TRUTH TEST: Trump touts China travel ban, criticizes Biden on refugees

The response to the coronavirus pandemic by President Donald Trump’s administration has been harshly criticized by Democrats and some public health officials. It will clearly be a major factor in the 2020 presidential election.

But in a new ad from President Trump’s campaign, he touts a major step he took in January to try to stem the tide of the virus in the early stages.

"Cut off travel from China, the source of the virus," the ad says. "Joe Biden criticized, politicized, attacked President Trump’s leadership."

It is true that on Jan. 31 Trump issued a travel ban on most people traveling from China to the United States 10 days after the first COVID case was reported in Washington state.

KSTP Truth Tests

It’s also true Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus back then. One day after the president’s executive order, Biden tweeted, "We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia and fear-mongering."

The tweet did not specifically criticize the president’s travel ban, although he did accuse him of being xenophobic.

"And what does Biden now propose while the pandemic still smolders around the globe?" the ad goes on to say. "Increasing refugees by 700% from the most unstable, vulnerable, dangerous parts of the world."

This is also true. In a statement released on "World Refugee Day" in June, Biden wrote, "As President, I will increase the number of refugees we welcome into this country, setting an annual global refugee target of 125,000 — up from a ceiling of 18,000 under Trump — and will seek to further raise it over time…"

However, it should be noted Biden did not specifically mention refugees from Syria, Somalia or Yemen as the ad suggests.

Because this ad is mostly true but does mislead and exaggerate with some assertions, it gets a "B" on the "Truth Test."