President Trump and President Biden were fact-checked multiple times from the Presidential Debate. Here we go through the claims that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made during The Real Debate that his campaign hosted along side the CNN debate.
Economy
“President Trump came into office promising to balance the budget. Instead, he spent more money in office than every president in the United States history combined from George Washington from George W. Bush.”
“(President Biden) He’s already run up 6.3 trillion dollars in debt and by the time he leaves office he’ll have run up more than President Trump.”
Almost
Joe Biden has approved 6.2 trillion of new borrowing but has also approved 1.9 trillion in deficit reduction, amounting to a total of 4.3 trillion so far in his term.
“The interest alone on that debt is costing us more than our military budget.”
True
So far in 2024, 601 billion has been spent on the interest on the debt and 576 billion has been spent on National Defense.
Covid
“These two presidents shut down every business in our country. 3.3 million businesses with no due process, no just compensation.”
True and Almost
The NIH study that records this was analyzing this data found that 3.3 million businesses were closed in April 2020. This indicates that this happened under President Trump. According to the Federal Reserve, many, not all, closures remained until mid 2021.
“They shifted 4.3 trillion dollars upward to this new oligarchy of billionaires that he was talking about. They created a billionaire a day in 500 days.”
True – and some.
Many sources even show more than 4.3 trillion. This source shows 5 billion of wealth was shifted up during the pandemic.
“We ended up having the worst record of, body count, of any country in the world. We had 16% of the covid deaths under these two presidents. We only have 4% of the world’s population.”
True
According to John Hopkins data, we had the highest number of covid deaths than any other country at 1,123,836. Forbes wrote this when referencing that same data, “The U.S. has 4% of the world’s population but recorded 16% of Covid-19 deaths.”
Abortion
“I believe it should be limited, late term, should be limited. Absolutely. That’s what was permitted under Roe v Wade.”
True
During the debate, there was back and forth between the candidates about the limitations, if any, Roe v Wade provided. RFK Jr. is correct when he said that it limited late term abortions.
“That’s what every European country, has the same law.”
With one exception.
Poland only allows abortion in the cases where the life of the mother is at risk. There are five other countries that also ban abortion, but the average person would not consider them countries since they are the size of a small city. See image below.
“52% of abortions in this country, the woman says economic considerations played a key role in her decision.”
True
Percentages change drastically depending on what source you use. For example, this medical paper by Dr. Dawn Stacey lists “not financially prepared,” with 40% and, ‘unable to provide a “good” life,’ with 12%. This equals the 52% Kennedy was most likely referring to. According to this medical journal, 73% of women reported getting an abortion because they could not afford a baby. Point is, Kennedy is correct that a majority of abortions take place because of financial reasons.
“Every million dollars that we spend on weapons provides two jobs, creates two jobs. Every million dollars that we spend on childcare creates 22 jobs.”
The idea is true – more research is needed on the specific numbers.
Many sources conclude the idea that an investment in childcare creates more jobs than investments in defense do. However, I have had a difficult time trying to find the exact data Kennedy referenced to. According to Brown University, a one million investment in federal defense creates 6.9 jobs. They do not list childcare specifically, but they do list education which is usually tied into that. The same investment in elementary and secondary school creates 19.2 jobs.
Equitable Growth noted, “In one economic model, for example, fully subsidizing child care costs so that parents paid nothing rather than an average of $89 per week (in 2021 dollars) increased the rate of maternal employment from 37 percent to 87 percent.17“
Feel free to email info@kennedydebunked.com if you have any additional data.
Immigration
“I think almost everything that President Biden said I know to be, not to be true, including his claim that he was endorsed by the border patrol.”
True
During the debate, President Biden made the comment that the Border Patrol endorsed him. Kennedy then said he knew that was false, and that is correct. The Border Patrol Union posted during the debate, “To be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden.”
“You know the border, there’s been at least 7 million people who have come across the border. This is without the got aways which are another 2 million.”
True
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, total border encounters are at 8,280,550. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, there have been 1,849,515 gotaways between 2021 and 2023. According to the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives, they also estimate roughly 2 million gotaways under President Biden’s term.
“President Biden, when he became president, ordered a stop on the construction of the wall.”
True
On President Biden’s first day in office, he issued a proclamation to stop the construction at the border wall. The Biden administration is currently in litigation over this decision. Plaintiff’s argue that congress appropriated that money for the building of the wall and the executive branch does not have the authority to redirect those funds.
“The two laws that were changed under President Biden, the day they came in that catch-and-release law…”
Kennedy ran out of time during the middle of this statement. Because of that, I will not comment on the validity of it. I will, however, provide additional information.
On February 4th, 2021, President Biden issued a memorandum which essentially reinstated catch-and-release that was revoked under the Trump administration. On President Biden’s first day in office he signed executive order 13993. This order revoked an executive order from President Trump that enforced many aspects of the immigration law. This move is seen to have opened the border on Biden’s first day in office.
“We’re seeing rises in crime that are associated with the immigrants.”
True
The number of arrests have gone up in recent years according to the U.S. Customs and Border protection. Many people believe that crime rate among undocumented immigrants is much lower than U.S. citizens. However, there is competing data on this. The Department of Justice reports, “we observe considerably lower felony arrest rates among undocumented immigrants compared to legal immigrants and native-born US citizens.” This report is from 2020. On the other hand, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, “64% of all federal arrests were of non-U.S. citizens.” Because of this, I revert back to the U.S. Customs and Border protection.
“The border patrol takes, because they’ve been ordered to not to do their job, you know catch-and-release. They bring them to the Uma airport, put them on a plane to any destination they want… and they pay their ticket. They have an asylum court date seven years in the future.”
True
Dr. Phil interviewed the president of the Border Patrol Union and many border agents about this issue. If you do not believe Kennedy or Dr. Phil, listen to the agents who work at the border below.
Watch Part 1 on Dr. Phil here.
Watch Part 2 on Dr. Phil here.
Ukraine – Russia War
“Putin has been asking to settle this war from the beginning. In fact, he agreed to two separate treaties, the Minsk Accords in 2019. Which Zelensky ran in 2019 and ran promising to sign the Minsk Accords.
True
According to Geopolitical Economy, ‘When Zelensky ran for president, he had differentiated himself from Poroshenko by pledging to “reboot” peace negotiations with the Russian-speaking separatists in the east and “continue in the direction of the Minsk talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire”.’
“President Putin did not go into Ukraine intending to conquer Europe.”
True – at least that is what Putin says.
Tucker Carlson sat down for an interview with Putin in 2024. Tucker Carlson asked Putin, “Well the argument is, I know you know this, is that well, he invaded Ukraine he has territorial aims across the continent.” Putin responded with, “It is absolutely out of the question. You just don’t have to be any kind of analyst. It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war.”
“They negotiated a beautiful treaty in April of 2022. They signed the treaty. The one thing that Putin wanted was that we didn’t put NATO in Ukraine. He didn’t want to conquer Europe. They signed it. Putin was withdrawing his troops. And what happened, President Joe Biden sent Boras Johnson over to Kiav and forced Zelensky to tear up that agreement.”
True
According to the Russian News Agency, ‘”This happened only because the United States had put pressure on them and said that no negotiations must be held,” the secretary of Russia’s Security Council stressed.
Russia pulled out its forces from the Kiev and Chernigov areas. However, the negotiations on the peaceful settlement were totally frozen after that and, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said, Kiev gave up the accords reached in Istanbul.
In October last year, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky enacted a decision by the country’s National Security and Defense Council on banning any talks with Putin.’
The European Conservative states, “Russia was ready to end the war and withdraw its troops in exchange for Ukrainian neutrality just a few months after the invasion began and was refused partly because of ex-British PM Boris Johnson.”
“President Trump was part of it. President Trump gave the first 1.3 billion to Ukraine in 2017 of the first offensive weapons.”
False
According to Defense News, 1.5 billion has been sent to Ukraine from 2014-2019. President Trump eventually sent 400 million after originally stalling its release. This stalling ultimately got him impeached.
“Then he walked away from the intermediate range nuclear treaty with Russia unilaterally.”
True
According to BBC, the US formally withdrew from The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019.
