Glenn Kessler

Washington, D.C.

The Fact Checker

Education: Brown University, B.A. in history; Columbia University, M.A. in international affairs

Glenn Kessler has been editor and chief writer of The Fact Checker since 2011, making him one of the pioneers of political fact-checking. In a journalism career spanning more than four decades, Kessler has covered foreign policy, economic policy, the White House, Congress, politics, airline safety and Wall Street. He was The Washington Post’s chief State Department reporter for nine years, traveling around the world with three secretaries of state. Before that, he covered tax and budget policy for The Washington Post and also served as the newspaper’s national business editor. He joined the Po
Latest from Glenn Kessler

Trump appears to have misled Gold Star families on troop deaths in Afghanistan

Trump frequently suggests, as he did in a TikTok filmed at Arlington Cemetery, that an 18-month period without hostile-fire deaths took place entirely in his presidency.

September 4, 2024
(Joe Lamberti for The Washington Post)

Pro-Trump group attacks Harris for murder that took place 14 years ago

The ad features a mother who also appeared in a Trump 2016 campaign ad concerning illegal immgration

September 3, 2024
Laura Wilkerson, mother of a teenager killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2010, in an ad sponsored by the pro-Trump group Preserve America PAC.

Trump and Vance’s false and misleading rhetoric on tariffs

American consumers, not foreign countries, pay most of the cost of tariffs, though estimates vary on the increase.

August 30, 2024
(Kate Medley for The Washington Post)

Vance repeats a bogus Trump claim on ‘factories’ debunked years ago

The figure he cites doesn’t actually refer to factories. And Biden’s record on this front is better anyway.

August 28, 2024
Vice-presidential nominee JD Vance speaks at a rally at Middletown High School in Middletown, Ohio, last month. (Luke Sharrett for The Washington Post)

Trump’s ad attacks Harris for a tax program that doesn’t exist

A campaign ad claims she “unleashed” IRS agents on workers who receive tips, but the proposal in question was never implemented.

August 26, 2024
Former president Donald Trump speaks about “No Tax on Tips” at Il Toro E La Capra restaurant in Las Vegas on Friday.

Fact-checking Kamala Harris at the Democratic convention on Day 4

Harris errs on Trump’s Social Security record and twists a Trump quote on Russia.

August 23, 2024

Fact-checking Day 3 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention

Speakers made claims about Project 2025, Trump’s tax cuts, and job creation under post-Cold War presidents.

August 22, 2024

Fact-checking Day 2 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention

Mostly thematic speeches left relatively few claims to check from the roster of speakers at the DNC convention on Tuesday night.

August 21, 2024
Former president Barack Obama takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.

Fact-checking Day 1 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention

Speakers said that Trump called for injecting bleach, wrote love letters to dictators and advocated that women be punished for abortion, among other claims.

August 20, 2024
President Joe Biden as he took the stage before delivering his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday. (Joe Lamberti for The Washington Post)

No, every Trump budget did not seek to cut Social Security and Medicare

The Democrats misleadingly label good-government proposals, mostly borrowed from Obama, as budget cuts affecting seniors.

August 19, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to supporters in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday.