AP FACT CHECK: Trump's baseless claim of 'deep state' at FDA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is leveling unfounded attacks on his Food and Drug Administration and distorting the science on effective treatments for COVID-19.

Heading this week into the Republican National Convention, he asserted that the agency is slow-walking vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus in a bid to undermine his November reelection effort. There’s no evidence of that, and one of his former FDA commissioners on Sunday rejected the accusation as groundless.

Trump also suggested anew that hydroxychloroquine is a proven and effective treatment for the coronavirus. It isn’t. And Sunday evening, he announced emergency authorization to treat COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma, a step he hailed as a historic breakthrough even though the treatment's value has not been established.

His weekend torrent of false and misleading claims follows a Democratic National Convention in which Joe Biden and his allies spun an assortment of facts to their benefit, omitting inconvenient truths such as Barack Obama’s record of aggressive deportations and swift action by a Republican president to save the auto industry more than a decade ago.

A look at the past week's rhetoric, also covering the Pledge of Allegiance, the U.S. Postal Service and more:

CORONAVIRUS

TRUMP: “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” — tweet Saturday.

THE FACTS: No one has produced evidence that anyone at the FDA is delaying any treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus.

During the pandemic, Trump has frequently contradicted or undercut the...