Fox News hosted the Republican primary debate in Iowa on Jan. 28. Presidential candidates Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Rand Paul participated in the event, while Donald Trump did not attend. Candidates made the following statements throughout the debate, and The Current staff determined the verdicts after heavy research of reputable sources. Full transcripts of the debate can be found online at The Washington Post, CBS News and other sources.
* “[The Department of Veteran Affairs has] given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired.” –Jeb Bush, on veteran care
o As reported by USA Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gave more than $142 million to executives and employees in 2014. Many of the employees and executives who received the bonuses were found guilty of over-prescribing drugs and of mismanagement of employees and projects. Eric Shinseki, VA secretary in 2014, announced before his resignation that he would suspend the bonuses, as employees were also creating false wait lists to meet quotas to ensure they received cash bonuses. However, Shinseki only applied this announcement to senior-level executives. As of February 2015, only three executives were fired from their positions, and only one of those three, Director of Central Alabama’s VA James Talton, was officially related to the VA scandal, as reported by The Washington Post. Unfortunately, deaths also occurred as a result of over-prescribing drugs. One veteran, former Marine Cpl. Jason Simcakoski, died in 2014 from multiple drug toxicity, as reported by Military Times. At the time, Simcakoski was in a psych ward in Tomah, Wisconsin, and was given 14 medications, including tramadol, an opioid painkiller.
o VERDICT: True.
* “Right now, Barack Obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. He’s not arming the Kurds. We need to define the enemy. We need to rebuild the military to defeat the enemy.”—Ted Cruz, on why he voted against the Defense Authorization Act
o As of November 2015, the U.S. conducted approximately 6,353 airstrikes against ISIS over the course of 15 months, as reported by MSNBC. This number equates to approximately 15 airstrikes a day. As far as arming the Kurds, an Iraqi ethnic group located around cities controlled by ISIS, the government, is, in fact, supplying arms and assistance to the Kurds. However, these supplies cannot be handed directly to the people; they must go through the Iraqi government first. According to Politifact, the U.S. has supplied more than three million pounds of material to the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government. But because the Kurds are not an independent nation, the U.S. has to designate all the supplies through the Iraqi government, as required by the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control act.
o VERDICT: Misleading. While the U.S. is conducting that number of airstrikes, the government is also supplying the Kurds with supplies.
* “And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole, and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor.”—John Kasich, on why he rejects the establishment label
o According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s monthly report in December, Ohio has created approximately 400,700 private sector jobs since Kasich took office in 2011.
o VERDICT: True.
* “And [Iowans] asked about [Hillary Clinton’s] email situation. And here’s what she said to the American people — she did it for convenience, for her convenience. She put America’s secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience.”—Chris Christie, on the Democratic town hall meeting in Iowa
o In the Democratic Town Hall meeting on Jan. 26, Clinton was asked about the email scandal. In response, she said, “You know I had no intention of doing anything other than having a convenient way of communicating, and it turned out not to be so convenient. I’m not willing to say it was an error in judgment because what — nothing that I did was wrong. It was not; it was not in any way prohibited.”
o The scandal is that Clinton, while serving as secretary of state, used her personal email account on a private server rather than a State Department account, giving her control over her records. While past secretaries of state used private emails, Clinton is the only one to have conducted official business via email on a server she created specifically for her home. Having a private server under her control allows her the opportunity to permanently delete emails and other information.
o VERDICT: True.
* “Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It’s hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times.”—Marco Rubio, on ISIS
o As far as the attacks in San Bernardino on Dec. 2, it was never confirmed, nor denied, that the attacks were based on radicalism. According to CNN reports, the police department and FBI have not found an official tie to ISIS; they say that the case seems to be evident of self-radicalization, rather than radicalization due to ISIS affiliation.
o ISIS follower Edward Archer shot the police officer in Philadelphia. Though the shooter said, “I follow Allah. I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State and that’s why I did it,” government officials have not confirmed that the incident was an act of terrorism.
o VERDICT: Misleading. Though there are incidents of radicalized Muslims attacking people in the U.S., it has not been confirmed that these incidents are directly related to ISIS.
* “I’ve supported legislation to allow body cameras. I’ve been to Ferguson. I’ve been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death.”—Rand Paul, on why technology isn’t being used to protect communities
o According to The Washington Times, Rand Paul has supported Kentucky state and local law enforcement in obtaining body cameras as part of piloting programs intended to reduce complaints against police officers.
o As reported by Politifact, the revenue from fines and public safety in 2012 was $2.2 million out of a budget of $19.5 million, which means that approximately 11 percent of the budget was used for fines. For the 2015 fiscal year, the Justice Department reported an expected $3.09 million collection in fees, fines and costs, which would only be about 23 percent of the expected $13.26 million revenue.
o VERDICT: Partly true. While Paul actively supports body camera programs in police departments, his statement about Ferguson was incorrect.
