The Washington Post Fact Checker is calling out a Democrat attack ad against President Donald Trump for being misleading.
Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century released the ad on April 17. A voice-over says, “Trump gave China more than praise. He shipped China 17 tons of American masks and medical supplies. Our masks and supplies. Supplies we need now.”
The ad leaves viewers to believe the goods were owned by the government and sent over seas on Trump’s orders. The items sent to China were actually donations made by private charities and public companies for Project HOPE, an international health-care organization that has been operating in Wuhan for a quarter-century and helped establish a nursing school there, the Washington Post reports.
The newspaper's Fact Checker said the ad did not pass its "Pinocchio" test. It awarded the ad two pinocchios.
The State Department did supply planes that they said would have been empty anyway. The department sent charted planes to Wuhan to pick up some 800 consulate workers, their families and other Americans. The planes otherwise were going to be empty on the way to China, so officials decided to fill the jets with goods donated by Samaritan’s Purse, the Boeing Company, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Intermountain Healthcare, the newspaper reports.
Project HOPE said the shipment would have been made with or without the State Department’s help.
“Another FALSE ad by the Do Nothing Democrats,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Almost all of their ads are False or Misleading, and the Fake News loves it!
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.