Fact Checking Nikki Haley's DeSantis Lies Website

12 Jan 2024

The New York Times

Fact Checking Nikki Haleys DeSantis Lies Website

During this week’s debate in Iowa, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, tirelessly promoted a website to fact-check Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. We took a closer look, and here’s what we found.

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Haley Created a Site to Fact-Check DeSantis. It Could Use More Context.

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Nikki Haley repeatedly directed viewers to a website purporting to fact-check Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “lies” during a debate Wednesday.Credit...Maansi Srivastava/The New York Times

Jan. 11, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET

More than a dozen times during Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, directed viewers to a website purporting to correct what she called Ron DeSantis’s “lies.”

But the Haley campaign’s website is itself a political project — not an exercise in objective fact-checking.

The site does point to independent fact-checking to help push back on claims twisting Ms. Haley’s positions on things like Gaza refugees and to clarify her comments about being motivated to run for office by a speech made by Hillary Clinton, despite their political differences.

But there are key differences between Ms. Haley’s effort and an independent fact-checking operation. The website, for example, doesn’t directly quote Mr. DeSantis or cite the specific comments being rebutted. It also deems a “lie” some statements that don’t actually contain checkable facts.

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