Donald Trump distorts the facts in a recent op-ed in which he says Sen. John McCain has "abandoned our veterans" and "failed the state of Arizona and the country."

Trump said McCain authored legislation "to cover up the VA scandal," claiming the bill "made sure no one has been punished" at Veterans Affairs for falsifying data to mask long delays for care at VA hospitals. But VA officials have been punished, and the bill expanded the VA secretary's power to discipline employees for misconduct. Trump claimed "1,000-plus veterans died waiting for medical care" in the scandal, but an independent government report said it was "unable to conclusively assert" that delays caused veterans' deaths. The 1,000 figure comes from a news report on the number of wrongful-death payments involving veterans who received inadequate VA care.

He said McCain has made the U.S. "less safe," citing as evidence the fact that McCain "even voted for the Iran Nuclear Review Act of 2015," which gave Congress the right to vote on the Iran nuclear deal. Trump doesn't mention that the bill passed the Senate 98-1. Trump goes too far when he distorts and obscures facts to fit his narrative.

Photo is worth one word: False

Not all photos are real. A new super PAC supporting Sen. Ron Johnson's re-election bid released a TV ad July 22, 2015, that praises the Wisconsin Republican while criticizing President Barack Obama on Iran. A still image used in the ad, funded by the suburban-Chicago based Restoration PAC, purports to show Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. There is no record of them meeting in person.

Planned Parenthood becomes clearer

Several Republican presidential candidates have claimed that Planned Parenthood is "profiting" from abortions. But the unedited video they cite shows a Planned Parenthood executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research. Four experts in the field of human tissue procurement told FactCheck the price range discussed in the video - $30 to $100 per patient - represents a reasonable fee. "There's no way there's a profit at that price," said Sherilyn J. Sawyer, the director of Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital's "biorepository." Republicans made their claims after the release of a secretly recorded video showing Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood, discussing the procurement of fetal tissues when conducting abortions. The edited video, released July 14 by an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress, leaves the impression that Nucatola is talking about Planned Parenthood affiliates making money from fetal tissue.

Chip Tuthill is a longtime Mancos resident. Websites used: www.factcheck.org and www.politifact.com.