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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

12,754 published reviews in this topic

PolitiFactPolitics & government

Says Donald Trump mocked "someone with a disability."

Publisher’s rating: True

Research from related reporting concerns Trump’s 2015 campaign-rally encounter with New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who had a disability. One account says Trump “jerked his arms and flailed his hands while making fun of the reporter’s palsy-like ailment.” Another describes Trump as having used a “hand waving ‘mocking’ gesture” during the controversy. These excerpts support the claim that Trump mocked someone with a disability; they do not come from the PolitiFact review itself. The reporting also describes Trump’s explanation. He denied knowing Kovaleski had a disability, and one commentator argues that Trump’s target was instead Kovaleski’s response to an article Trump invoked about alleged celebrations in New Jersey after the September 11 attacks. That account does not negate that Trump made the gesture or that it was perceived and reported as mocking Kovaleski; it offers a different account of Trump’s intent. The supplied excerpts do not include the original video or the PolitiFact review’s investigation, so they cannot establish further details about the footage or how PolitiFact reached its rating.