AP News70%
FACT FOCUS: Trump blames Minnesota governor for cyberattacks against the state. Cites no evidence 26%
By MELISSA GOLDIN31%
7/31/2026, 12:50:39 PM
Topics: Fact Check, Cyberattacks, Minnesota, Tim Walz, Donald Trump, Iran, Prescription Drugs, Immigration, Wars
Keywords: Tim Walz, Donald Trump, Minnesota, Joe Biden, Cybercrime, Maryland, Iran War, Fact Check Trump Minnesota Prescriptions Immigration, Elon Musk, Utilities, Iran, Politics, Consumer Prices, Prescription Drugs, Health Care Costs, Immigration, United States Government, U S Federal Bureau Of Investigation
BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Hasty Generalization, with Burden of Proof as the most egregious example at 23.3% saturation with 118 hits. Analysis detected 524 faulty-reasoning hits from 506 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 33% and a BS Rank of 26% (19,126 of 25,754 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.30% of the article peer group.
President Donald Trump is claiming, without evidence, that recent cyberattacks in Minnesota were the fault of the state, including Democratic Gov.
Tim Walz.
Trump also repeated myriad false claims that have become part of his regular talking points, about topics such as immigration, foreign conflicts and prescription drug prices.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
TRUMP, on cyberattacks in Minnesota: “I think that Minnesota is behind it.
You know who’s behind it?
Minnesota.
Because they’re grossly incompetent.
I think the governor is behind it.
I don’t think there was an Iranian cyber attack.”
THE FACTS: Authorities have not yet publicly identified the source of cyberattacks targeting over 30 water systems in Minnesota on Sunday and Monday.
However, the attacks came as security authorities have warned that Iranian hackers have been focused on targeting such systems.
The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies said in an advisory last week that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and the operational controls of other critical infrastructure sectors.
Trump offered no evidence for blaming Minnesota, including Walz in particular, who have been at odds with the White House on immigration enforcement and other issues.
Asked for evidence to support Trump’s allegations, the White House referred to his comments at the Cabinet meeting.
Cynthia Kaiser, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division and current senior vice president of Halcyon’s Ransomware Research Center, told The Associated Press that Iran has the “geopolitical motivations” and a recent history of targeting water systems.
She added: “I think most credible researchers and responders would be right to treat it like it’s Iran until proven otherwise.”
TRUMP: “The prescription drugs were going through the roof for many years, and now we’re getting record discounts with price differences of 300, 400, 500, 600%.”
THE FACTS: This is impossible, and a claim Trump makes often.
Although the Trump administration has taken steps to lower drug prices, cutting them by more than 100% would theoretically mean that people are being paid to take medications.
Geoffrey Joyce, director of health policy at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center, said last year that this claim is “total fiction” made up by the president.
He agreed that it would amount to drug companies paying customers, rather than the other way around.
TRUMP: “I ended eight wars.”
THE FACTS: This statistic, which Trump cites frequently as one of his accomplishments, is quite exaggerated.
Although he has helped mediate relations among many nations, his impact isn’t as clear-cut as he makes it seem.
In at least two instances of peace he claims credit for achieving, there were no wars to end.
The conflicts Trump counts among those he has solved are between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Jamie Stengle contributed to this report.
Analysis
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