AP FACT CHECK: Distortions from a week of wild disruption

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis Friday cut short the week's political arguing and even quieted his Twitter account for a time. But the wild presidential debate produced plenty of distortions in the campaign for the election a month away. Here's a review:

HEALTH INSURANCE

TRUMP: “We guaranteed preexisting conditions.”

THE FACTS: That’s not true. Protections for people with preexisting conditions are not guaranteed by Trump’s recent executive order, even though the president has said that’s “affirmed, signed, and done, so we can put that to rest.”

If the Supreme Court overturns Obamacare as unconstitutional, Congress and the president would have to enact legislation to replace the health law’s guarantee that people with medical problems can’t be denied coverage or charged more on account of a health condition.

Various Republican proposals debated in 2017 as replacements for Obamacare would have weakened the law's standard. For example, one idea would have required people to maintain continuous coverage in order to avoid a surcharge on their premiums for an individual policy.

Trump’s order states that his administration is committed to ensuring affordable care to people with preexisting illness — but it does not bring that protection into effect. The order carried the general disclaimer that it is “not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural.” In other words, it is symbolic.

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PROTESTS

BIDEN: “His own former spokesperson said, you know, riots and chaos and violence help his cause. That’s what this is about.”

TRUMP: “I don’t know who said that.”

BIDEN: “I do.”

TRUMP: “Who?”

BIDEN: “Kellyanne...