Fact-checking Ruben Gallego and Kamala Harris’ speeches at the DNC in Chicago

CHICAGO (AZFamily) — Arizona’s Family Investigates fact-checked Rep. Ruben Gallego’s primetime speech during the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention. We also looked into claims made by Kamala Harris during her presidential acceptance speech.

It is part of our commitment to hold political candidates and elected officials accountable before, during and after elections.

Claim: Trump will abolish the US Department of Education and end early education

Fact Check: Context Needed ⚠️

Trump has proposed closing the U.S. Department of Education and has said he wants states to control education policy. However, Trump has not said whether he wants to eliminate other education programs such as Head Start and preschool.

Project 2025, which he has repeatedly distanced himself from, would eliminate most early childhood education programs and aims to make changes to Title I, which helps fund schools in low-income areas.

But Trump’s exact policy proposals haven’t gone into detail. Trump’s platform, called Agenda47, primarily explores curriculum changes and expanding the school choice program.

Claim: Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare

Fact Check: Mostly False ❌

Trump has repeatedly said he will not fix Social Security, and the proposed “cuts” to Medicare during his administration were largely carried over from the Obama administration and were intended to save money and extend the program.

Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but failed. Protections have been in place since the ACA was signed in 2010.

In 2020, Trump signed an executive order protecting people with pre-existing medical conditions from insurance discrimination.

In March, he said he didn’t want to repeal the ACA, but that he wanted to make it “much better.”

Trump has not said whether that means repealing or expanding Obamacare.

Claim: Trump will release prisoners on January 6

Fact Check: Mostly True ✅

Trump has repeatedly indicated that he wants to pardon those arrested in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

“We will look very, very seriously at a full pardon,” Trump told radio host Wendy Bell in 2022. “I mean a full pardon with apologies to many.”

When it comes to the term “violent,” Trump hasn’t said who would be pardoned or what crimes would be pardoned. In 2023, Trump said he would be “inclined to pardon a lot of them,” but he conceded that not everyone would be pardoned because he said “a few of them” were out of control.

Claim: Harris secured $20 billion foreclosure settlement when she was California’s attorney general

Fact Check: Mostly True✅

Harris helped secure the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement, which provided $18 billion plus another $2 billion to California residents in mortgage relief for homeowners facing foreclosure. But some experts say the money came too late for many and that she didn’t press bank executives aggressively enough.

Harris fully supported and praised the Homeowner Bill of Rights when it was signed in 2013.

Claim: Harris is tough on crime, targeting gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers

Fact Check: Context Needed ⚠️

Harris called herself a “progressive prosecutor” in her memoir and was widely criticized for her handling of criminal cases.

According to Axios, violent crime rates during her final year as California’s attorney general rose to their highest level in six years.

However, crime rates declined during her first four years in office, and as California’s district attorney, her office released a 100-page-plus report in 2014 on tackling transnational organized crime.

Claim: Gallego says Project 2025 will cut veterans benefits

Fact Check: Context Needed ⚠️

An official Project 2025 document outlines significant proposed changes to the way the Department of Veterans Affairs operates.

One of those changes involves lowering disability ratings that determine the severity of military service and related medical conditions, which ultimately determine compensation.

“The VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) has over time assigned disability ratings to a growing number of health conditions, some of which are vaguely related or not related at all to military service,” the Mandate for Leadership document states on page 649.

Some of these assessment awards would be revised for future claimants, the document said. It would “retain them in whole or in part for existing claimants.”

Some VA services that are “contrary to the principles of conservative governance” would be eliminated, such as abortion services and gender reassignment surgeries. Abortions are currently provided only in limited cases and circumstances, according to VA guidelines. Gender-affirming surgical procedures are excluded from VA medical benefits.

Claim: Gallego says Trump called John McCain a ‘loser’

Fact Check: True ✅

In 2020, Donald Trump said on Twitter that he was “never a big fan” of McCain. But claimed he never called him a loser.

However, at a 2015 event in Iowa, Donald Trump spoke about McCain and the 2008 presidential election, saying, “I never really liked him after that, because I don’t like losers.” At the same event, Trump said, “He (McCain) was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

He later also tweeted an article about that event, in which he said he called McCain a “loser.”

Claim: Biden/Harris Administration Has Provided Veterans with More Benefits and Lower Unemployment

Fact Check: Mostly True ✅

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, benefits have been provided to 1.1 million veterans and their dependents, an all-time record, and more than 2 million claims will be processed in 2024.

In April 2023, the unemployment rate for veterans fell to 2.1%, the lowest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking unemployment for this group in 2000.

It is unclear whether unemployment among veterans was previously lower or not.