5 debunked hoaxes related to Donald Trump

2. Drinking bleach

During his widely-panned performance at the presidential debate in June, Biden mentioned the repeatedly debunked claim that Trump encouraged Americans to guzzle or inject bleach to combat COVID-19.

At a press conference during the height of the pandemic on April 23, 2020, Trump made an off-the-cuff remark about the potential efficacy of UV light to kill the virus, and floated the idea such light could somehow be brought "inside the body."

At no time during his comments did Trump advise anyone to drink or inject bleach, according to PolitiFact.

The hoax was perpetuated by major outlets such as Politico, which in 2021 ran with the headline: "It’s been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We’ve never been the same."

Trump never suggested that we drink or inject bleach to treat COVID-19.

He actually was questioning an experiment that was underway using UV light to disinfect the body in one minute.

Whatever happened to that treatment, anyway? ???? It must have worked. pic.twitter.com/2qsJvDjtKh

— SULLY (@SULLY10X) March 24, 2024

"So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it," he said. "And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way."

Trump went on to note that it could be worth researching whether disinfectants could also somehow be brought inside the body to target the virus.

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute," he said. "And is there a way we can do something like that? By injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because, you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me."