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Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
The news cycle doesn’t slow down, and neither does The Bulwark. Bulwark Takes brings you bite-sized takes on the news of the day from the entire Bulwark team, including Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Bill Kristol, and more.
28 claims · Clear filters
False88% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Todd M. Lyons serves as the Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Said by AAs of the claim's date (2026-09-05), Todd Lyons no longer served as acting ICE director: he was in the role from March 2025 to May 31, 2026, and David Venturella had replaced him. The claim's present tense is therefore contradicted, though the post's reference to a past range visit may have been to an earlier period when he did hold the post.Mixed80% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026The judges for Kelly Loeffler's business competition are Nicki Minaj and Grant Cardone.The SBA's own August 31, 2026 announcement confirms Nicki Minaj and Grant Cardone as judges of its Million Dollar Pitch Competition, but it names a third judge, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, so the claim that the judges are only Minaj and Cardone is incomplete. The passage's claim also matches the rest of the coverage in the sources, and the 'Mickey' misspelling is trivial.True95% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Fox News announced that Maria Bartiromo is no longer hosting her show.Said by AFox News Media announced on September 3, 2026 that it was parting ways with Maria Bartiromo, and her shows were renamed or handed to rotating hosts, so the claim holds as of the September 5 posting date. The post says the announcement came 'yesterday' (September 4), but the sources date it to Thursday, September 3; that timing detail is peripheral and does not change the verdict. Her attorney disputed reports that she was fired or no longer working at Fox, but that dispute does not contradict Fox's announcement.True90% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Fox News paid almost a billion dollars in legal settlements.Said by BMultiple tier1 and tier2 sources (AP, Reuters, BBC, NPR, NBC, CNN) confirm Fox agreed in April 2023 to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion's defamation suit, which is 'almost a billion' in the loose sense the post used. The claim's 'legal settlements' plural is a minor imprecision; the sources document one settlement, not several, but the core assertion of nearly a billion dollars in settlement payments holds.True95% confidence6 sourcesSep 5, 2026Fox News paid a 787,500,000 dollar settlement to Dominion.Said by BMultiple tier1 and tier2 sources (AP, Reuters, BBC, NPR, NBC, CNN) report that Fox News and Fox Corp agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle the defamation lawsuit in April 2023, averting a trial. The post called the payment 'fines,' but the claim's 'settlement' is the accurate label for the same $787.5 million payment, so the extraction does not add a new fact.True90% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Maria Bartiromo interviewed Sidney Powell regarding Dominion voting software.Multiple tier1/tier2 sources (NPR, CBS, NYT, Deadline, Iowa Public Radio, AP) report that Maria Bartiromo hosted Sidney Powell on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures around November 8, 2020 and discussed Dominion software and voting irregularities, which matches the claim; the scripted exchange quoted in CBS and Deadline confirms the Dominion-software framing. The claim is an accurate paraphrase of the passage's referents (Sydney = Sidney Powell, Dominion software), and the sources also document that the content was debunked, but the claim itself only asserts the interview occurred on this topic.True95% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Maria Bartiromo has left Fox Business and Fox News.Said by AMultiple tier1 sources, including Reuters and AP, report that Fox News Media parted ways with Maria Bartiromo effective September 3, 2026, ending her roles at Fox Business and Fox News. The post's spelling "Bartram" is resolved to Bartiromo by the post's title and the other sources, and the claim does not depart from the passage.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True85% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Mike Huckabee tweeted that Maria Bartiromo is a hardworking journalist and class act.Said by AMultiple sources quote Huckabee's X post calling Bartiromo the "smartest hardest working journalist" and "absolutely class act," so the claim matches the tweet. The claim drops "smartest" but that is a benign omission, and the extraction does not add anything the post says.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True95% confidence7 sourcesSep 5, 2026The Inspector General for the Department of Labor released an investigation into former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.Said by AThe DOL Office of Inspector General released an investigation report on former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, reported by AP, NBC, NPR, and Politico and listed on the OIG's own findings page. The post's 'today' corresponds to a release that sources date to Thursday, September 4, 2026, a minor detail that does not affect the core claim.True85% confidence5 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer traveled to Oregon for personal reasons between April 15 and April 20, 2025.Said by AMultiple sources, including the Labor Department inspector general report as reported by AP, ABC, and others, describe Chavez-DeRemer's personal travel to Oregon in April 2025. The New Republic quotes the IG report giving the exact dates as April 15–20, 2025, which matches the claim.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True90% confidence8 sourcesSep 5, 2026Lori Chavez-DeRemer visited an establishment featuring partially nude dancers during her April 2025 trip to Oregon.Said by AMultiple independent tier1 and news sources report the DOL Inspector General report stating that during her April 15-20, 2025 personal travel to Oregon, Chavez-DeRemer requested an off-the-record stop at an establishment featuring partially nude dancers, and the claim's core assertion matches this. The claim is a faithful paraphrase of the passage; the report's findings are the IG's allegations, but the claim only asserts the visit occurred as the report describes, which the sources report consistently.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.True70% confidence5 sourcesSep 5, 2026Rebecca Wright, Deputy Chief of Staff to Lori Chavez-DeRemer, relocated an employee's desk because she did not want a fat person visible in the front office.Said by AThe DOL Office of Inspector General report, released September 4, 2026, alleges that Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright relocated an employee's desk because she did not want a 'fat person' visible in the front office, based on witness accounts. Multiple outlets repeat this account, no source disputes this specific incident, and Wright declined to be interviewed, so the claim is supported as the report's finding of witness-reported conduct rather than as an independently verified fact. The claim drops the word 'reportedly' from the report's wording, which is a faithful paraphrase.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.