POLITIFACT WEEKLY: GRADING TRUMP'S COGNITIVE TEST CLAIM, This week: The Iran War on view in the Senate… Concert on the National Mall is shrinking… No property tax for 60% of FL homeowners under DeSantis plan?… That video of Trump’s name being removed from the Kennedy Center… ‘Tofu Talarico’? There’s no meat to this Texas race talking point 4JUN26

 

Grading Trump’s cognitive test claim

Cognitive test Trump took screens for signs of dementia, not intelligence levels President Donald Trump recently celebrated what he called an "extremely good" medical examination. In a May 31 Truth Social post, Trump wrote: "The results of my Physical Examination, taken at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, and just released, were extremely good. Unlike other U.S. Presidents, none of whom have ever taken an approved, high difficulty, Cognitive Test, I scored a perfect 30 out of 30, considered ‘extreme intelligence.’ Are the Dumocrats really surprised? In fact, this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or, 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! It is very rare that anyone gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row. All people running for President and Vice President should be forced to take high difficulty Cognitive Tests. Congress, and the Dumocrats, should demand it! President DONALD J. TRUMP" We’ll have to take Trump’s word for it that he scored a 30 out of 30 on the test, which medical experts believe — based on Trump’s own descriptions — is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. (When we asked the White House whether that was the test Trump took, a spokesperson did not dispute it.) Trump reportedly also took the test in 2018 and twice in 2025. But medical experts said Trump inaccurately described the test as measuring intelligence. Instead, it aims to detect signs of cognitive impairment; if the score is low enough, then further testing is recommended. "The test measures cognition," including attention, concentration, language, memory, abstract thinking and calculation skills, said Ziad Nasreddine, a Quebec-based neurologist who created the 10-minute Montreal Cognitive Assessment in 2005. "Cognitive function is correlated with IQ. But the test was not designed to detect the genius level of cognitive performance. It's meant to reassure that cognitive functions are normal." Patients might have to read a list of words and recall them; repeat a list of numbers forward and backward; subtract a one-digit number repeatedly starting from 100; repeat a sentence; draw comparisons between two objects; and know the time of day and their location. Trump garnered attention in 2020 when he told Fox News, "It's like you'll go: Person, woman, man, camera, TV. So they say, ‘Could you repeat that?' So I said, ‘Yeah. So it's person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ ‘Okay, that's very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points.’" (Nasreddine has said that the test has never included that series of words, nor another example Trump has cited involving a giraffe, tiger and whale.) Scores from 26 to 30 are considered normal. Scores below 26 are considered to reflect some form of cognitive impairment, with the degree of impairment increasing as the score drops. Neither Nasreddine nor Ishani Ganguli, a Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine and a primary care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said they would describe the test as "high difficulty," as Trump did.  "A 30/30 score would suggest normal cognitive function, meaning no evidence of cognitive impairment or dementia," Ganguli said.  Neither expert offered specific data on whether a 30 out of 30 is "very rare," but from their own experience, the frequency of a 30-point score is somewhere between "relatively uncommon," as Nasreddine estimated, and "somewhat common," as Ganguli said. "It has to be sufficiently hard to detect early-stage cognitive disorders, and not too hard to decrease the risk of false positives," Nasreddine said. We rate the statement False. — Louis Jacobson

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Fact-checks of the week Talarico attacks Paxton on plea deal arrangement: U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has accused his competitor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, of being lenient on people who sexually abuse children. On May 28, Talarico’s campaign posted a social media ad on X, stating, "Adam Hoffman abused a little boy for 3 years. He should have faced life in prison — but Ken Paxton and his wealthy lawyer friends let Hoffman off the hook." The statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it Mostly True. Adam Dean Hoffman, a Waco attorney, was charged in 2022 with a felony, continuous sexual abuse of a child. The trial ended in a hung jury. State prosecutors in Paxton’s office agreed to a plea deal in which Hoffman pleaded guilty to misdemeanors that did not require him to register as a sex offender. In a signed, written confession, Hoffman said he touched the victim’s genitals with the "intent to arouse or gratify my sexual desire" without the victim’s consent. The war abroad and in Congress: We live fact-checked Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. Rubio faced questions about the U.S. war against Iran, including Trump’s dismissal of high gas prices as “peanuts,” the cost of the war and the status of Iran’s navy. The Secretary of State said “the war is over.” Trump announced a ceasefire in April, but has threatened Iran while negotiations continue. Over three months, Trump has offered contradictory explanations for the war’s timeline and purpose and the status of a peace deal. New Freedom 250 setlist just dropped: Plans for a National Mall concert series celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary fell apart, leaving behind canceled performances and scathing Truth Social posts. On May 27, Freedom 250 — a public-private partnership tasked with celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary — announced a lineup of nine musical acts that would perform June 25 to July 3 in the nation’s capital. But in the days that followed, the majority of the named performers bowed out, with most saying they feared the event had become politicized. The performances had been envisioned as anchor events for "The Great American State Fair" concert series, part of a festival that would showcase the culture and history of every state and six U.S. territories, alongside livestock competitions and a Ferris wheel, Axios reported. Here’s a rundown of how Freedom 250 has evolved. What to know about US military boat strikes as death toll passes 200 Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean during a Senate hearing June 2, saying the Defense Department determined the strikes’  legality and based its decisions on intelligence information. "Every strike has a legal officer on the deck that has to make a determination about whether the call is legal or not, and this is done by the Department of War, the way it's been done in other theaters around the world," Rubio said in response to a question from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., about the criteria to target boats. The U.S. military on May 30 struck another boat it said was engaged in "narco-trafficking operations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men and increasing the total death toll to 205 people.  The U.S. Southern Command shared footage on X of the boats being blown up, but provided no evidence that the boat was involved in narcotrafficking.  The U.S. military started attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela on Sept. 2; the Trump administration has said it’s part of an effort to thwart drug smuggling. The U.S. has since struck at least 59 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. In October, President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels and designated some as terrorist organizations.  How many drugs have been seized? Are the strikes legal? Here’s a rundown of our recent fact-checks and stories about the boat strikes. — Maria Briceño Would Ron DeSantis’ plan exempt 60% of Florida homeowners from property taxes? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his long-awaited plan to overhaul the state’s property tax system, saying it would initially eliminate property taxes for 60% of Florida homeowners.  DeSantis’ proposal calls for raising Florida’s threshold for taxing primary residences, or homestead properties, from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028.  This would erase property taxes on primary homes assessed at these values or less. For homes valued at more than $250,000, only the amount above $250,000 would be taxable.  Under the plan, the Legislature would create a schedule to raise the exemption to $500,000 and above, eventually eliminating property taxes on primary homes at any value. Critics said the proposal is a watered-down version of DeSantis’ promise to immediately eliminate all homestead property taxes. DeSantis said the plan has a better chance of passing. "A $250,000 limit — that eliminates property tax for 60% of Florida homeowners," DeSantis said May 27. Raising the threshold to $500,000 means 92% of all homes would be tax free, he said. DeSantis’ figures about how many Florida homeowners would benefit from the plan don’t line up with publicly available state data that breaks down the market values of Florida’s primary homes. The September 2025 data from the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research shows that about 28% of Florida’s homestead properties have a just value (or market value) of $250,000 or below. About 76% of homestead properties are valued at $500,000 or below, although DeSantis said 92% of homes would be exempt from taxes at that price level.  Amy Baker, coordinator at the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, told PolitiFact that Florida's existing property tax reduction programs and exemptions have to be considered to accurately calculate which residences would no longer pay property taxes under the plan.   Florida voters approved the Save Our Homes program in 1992, which caps annual increases on primary residences' taxable value at 3%, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Florida residents also can qualify for property tax exemptions available to military veterans, active-duty military, first responders, low-income senior citizens and disabled people. After those things are calculated, Baker said, the value that is taxable is "just a fraction of the total" value. DeSantis’ plan still has to pass the Legislature by a three-fifths majority and then be approved by 60% of Florida voters in November. The center-left Florida Policy Institute estimated that dropping property taxes on all primary homes would cost local governments about $18.5 billion, which breaks down to $7.8 billion for counties, $3 billion for cities and $7.7 billion for school districts. — Samantha Putterman Quick links to more fact-checks & reports  Three Democrats vying for the U.S. Senate nomination in Michigan sparred over foreign policy, campaign finance and state business development during a May 28 primary debate. We fact-checked their statements. Should you be taking vitamin supplements? Before you spend your money, follow these five steps to find out whether you really need it, or if your body will simply flush it out. Social media users shared a video of workers removing President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center. It was generated with artificial intelligence.  Editor-in-Chief Katie Sanders will be back in your inbox next week. Have questions or ideas for our coverage? Send us an email. Thanks for reading!  Ellen Hine PolitiFact Senior Audience Engagement Producer Send this link to your friends so they can sign up for this email!