,000 greater than that of Hispanic families and $403,000 greater than that of black families. But by 2022, the wealth gap had starkly increased, with white families’ average wealth being about $1.1 million higher than both black and Hispanic families.

“Put another way, white families had six times the average wealth of black families and Hispanic families,” the institute noted.

The National Bureau of Economic Research found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, wealth concentration in the U.S. reached their highest point since World War II. This lead researchers to conclude that given the small number of black households at the top of the wealth distribution, this “faster growth in wealth at the top (would) lead to further increases in racial wealth inequality.”

-Hannah Hudnall

Joe Biden claim: Gunshots are leading cause of death for American children

“More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States.”

This is true, and has been since 2020. That’s the year firearm deaths overtook motor vehicle deaths as the leading cause of death among Americans age 1-17, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The most recent available data, from 2022, shows firearms caused 4,603 child deaths compared to 3,740 deaths in car crashes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

-Eric Litke

Joe Biden claim: We’ve created 800,000 manufacturing jobs  

“American manufacturing is back … 800,000 new manufacturing jobs”

This is largely accurate, but it’s also cherry-picked data that leaves out a key reason this happened. The total number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. increased by more than 765,000 from January 2021 to July 2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Though the rise is significant, it was impacted partly by layoffs related to the COVID-19 pandemic that began before Biden took office. The Census Bureau estimates that about 1.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost as a result of the pandemic. The current level of manufacturing jobs is only about 125,000 more than in August 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

-Brad Sylvester

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow claim: Donald Trump is immune from prosecution 

"Thanks to Donald Trump's hand-picked Supreme Court, he's completely immune from prosecution."

In a 6-3 decision released in July, the Supreme Court did rule that Trump was at least partially immune from prosecution for crimes he committed while in office. The decision declares “official” acts taken by a president are protected, but steps taken as a candidate are not.

But the court’s decision also leaves room for presidents to be prosecuted under a narrow set of circumstances, pertaining 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.”

-Chris Mueller

Andy Beshear claim: Trump is behind ‘Project 2025’  

“Donald Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who got us into this mess. His Project 2025 goes even further.”  

The Kentucky governor is off the mark with this claim. Project 2025 is a political playbook created by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative groups. It’s not a document directly from Trump, who has said he doesn't agree with elements of the effort.

“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote in a July 5 Truth Social post. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

The 900-page document contains policy recommendations for the next Republican president that reflect the think tank's goal of "(rescuing) the country from the grip of the radical Left.” Though Trump said he had nothing to do with the project, some of his allies were involved in it, as USA TODAY previously reported.

-Brad Sylvester

Jasmine Crockett claim: Harris was first attorney general to require police body cameras 

"(Harris) was the first attorney general in the nation to order that her officers wear body cams."

This claim from the Texas representative is true. In 2015, while Harris was California attorney general, the California Department of Justice became the first statewide law enforcement agency in the country to require its officers to wear body cameras, The Sacramento Bee reported.

However, the requirement only applied to officers working for Harris, and it didn’t extend to local police across the state. At the time, Harris told The Sacramento Bee she didn’t support statewide standards for body cameras, and instead said she wanted local agencies to decide for themselves.

-Chris Mueller

Hillary Clinton claim: Donald Trump fell asleep during his trial 

“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial.”

This is a reference to the first day of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York on April 15, when Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, reported that Trump appeared to be sleeping in the courtroom, a claim Trump’s campaign later denied.

Trump “appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest,” The New York Times report says.

Trump glared at Haberman when he returned to court following a short break during that day’s proceedings, USA TODAY reported.

A jury eventually found Trump guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

-Chris Mueller

Hillary Clinton claim: Tennessee was the last state to allow women to vote 

“Tennessee became the final state to ratify the 19th amendment to the Constitution.”

This statement made by the former secretary of state misses the mark. Tennessee was the 36th state to sign the amendment into law granting women the right to vote, the total needed to make it a constitutional amendment. But it wasn’t the last state to ratify the amendment.

Several more states approved the amendment in the 1920s, and others did likewise in the following decades. Mississippi became the final state to ratify the amendment in 1984.

-Hannah Hudnall

DNC background: Our fact checks of Hillary Clinton

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to speak tonight in support of Harris’ nomination. Throughout the years, Clinton has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories and false claims. Here are a few USA TODAY has debunked:

-Brad Sylvester

DNC background: Our fact-checks of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is scheduled to speak tonight, has been a frequent target of misinformation. Here are some of the false and misleading claims about her USA TODAY has debunked:

- Brad Sylvester

Biden to speak in support of Harris' nomination

In a historic shuffle, sitting President Joe Biden will be speaking tonight to open the Democratic National Convention instead of filling the final speaking slot typically reserved for the incumbent.

That’s because Biden announced June 21 he was exiting the 2024 presidential race after weeks of mounting pressure from Democrats to step aside. The groundswell of opposition grew quickly after a widely-panned performance in a June debate against former President Donald Trump.

Biden, 81, is the oldest sitting president in U.S. history and would be 86 at the end of a second term if he had he stayed in the race and won. Surveys conducted before Biden’s exit found that his age, along with that of 78-year-old Trump, concerned millions of Americans.

The president remained steadfast in his commitment to the campaign until, he said in the letter, he determined it was in the “best interest of my party and the country to stand down.”

He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee and, in a primetime address from the Oval Office, told Americans the “best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.”

USA TODAY has debunked numerous claims related to Biden’s exit:

-BrieAnna Frank

Biden's health, mental acuity still a concern for Democrats

Democrats had grown more and more distressed about the mental health of Biden, 81, following his messy performance in the June presidential debate against former President Donald Trump. Though Biden and his team initially attempted to brush off concerns about his debate performance, calling it "a bad night," the president eventually succumbed to growing pressure from Democrats to withdraw from the 2024 election.

But even after ending his reelection campaign, social media users have continued to speculate about Biden's health. Some Trump allies went so far as to speculate that the president had died or was in hospice care after he failed to appear in public following a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Though the president has insisted his health is sound and said he would complete his term, his actions and comments continue to be closely analyzed and sometimes misrepresented online.

USA TODAY has debunked numerous false claims about Biden’s mental acuity and physical stamina:

-Hannah Hudnall

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USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic convention: Fact-checking Biden, Clinton on opening night

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