Both candidates offered up new campaign ads on Wednesday — Donald Trump released a television ad online just after 9 a.m., while Clinton released a new web ad just after 10 a.m.
We took a looked at both ads, side by side, and fact checked every line.
Here's what we found.
Hillary Clinton's new web ad: “The Final Countdown”
Clinton’s ad accurately splices recent Trump remarks and Tweets, with pundits deriding his actions as a "meltdown," among other things.
It's largely opinion — the ad's claims are all subjective, but credited to pundits who make subjective claims — but the ad does use some cherry picking and editing to further its point.
During a discussion of Trump's spat with the GOP establishment, the ad shows Trump saying he's “never been more ashamed of his country."
The natural assumption is that he's frustrated at his party and the political establishment. But when he made the remarks during a Pennsylvania rally on Monday, Trump was condemning Clinton — not his party or the political elite that the ad describes at the moment.
“When I said we are gonna get a special prosecutor to figure this deal out,” he said on Monday. “I have never been so ashamed of this country as what's gone on with Hillary Clinton.”
Donald Trump's latest television ad: "Corruption"
Trump’s ad alleges widespread corruptions with limited proof. His allegations rely heavily on circumstantial evidence, and include a number of falsehoods. Let’s take it line by line:
“So how did Hillary end up filthy rich? Pay to play politics. Staggering amounts of cash poured into the Clinton Foundation from criminals, dictators, countries that hate America."
Bill and Hillary Clinton grew their wealth with lucrative book advances and paid speeches, as do nearly all political families after leaving office. The suggestion that they profited from their foundation is inaccurate: Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton do not take a salary from the foundation.
“Hillary cut deals for donors, sold out American workers, exploited Haitians in need.”
Clinton met with many of her foundation's donors while she was secretary of state; the frequency of those meetings has raised questions, but there’s no proof she cut any deals to benefit them.
Trump has routinely argued that her role advocating for and aiding in the talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership “sold out American workers,” but the bill has not been ratified and Clinton said she opposes the trade agreement in its final form and does not want to enact it.
The suggestion that she “exploited Haitians in need” jumps to some harsh conclusions from the questions raised by an ABC News report that showed Clinton allies were given preferential treatment as part of the disaster recovery efforts in Haiti. There’s no indication that anyone profited or secured treatment from these ties. The Foundation insists that aides marked some “FOB and WJC VIPs” — friends of Bill, and William Jefferson Clinton VIPs — to designate who had a history in disaster relief.
“She even gave American uranium rights to the Russians.”
The State Department was one of nine agencies — including nuclear regulators, state and federal agencies — that approved the sale of one American Uranium producer to the Russians, so she had a hand in approving the sale but she did not give it away.
