AP FACT CHECK: Democratic debate rhetoric under scrutiny
By Associated Press
Jul 31, 2019 8:31 PM CDT
AP FACT CHECK: Democratic debate rhetoric under scrutiny
From left, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Andrew Yang and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, are introduced before the second of two Democratic presidential...   (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten more Democrats jousted on a Detroit stage Wednesday in what was probably the last of the traffic-jammed, double-barreled presidential debates.

A look at the veracity of their rhetoric as the contenders fought not only to stand out to primary voters but to stay in contention for the winnowed-down debates to come:

KAMALA HARRIS, senator from California: "Right now in America, we have seniors who every day - millions of seniors - are going into the Medicare system."

THE FACTS: It's more like 10,000 people a day who turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare, which offers coverage for hospitalization, doctor visits, prescription drugs and other services.

Medicare covers more than 60 million people, including disabled people of any age.

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JOE BIDEN: "We should put some of these insurance executives who totally oppose my plan in jail for the 9 billion opioids they sell out there."

THE FACTS: The former vice president must have meant drug company executives, since insurance companies pay for medications — they don't sell them.

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MICHAEL BENNET, senator from Colorado, in a message directed at President Donald Trump: "Kids belong in classrooms not cages."

THE FACTS: The "cages" for young migrants at the border were built and used by President Barack Obama . The Trump administration has used them, too. He is referring to chain-link enclosures inside border facilities where migrants have been temporarily housed, separated by sex and age.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Colleen Long, Calvin Woodward and Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.

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