WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivered his usual bombardment of false claims 鈥 at least 20 in all 鈥 during a Monday conversation with billionaire supporter Elon Musk, which aired on Musk鈥檚 social media platform, X.

Most of the falsehoods uttered by the Republican presidential nominee were claims that have been repeatedly debunked before, some of them for years. They spanned a broad range of subjects, from immigration to the economy to foreign policy to Trump鈥檚 record in office to Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.

Here is a fact check:

Crime 

Trump claimed, 鈥淥ur crime rate鈥檚 going through the roof.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim is false. Both violent crime and property crime and . 

There are limitations to the FBI-published data from local law enforcement 鈥 the numbers are preliminary, not all communities submitted data and the submitted data 鈥 so these statistics may not precisely capture the size of the recent declines in crime. But other data sources declined to some extent.

The preliminary FBI data for 2023 a roughly and a roughly 6% decline in overall violent crime compared to 2022, bringing both murder and violent crime levels below where they were in Trump鈥檚 last calendar year in office in 2020. The preliminary FBI data for the first quarter of 2024 showed an even steeper drop from the same quarter in 2023 鈥 a roughly 26% decline in murder and roughly 15% decline in overall violent crime.

Crime data expert Jeff Asher, co-founder of the firm AH Datalytics, said earlier this year that if the final 2023 figures show a decline in murder of at least 10% from 2022, this would be the fastest U.S. decline 鈥渆ver recorded.鈥 And he noted that both the preliminary FBI-published data from the first quarter of 2024 and also 鈥渃rime data collected from several independent sources point to an even larger decline in property and violent crime, including a substantially larger drop in murder, so far this year compared to 2023, though there is still time left in the year for those trends to change.鈥

After Trump claimed in June that 鈥渃rime is so much up,鈥 , a political science professor and director of the at New York University, noted to CNN that the claim is contradicted both by the data from the FBI and from the , which represents 70 large U.S. police forces. She said: 鈥淚t would be more accurate to say that crime is so much down.鈥

Inflation

Trump said, 鈥淚 think we have the worst inflation we鈥檝e had in 100 years. They say it鈥檚 48 years, I don鈥檛 believe it.鈥

Facts First: Trump framed this as an opinion, but it鈥檚 baseless nonetheless 鈥 wrong in two different ways. First, even when the inflation rate , that 9.1% rate was the highest since 1981 鈥 between 40 and 41 years prior, certainly not 鈥100 years鈥 and not even 鈥48 years.鈥 Second, inflation has since the June 2022 peak, and the most recent available rate at the time he spoke, 鈥 a rate that, the Biden presidency aside, was .

Global warming and sea levels

Trump argued that the threat of the nuclear war is far more important than the threat posed by climate change. And he said: 鈥淭he biggest threat? It鈥檚 not global warming, where the ocean鈥檚 gonna rise one eighth of an inch over the next 400 years 鈥 and you鈥檒l have more oceanfront property, right?鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim about the pace of sea-level rise is wildly inaccurate. The global average sea level is currently rising more per year than Trump claimed that it will rise in 400 years. 

NASA in March that the current global average sea-level rise in 2023 was 0.17 inches per year, more than double the rate in 1993. And a World Meteorological Organization said the rate of sea level rise between 2014 and 2023 was about 0.19 inches per year.

In other words, sea level rise is already more than an eighth of an inch annually 鈥 and it is accelerating. NASA a jump of 0.3 inches in 2022.

, a University of California, Santa Cruz professor of earth and planetary sciences who studies sea-level rise, last year that Trump鈥檚 similar claims 鈥渃an only be described as totally out of touch with reality鈥 and that Trump 鈥渉as no idea what he is talking about.鈥

Sea levels rise by different amounts in different locations. For the U.S., sea levels are for the east coast and Gulf of Mexico coast 鈥 and Trump鈥檚 state of Florida, which is bordered by both of those coasts, is expected to be than many other coastal states.

In fact, Trump鈥檚 claims about sea levels are highly inaccurate for the area near Mar-a-Lago, which is on the Atlantic. Griggs noted in a June email that from the closest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide gauge to Mar-a-Lago shows an increase of an eighth of an inch roughly every nine months.

Trump has also  made the joke about rising seas creating more oceanfront property. In reality, rising sea levels are expected to have devastating consequences not only for many seafront properties but for areas further inland 鈥 rendering some communities uninhabitable and others more dangerous, increasing the frequency and reach of flooding, making hurricanes more destructive and damaging infrastructure and ecosystems.

The number of people listening to the conversation

Trump told Musk that 鈥測ou got a lot of people listening鈥 to the conversation 鈥 鈥渓ike 60 million or something.鈥 He then asked somebody what the number was, but he never corrected his initial estimate.

Facts First: Trump did express uncertainty about the number, but his 鈥渓ike 60 million or something鈥 claim is false. At the time he made this remark, public data on X showed that there were 1.1 million accounts listening to the conversation. 

Trump appeared to be referring to something different: the number of views on his own X post sharing the 鈥渟pace鈥 where the conversation was played. But the vast majority of the accounts that viewed the post did not actually listen to the conversation.

Harris and prisoners

Trump claimed of Harris: 鈥淪he wants to release all the prisoners that are in detention, and some of these guys are really bad. That just came out today.鈥

Facts First: This is false. There is no basis for the claim that Harris 鈥渨ants to release all the prisoners that are in detention.鈥 Trump appeared to be referring to in conservative media that reported that Harris had in 2019, while unsuccessfully running in the Democratic presidential primary, that she . 

Even if Harris continues to hold this position today 鈥 she has not addressed the subject since she began her presidential campaign in July 鈥 closing privately-run immigration detention centers would not result in the release of 鈥渁ll鈥 prisoners in immigration detention, let alone all prisoners in regular U.S. jails and prisons; Trump did not specify that he was talking about Harris鈥 past stance on certain immigration detention facilities rather than all prisons.

It鈥檚 possible Trump had been misled himself; a short shared by some Republicans on social media this week did not include the part of Harris鈥 2019 remarks where she specified that she was referring to privately run immigration detention facilities in particular.
But articles by Fox News and correctly noted that this was what she said.

Harris鈥 immigration role

Trump claimed of Harris: 鈥淪he was the border czar, and people can鈥檛 allow them to get away with their disinformation campaign. Now, she鈥檚 saying she wasn鈥檛 really involved 鈥 she was totally in charge.鈥

Facts First: This is false. Harris was never made Biden鈥檚 鈥渂order czar,鈥 a label the White House has always emphasized is inaccurate, and was never 鈥渢otally in charge鈥 of the border; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is the official in charge of border security. In , Biden gave Harris a more limited immigration-related assignment in 2021, asking her to lead diplomacy with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in an attempt to address the conditions that prompted their citizens to try to migrate to the United States.

Some Republicans have scoffed at assertions that Harris was never the 鈥渂order czar,鈥 noting on social media that news articles sometimes Harris as such. But those articles were wrong. , , reported as early as the first half of 2021 that the White House emphasized that Harris had not been put in charge of border security as a whole, as 鈥渂order czar鈥 strongly suggests, and had instead been handed a diplomatic task related to Central American countries.

A White House 鈥渇act sheet鈥 in July 2021 : 鈥淥n February 2, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order that called for the development of a Root Causes Strategy.
Since March, Vice President Kamala Harris has been leading the Administration鈥檚 diplomatic efforts to address the root causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.鈥

Biden鈥檚 own comments at a March 2021 event announcing the assignment were slightly , but he said he had asked Harris to lead 鈥渙ur diplomatic effort鈥 to address factors causing migration in the three 鈥淣orthern Triangle鈥 countries (he also mentioned Mexico that day). Biden listed factors in these countries he thought had led to migration and said that 鈥渋f you deal with the problems in-country, it benefits everyone.鈥 And Harris鈥 comments that day were focused squarely on 鈥渞oot causes.鈥

Republicans can fairly say that even 鈥渞oot causes鈥 work is a border-related task. But calling her 鈥渂order czar鈥 goes too far.

Venezuela, crime and migration

Trump claimed: 鈥淰enezuela 鈥 their crime is down 72%. They鈥檙e taking their drug dealers.
They鈥檙e taking 鈥 frankly, their prisoners, they鈥檙e emptying out their prisons. They鈥檙e taking their criminals, their murderers, their rapists and they鈥檙e delivering them鈥︹

Facts First: Trump greatly overstated the Biden-era decline in crime in Venezuela, at least according to the limited statistics that are publicly available. And while it is certain that at least some criminals have joined law-abiding Venezuelans in a from the country amid the economic crisis of the last decade, there is no proof Venezuela has deliberately emptied prisons for migration purposes or intentionally sent ex-prisoners to the United States.

Right-wing website Breitbart published a vague 2022 about a supposed federal intelligence report warning Border Patrol agents about freed violent prisoners from Venezuela who had then joined migrant caravans. But this supposed claim about Venezuela鈥檚 actions has never been corroborated; experts have told CNN, and that they know of no proof of any such thing having happened.

鈥淲e have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying its prisons or mental health institutions to send them outside the country, in other words, to the U.S. or any other country,鈥 Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, an independent organization that tracks violence in the country, said in an email to CNN in June.

Venezuela鈥檚 government does not publish reliable official crime statistics, so it鈥檚 hard to get a complete picture. But Briceño-León鈥檚 group publishes annual data on violent deaths, which includes homicides, police killings and deaths still under investigation. It found a in the number of violent deaths from 2021 to 2023.

That鈥檚 substantial, but not 鈥72%.鈥 Briceño-León noted in his email that you could find a decline of roughly 70% by 2023 if you compared 2018 to 2023 鈥 but Trump was U.S. president until early 2021.

And crime trends in any country always have a complex mix of causes; Venezuela is . Briceño-León argued that while migration has been a factor in the decline, crime has dropped in large part because the economic crisis has reduced opportunities for crime.

鈥淏ank robberies disappear because there is no money to rob; kidnappings decrease because there is no cash to pay the ransoms; robberies on public transportation stop because travelers have no money in their pockets and old cell phones [with] no value,鈥 he said.

Migration numbers

While talking about illegal immigration, Trump claimed that, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, 鈥測ou have millions of people coming in a month.鈥

Facts First: This is false. There has not been any month under the Biden-Harris administration where even close to 鈥渕illions鈥 of people entered the country illegally. In the peak month during this administration for what the government calls border 鈥渆ncounters,鈥 December 2023, nationwide. Even if you factor in so-called 鈥済otaways,鈥 people who evaded the Border Patrol to sneak into the country, there is no basis for the claim that 鈥渕illions鈥 of people are entering in a single month.

The number of nationwide encounters was 205,019 in June, the last month for which data is currently available to the public.

Migration numbers, part two 

Trump said of migration under Biden and Harris: 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 over 20 million people came into our country, many coming from jails, from prisons, from mental institutions, or a bigger version of that is insane asylums.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 鈥20 million鈥 figure is false, a major exaggeration. The total number of 鈥渆ncounters鈥 nationwide from February 2021 through June 2024, at both legal ports of entry and in between those ports, 鈥 and an 鈥渆ncounter鈥 does not mean a person was let into the country; some people encountered are . In addition, there is no basis for Trump鈥檚 claim that 鈥渕any鈥 of these migrants have come in from jails, prisons or mental health facilities.

Even if you added the estimated number of Biden-era 鈥済otaways鈥 (people who evaded the Border Patrol to enter illegally), which House Republicans was nearly two million, 鈥渢he totals would still be vastly smaller than 15, 16 or 18 million,鈥 Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute think tank, said in late June after Trump used those figures.

The 鈥渆ncounters鈥 figures can鈥檛 be described as figures on people successfully entering the U.S. Some encounters involve people who . Also, the same person can be 鈥渆ncountered鈥 multiple times if they keep returning to the border to try again 鈥 which is under Biden when the Title 42 rapid-expulsion authority invoked by Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic was in place .

In 2023, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung cited one source for Trump鈥檚 claim about prisons being emptied for migration purposes 鈥 the Breitbart article that has not been corroborated. Even if Venezuela in particular had indeed freed prisoners to allow people to try to migrate to the U.S., that would be insufficient proof for Trump鈥檚 claim that some substantial number of Biden-era migrants are from prisons.

Migration and 鈥榯he Congo鈥

Trump repeated a claim he has made before about 鈥渢he Congo鈥 and migration, again without specifying whether he was referring to the Democratic Republic of Congo or the neighboring Republic of Congo.

He said: 鈥淔rom Africa, from the Congo they鈥檙e coming, from the Congo. And, 22 people came in from the Congo recently and they鈥檙e murderers. And they drop 鈥榚m. They take 鈥榚m out of jails 鈥 which is very expensive, you know, to maintain the jails 鈥 they don鈥檛 do too much maintaining, I can tell you. But they take 鈥榚m out of jails, prisons. They take 鈥榚m out, and they bring them to the United States.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim is baseless. Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, plus both pro-immigration and anti-immigration organizations in the U.S., , after Trump made a similar claim, that they had not seen any evidence of Congolese prisons being emptied, let alone evidence of either country somehow having brought ex-prisoners into the U.S. Trump鈥檚 presidential campaign and an allied super PAC did not respond to requests to provide any evidence. A CNN search of two media databases turned up no evidence. 

鈥淓verything he is saying isn鈥檛 true,鈥 Democratic Republic of Congo spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe told CNN in a text message in March. Asked specifically about Trump鈥檚 claims about Congolese prisons being emptied of violent criminals, he said, 鈥淣ever ever, it鈥檚 not true.鈥 And, he said, 鈥渨e want him to stop鈥 telling these stories, since 鈥渋t鈥檚 very bad for the country.鈥

Serge Mombouli, the Republic of Congo鈥檚 ambassador to the U.S., said in an email to CNN in March: 鈥淭here is no truth or any sign nor a single fact supporting such a claim or statement.鈥

There were also some Congolese migrants apprehended at the U.S. border . You can read a more detailed fact check .

Deportations to Central America

Trump repeated a story he has told on numerous previous occasions about how, during President Barack Obama鈥檚 administration, it was impossible to deport violent criminals to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

鈥淚n the case of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, some others, you couldn鈥檛 get 鈥榚m back 鈥 under Obama, you couldn鈥檛 get 鈥檈m back,鈥 he said. He repeated, 鈥淭hey wouldn鈥檛 take 鈥檈m back for Obama.鈥

Facts First: This claim remains false. In 2016, Obama鈥檚 last calendar year in office, none of these three countries were on the of countries that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) considered 鈥渞ecalcitrant鈥 (uncooperative) in accepting the return of their citizens from the U.S.

The Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, noted to CNN in 2019 that in the 2016 fiscal year, ICE that Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador ranked second, third and fourth for the country of citizenship of people being removed from the U.S. The same was true in the which encompassed the end of Obama鈥檚 presidency and the beginning of Trump鈥檚. ICE did not identify any widespread problems with deportations to these countries.

ICE officials said there were some exceptions to the three countries鈥 general cooperativeness, but Trump鈥檚 general declaration that the countries were uncooperative was never true.

The legitimacy of the 2020 election 

Trump repeated his usual lie about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, saying his opponents have attempted to persecute him through the courts even though he did 鈥渘othing wrong鈥 and merely complained about a 鈥渞igged election.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim about the election remains false. The 2020 election was not rigged, Trump lost fair and square to Biden by an Electoral College margin of 306 to 232, his opponents did not cheat and there is no evidence of any fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state.

We鈥檒l leave aside Trump鈥檚 subjective claims about his legal cases.

Europe and aid to Ukraine 

Trump again claimed that European countries are not pulling their weight with regard to aid to Ukraine. He said, 鈥淲ith Ukraine, so we鈥檙e in for $250 billion and they鈥檙e in for about $71 billion.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim is false. Through June, European countries had committed and provided more aid to Ukraine than the U.S. had during and just before the Russian invasion began in early 2022, according to from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy think tank in Germany.

The Kiel Institute, which closely tracks aid to Ukraine, that, from late January 2022 (just before Russia鈥檚 invasion in February 2022) through June 2024, the European Union and individual European countries had committed a total of about $205 billion to Ukraine, in military, financial and humanitarian assistance, compared to about $108 billion committed by the U.S. Europe also exceeded the U.S. in aid that had actually been 鈥渁llocated鈥 to Ukraine 鈥 defined by the institute as aid either delivered or specified for delivery 鈥 at about $121 billion for Europe compared to about $82 billion for the U.S. 

The U.S. led Europe on military aid that had actually been allocated, but very narrowly 鈥 about $56.42 billion to $56.35 billion.

It鈥檚 important to note that it鈥檚 possible to come up with different totals using different methodology. But Trump鈥檚 claim that the U.S. has committed or provided far more aid than Europe is not true regardless.

Trade with Europe

Trump claimed, 鈥淚f you build a car in the United States, you can鈥檛 sell it in Europe. You just can鈥檛 sell it. It鈥檚 impossible.鈥

Facts First: It鈥檚 not true that it鈥檚 impossible to sell a U.S.-made car in Europe.

According to a December 2023 from the European Automobile Manufacturers鈥 Association, the EU is the second-largest market for U.S. vehicle exports 鈥 importing 271,476 U.S. vehicles in 2022, valued at nearly 9 billion euro. (Some of these are vehicles .) The EU鈥檚 Eurostat statistical office that car imports from the U.S. hit a new peak in 2020, Trump鈥檚 last full year in office, at a value of about 11 billion euro.

Iran and funding for terror groups

Touting his record in dealing with Iran, Trump claimed, 鈥淭hey had no money for Hamas, they had no money for Hezbollah, they had no money for any of these instruments of terror.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim that Iran had 鈥渘o money鈥 for terror groups during his presidency is false. Iran鈥檚 funding for these groups in the second half of his administration, in large part because his on Iran had a on the Iranian economy, but the funding never stopped entirely, as . Trump鈥檚 own administration said in 2020 that Iran was continuing to fund terror groups including Hezbollah. 

The Trump administration began imposing sanctions on Iran in , pursuing a campaign known as 鈥.鈥 But Trump-appointed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said himself in 2020 that Iran was continuing to fund terror groups.

鈥淪o you continue to have, in spite of the Iranian leadership demanding that more money be given to them, they are using the resources that they have to continue funding Hezbollah in Lebanon and threatening the state of Israel, funding Iraqi terrorist Shia groups, all the things that they have done historically 鈥 continuing to build out their capabilities even while the people inside of their own country are suffering,鈥 Pompeo said in a May 2020 interview, according to a .

Trump could have fairly said that his sanctions on Iran had made life more difficult for terror groups (though it鈥檚 ). Instead, he continued his .

You can read a more detailed fact check from June .

China鈥檚 purchases of Iranian oil

Trump repeated his familiar claim that he successfully pressured China into no longer buying oil from Iran.

鈥淚ran was broke because I told China, 鈥業f you buy from Iran鈥︹ Oil, it鈥檚 all about the oil, that鈥檚 where the money is. 鈥樷f you buy oil from Iran, you鈥檙e not going to do any business with the United States.鈥 And I meant it, and they said, 鈥榃e鈥檒l pass,鈥 and they didn鈥檛 buy oil.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 claim is false. China鈥檚 oil imports from Iran did briefly plummet under Trump in 2019, the year the Trump administration , but they never stopped 鈥 and then they rose sharply again while Trump was still president. 鈥淭he claim is untrue because Chinese crude imports from Iran haven鈥檛 stopped at all,鈥 Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler, a market intelligence firm, said in November, when Trump made a similar claim.

China鈥檚 official statistics of Iranian crude in Trump鈥檚 last partial month in office, January 2021, and also none in most of Biden鈥檚 first year in office. But that doesn鈥檛 mean China鈥檚 imports actually ceased; industry experts say it is widely known that China has used a variety of tactics to mask its continued imports from Iran.
Smith said Iranian crude is ; ships may travel from Iran with their transponders switched off and then turn them on when they are near Malaysia, Smith said, or .

Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said in a November email: 鈥淐hina significantly reduced its imports from Iran from around 800,000 barrels per day in 2018 to 100,000 in late 2019. But by the time Trump left office, they were back to upwards to 600(000)-700,000 barrels.鈥

Trump鈥檚 tax cuts

Trump repeated his regular claim that his signature tax cuts, in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, were 鈥渢he largest tax cut鈥 ever provided.

Facts First: Trump is . Analyses have found that his tax cut law was not the largest in history, either in percentage of gross domestic product or in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The act made numerous permanent and temporary changes to the tax code, including reducing both corporate and individual income tax rates.

In a , the federal government鈥檚 Congressional Budget Office looked at the size of past tax cuts enacted between 1981 and 2023. It found that two other tax cut bills were bigger 鈥 former President Ronald Reagan鈥檚 1981 package and legislation signed by former President Barack Obama that extended earlier tax cuts enacted during former President George W. Bush鈥檚 administration.

The CBO measured the sizes of tax cuts by looking at the revenue effects of the bills as a percentage of gross domestic product 鈥 in other words, how much federal revenue a bill cut as a portion of the economy 鈥 over five years. Reagan鈥檚 1981 tax cut and Obama鈥檚 2012 tax cut extension were 3.5% and 1.7% of GDP, respectively. Trump鈥檚 2017 tax cut, by contrast, was estimated to be about 1% of GDP.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog group, found in 2017 that the framework for Trump鈥檚 tax cuts would make them the fourth largest since 1940 in inflation-adjusted dollars and the since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product.

Military equipment and Afghanistan

After talking about the state of U.S. military equipment, Trump said, 鈥淲e gave $85 billion of it back to Afghanistan, if you can believe it. We gave them $85 billion.鈥

Facts First: Trump鈥檚 $85 billion figure is false. While a significant quantity of military equipment that had been provided by the U.S. to Afghan forces was indeed abandoned to the Taliban upon the U.S. withdrawal, the Defense Department has that this equipment had been worth about $7.1 billion 鈥 a chunk of the roughly $18.6 billion worth of equipment provided to Afghan forces between 2005 and 2021. And some of the equipment left behind was rendered inoperable before U.S. forces withdrew.

As other fact-checkers have previously , the 鈥$85 billion鈥 is a rounded-up figure (it鈥檚 closer to $83 billion) for the total amount of money Congress appropriated during the war to a fund supporting the Afghan security forces. A minority of this funding was for equipment.

The situation before 'Right to Try'

Trump claimed that before he signed a 鈥淩ight to Try鈥 law in 2018 to give terminally ill patients easier access to experimental medications that haven鈥檛 yet received approval from the Food and Drug Administration, such patients would have no recourse if they did not have the money to travel abroad.

He said: 鈥淵ou know, people 鈥 if they had money, they鈥檇 go to Asia, they鈥檇 go to Europe. If they don鈥檛 have money, they鈥檇 go home and die. That鈥檚 what happened, they鈥檇 go home and die.鈥

Facts First: It is not true that terminally ill patients would simply have to go home and die without any access to experimental medications or would have to go to foreign countries seeking such treatments until Trump signed the Right to Try law. Prior to the law, patients had to ask the federal government for permission to access experimental medications 鈥 but the government almost always said yes.

Scott Gottlieb, who served as Trump鈥檚 FDA commissioner, Congress in 2017 that the FDA had approved 99% of patient requests under its own 鈥渆xpanded access鈥 program.

鈥淓mergency requests for individual patients are usually granted immediately over the phone and non-emergency requests are generally processed within a few days,鈥 Gottlieb testified.

The Biden administration and Trump鈥檚 legal cases

Trump repeated a claim he has made on numerous occasions during his campaign 鈥 that the Biden administration orchestrated a criminal election subversion case that was brought against him by a local district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, a criminal fraud case that was brought against him by a local district attorney in Manhattan, and a civil fraud case that was brought against him by the attorney general of New York state.

Facts First: This is false. There is no evidence that Biden or his administration were behind any of these cases. None of these officials reports to the president or even to the federal government.

Attorney General Merrick Garland to Congress in early June about the Manhattan case in which Trump was found guilty: 鈥淭he Manhattan district attorney has jurisdiction over cases involving New York state law, completely independent of the Justice Department, which has jurisdiction over cases involving federal law. We do not control the Manhattan district attorney. The Manhattan district attorney does not report to us. The Manhattan district attorney makes its own decisions about cases that he wants to bring under his state law.鈥

As he did in his conversation with Musk, Trump has a lawyer on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg鈥檚 team, Matthew Colangelo, while making such claims; Colangelo left the Justice Department in 2022 as . But there is no evidence that Biden had anything to do with Colangelo鈥檚 employment decision. Colangelo and Bragg were colleagues in the New York attorney general鈥檚 office before Bragg was elected Manhattan district attorney in 2021.

CNN鈥檚 Tami Luhby and William Montes contributed to this article