Facts Matter: Trump administration has cut science jobs, research funding
During a speech last month at George Washington University, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took a question from a student at the school.
“(We see) that the administration is cutting a lot of funding for medical research and firing a lot of people within the medical department,” the student said.
Kennedy said that was wrong and they are only “cutting bureaucrats.”
“We’re not cutting science. We’re not cutting research,” Kennedy said during the Nov. 17 event.
But that’s not accurate, according to PolitiFact. There are many reports of halted research and clinical trials that countered this claim.
Hundreds of National Institutes of Health, or NIH, grants were cut.
“NIH is taking action to terminate research funding that is not aligned with NIH and HHS priorities,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard told KFF Health News in April.
ProPublica reported that more than 70 researchers were unable to finish projects because grants were terminated. And 30 researchers had to end clinical research and trials when the grants were cut.
In May, the New York Times reported that the funding cuts stopped more than $800 million in research into cancers and viruses that are known to affect LGBTQ minority groups.
During the speech, Kennedy said if programs were incorrectly cut, he would restore them.
Scott Delaney, one of the scientists who started Grant Witness, a group that tracks the Trump administration action against scientific research grants, told PolitiFact that nearly 52% of the terminated and frozen grants have been restored. But about 2,500 programs remain terminated.
But cutting and restoring the funding hurts the research.
“When grants are reinstated, scientists can’t go back in time to collect data that they missed,” Delaney told PolitiFact. “You can’t go back and get a blood sample from six weeks ago.”
Photo of first lady with Epstein is AI
Posts circulating on social media appear to show first lady Melania Trump kissing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the cheek.
“What a travesty! Trying to say our First Lady had ANYTHING to do with this Epstein guy!” read the text on one Instagram post. It then included a surprised face emoji and the words, “ … never mind.”
The image has been around for months and has also been shared on X, Facebook, Bluesky and Threads.
But this post is fake, according to Snopes. The image was created using artificial intelligence, or AI.
There are no credible media outlets that have reported that the photo is real.
Although AI-detection tools provided mixed results, the photo appears to have been manipulated. The image of Epstein’s features doesn’t match other authentic photos of him, Snopes said.
Not illegal to show ID
Elon Musk, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, recently posted about voter ID laws.
“America should not have worse voter ID requirements than every democratic country on Earth,” Musk wrote on X. “California and New York actually banned use of ID to vote! It is illegal to show your ID in those states. The only reason to do this is fraud.”
But this is false, according to The Associated Press.
Guidance for poll workers in California and New York states that voters need to show an ID when registering to vote, but it is otherwise not required. It’s not illegal to show an ID.
“There is nothing unlawful about that voter presenting a form of photo identification at a poll site in addition to fulfilling the signature verification requirement outlined in the state’s constitution,” Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections, told the AP. “In fact, in some counties, voters are allowed to scan their license in an effort to expedite the looking up of their voter record on the e-pollbook, but this cannot be legally required.”
A spokesperson for the California secretary of state’s office told the AP, “California law does not prohibit a voter from voluntarily presenting their identification.”
Photo is miscaptioned
A Nov. 18 X post appears to show a police officer aiming his gun at a dog laying in the street.
“The world is staying silent in the face of the atrocious massacre of dogs in Morocco. The king ordered the elimination of ALL dogs ahead of the 2030 World Cup (3 million street dogs),” read the text on the post. “Methods: Shooting them in the streets; Poisoning; Burning alive; Drowning in cages.”
The photo is real, according to Reuters, but it is miscaptioned. The photo, credited to photographer Asaad Mouhsin, is from 2008 and was taken in Iraq.
Animal rights groups in Morocco have said 3 million stray dogs are in danger of being killed before the 2030 FIFA World Cup. But a Moroccan official denied that claim.
A spokesperson from Morocco’s Interior Ministry told Reuters the claim they will kill 3 million stray dogs is “entirely baseless.”
The spokesperson said authorities were not killing dogs but were using ethical methods to manage the stray dogs.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.