TV News LIES

President Trump delivered the first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday night. The speech gave Trump the opportunity to tout accomplishments and outline his agenda for his administration's second year.

It comes at at time when Americans are divided on whether Trump's first year has been a success. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that six in 10 believe the country is worse off than last year and that a majority think the state of the union is not strong.

Reporters from across NPR's newsroom are fact checking his speech and offer context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy. (Newest fact checks show up first below.)

By topic: Immigration | Foreign policy | Economy | Energy | Government | Health | Crime

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A top Senate Democrat alleged on Tuesday that FBI director Kash Patel’s personal travel and decision-making have undermined high-profile investigations, citing a whistleblower report.

Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, wrote in a letter to two government watchdogs that Patel has “seemingly engaged in what amounts to irresponsible joyriding on DoJ and FBI-operated aircraft at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of ongoing bureau operations”.

A whistleblower told Durbin’s staff that the FBI’s shooting reconstruction team was delayed in responding to the Utah university where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September because of a pilot shortage caused by Patel’s personal travel.

Pilots had to complete a mandatory rest period before flying the team of investigators, tasked with analyzing and reconstructing shooting scenes, to Utah, according to Durbin’s letter. Reuters could not independently verify the whistleblower’s claims.

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A federal judge has prohibited the justice department from searching electronic devices it seized from a Washington Post reporter, ruling that the court will search the devices for documents related to a national security investigation itself.

In his ruling, magistrate judge William Porter criticized the Trump administration for omitting relevant case law in its application for a search warrant to seize the devices in the first place, but acknowledged “the possibility that classified national security information may be among the seized material” complicated the matter.

On 14 January, the FBI raided the home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials. A self described “federal government whisperer”, Natanson has also reported on federal employees who were laid off by the Trump administration during Elon Musk’s Doge cuts – developing nearly 1,200 confidential sources from across 120 government agencies.

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A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

In a Monday ruling, Minnesota District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud required the federal government to compensate the detainee, identified only as “Fernando T.,” for his return flight to Minnesota.

Tostrud noted that Fernando, a Mexican citizen, was released from the Texas detainment facility in late January without his belongings and said federal officials “have not explained why they withheld Fernando’s belongings when they released him.”

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Pennsylvania Democrats are projected to win two special elections for state House, keeping their majority intact, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Democrats Ana Tiburcio and Jennifer Mazzocco won their Tuesday elections to represent  Pennsylvania House Districts 22 in Lehigh County and 42 in Allegheny County, respectively.

The seats were vacated after former state Rep. Josh Siegel (D) was elected as Lehigh County executive and  ex-state Rep. Dan Miller (D) won a spot on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. 

Democrats were expected to keep both blue-leaning seats. But the party risked a tied 100-100 state House if they were to have come up short, which would have complicated Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) ability to pass his legislative priorities in the Keystone State.

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Last month, Colleen Fagan was observing an immigration enforcement operation at an apartment complex in Portland, Maine, when federal agents scanned her face with a smartphone and appeared to record her car license plate number.

In a social media video she recorded, Fagan can be heard asking why the agent was taking her information. What the agent said next made the video go viral.

"Cause we have a nice little database," the masked agent said. "And now you're considered a domestic terrorist."

Fagan, who is a social worker, has now joined a federal class action lawsuit that argues the Department of Homeland Security and a number of its sub-agencies are violating the First Amendment and are taking actions "designed to chill, suppress, and control speech that they do not like."

"A federal agent called me a domestic terrorist just because I recorded agents operating in public in my community. But I have a right to do that, and so do others," Fagan said in a statement. "I want people to know how important it is to use our First Amendment rights to observe and document what is happening. Peaceful dissent is not a crime."

Though Fagan's video went viral, her full name had not been widely publicized until this lawsuit.

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