https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/09/facebook-posts/many-more-criminal-indictments-under-trump-reagan-/
RELATED: Read all of PolitiFact’s coverage on Donald Trump indictments
A Facebook post claimed that there have been 317 criminal indictments in the administrations of three recent Republican presidents — Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon — and only three indictments under three recent Democratic presidents — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Here’s what the post said about those presidents, whose terms date back to 1969 when Nixon was in office:
"Recent administrations with the MOST criminal indictments:
Trump (Republican) — 215
Nixon (Republican) — 76
Reagan (Republican) — 26
"Recent administrations with the LEAST criminal indictments:
Obama (Democrat) — 0
Carter (Democrat) — 1
Clinton (Democrat) — 2
"Notice a pattern?"
Unless an administration official is charged with a crime for acts while in office, it’s not always easy to identify which indictments can be connected to a presidential administration; some administration officials have been indicted for acts in the private sector, some indicted people were involved in presidential campaigns but didn’t work in the administration, etc.
This claim exaggerates the number of indictments under Trump, in particular, by counting the number of criminal charges filed, rather than the number of people indicted; and it includes the indictments of people who are not part of his administration, such as 25 Russians.
On the whole, however, the indictments under the three GOP presidents do dwarf those under the three Democrats.
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