Last night's debate may be the first time that millions of Americans have paid attention to the presidential campaign this year,

and they heard a lot of claims that have been familiar refrains on the campaign trail, not all of them true.

To help put it into context, we turn to Samantha Puterman of Politi.

Sam, thanks so much for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

So let's take some of these debate topics one by one starting with the economy and

inflation. Donald Trump said that President Biden caused inflation and

that the cost of food doubled and quadrupled.

While President Biden says that Trump's proposed 10% tariffs

would cost the average American $2,500 a year.

Help us understand what's true.

Right. So on Trump's claim that Biden inherited inflation, that's mostly false.

When Biden was inaugurated, inflation was about 1.4%, but that was shaped by the still

weak economy during the pandemic.

As pandemic conditions improve,

the economy accelerated, leading to inflation,

peeking at 9%, about a year and a half

into his presidency.

That was the highest in about four decades.

But economists say that his relief pan did

exasperate inflation, but he didn't single-handedly cause it. And on Trump's

claim that you know food costs is double, triple, and quadruple, we found that to be

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