Daniel Dale (born March 28, 1985) is a Canadian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

known for rebutting a large number of claims made by

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

during his

2016 presidential campaign This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

and

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. Dale credits an encounter with

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Mayor

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

while covering the mayor and his brother Doug for the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' as the inspiration for developing his brand of adversarial journalism. He went on to serve as the ''Star''s Washington bureau chief from 2015 to 2019. In June 2019, Dale was hired by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

to contribute to a regular "Facts First" column in ''CNN Politics''. Dale was a frequent contributor during the Trump administration, appearing or being mentioned on CNN more than once a day on average, though his appearances and commentary on the veracity of claims sharply declined during the succeeding administration.

Early life and education

Daniel Dale was born to a Jewish family and raised in

Thornhill, Ontario Thornhill is a suburban district in the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Canada, split between the City of Vaughan (its western portion) and the City of Markham (its eastern portion), with Yonge Street forming the municipal boundary. T ...

. He earned a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Schulich School of Business The Schulich School of Business is the business school of York University located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The institution provides undergraduate and graduate degree and diploma programs in business administration, finance, accounting, busine ...

. During his time at university, Dale became interested in journalism, and he wrote for campus publications and applied for journalism internships.

Career

2010–2014: Covering Rob and Doug Ford

After graduating from university, Dale joined the ''

'' in 2008''.'' Dale worked for the ''Star'' as their

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened i ...

reporter and bureau chief, covering the administration of Mayor

and his brother Doug from 2010 to 2014. In May 2012, Dale investigated a potential purchase of public lands near Rob Ford's home when Dale and Ford had an incident. According to Ford, a neighbor had informed him that someone was taking pictures over the back of his fence, which prompted him to confront Dale. Dale denied Ford's version of the incident, saying that he had not come within 10 feet of the mayor's property. He said that Ford was "extremely agitated" and had frightened him into leaving behind his mobile phone and digital recorder at the scene of the incident. The police later announced that no charges would be filed in the incident. In December 2013, Ford accused Dale of taking pictures of Ford's children on his property in the previous incident; Dale denied the accusation, saying that he had never taken any photographs of Ford's family, which was corroborated by a police investigation. Ford later retracted the accusations, stating "there was absolutely no basis for the statement I made about Mr. Dale taking pictures," in response to Dale launching a lawsuit against him. After a lengthy apology from Ford, Dale dropped the lawsuit. Dale later stated that the incident inspired him to take up fact-checking, telling ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' in 2020: "The ''Star'' let me write a column headlined 'Rob Ford is lying about me and it’s vile,' and I started thinking after that, if I can say 'lie' about something concerning me, why can’t I say that about other lies? That was a big moment." In 2014, Dale fact-checked the candidates of that year's Toronto mayoral election.

2015–present: Tenure as ''Toronto Star'' Washington bureau chief and move to CNN

In 2015, Dale traveled to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, to serve as the Washington bureau chief for the ''Toronto Star''. During his tenure, Dale covered events in the last two years of the presidency of Barack Obama, such as the heroin crisis, the Flint water crisis and the

presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

and

. In November 2015, Dale travelled to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

to write about its

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

. When the August 2016 Milwaukee riots broke out, several U.S. journalists made use of Dale's reporting to gain an understanding of why the riots occurred. Starting in September 2016, Dale compiled informal lists of then-presidential candidate Trump's falsehoods together with parenthetical fact checks in his spare time, sharing the lists on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. In the same month, filmmaker Michael Moore praised Dale in a tweet, saying that Dale "shame the US media", which resulted in Dale gaining a larger following on Twitter. Dale maintained a list of fact-checks of Trump for the ''Toronto Star'' from the beginning of Trump's presidency until he departed from the ''Star'' in June 2019. On October 1, 2017, Trump tweeted: "Being nice to Rocket Man rump's_nickname_for_ rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">Kim_Jong-un.html"_;"title="rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-unNorth_Korea–United_States_relations.html" ;"title="Kim_Jong-un.html" ;"title="Kim_Jong-un.html" ;"title="rump's nickname for rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">Kim_Jong-un.html"_;"title="rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-unNorth_Korea–United_States_relations">hasn't_worked_in_25_years,_why_would_it_work_now?_ rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">Kim_Jong-un.html"_;"title="rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-unNorth_Korea–United_States_relations">hasn't_worked_in_25_years,_why_would_it_work_now?_Bill_Clinton">Clinton_failed,_

rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">Kim_Jong-un.html"_;"title="rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-un">rump's_nickname_for_Kim_Jong-unNorth_Korea–United_States_relations">hasn't_worked_in_25_years,_why_would_it_work_now?_Bill_Clinton">Clinton_failed,_George_W._Bush">Bush_failed,_and_Obama_failed._I_won't_fail."_Dale_responded_to_Trump's_tweet,_noting_that_Kim_Jong-un_was_eight_years_old_in_1992._Trump_subsequently_blocked_Dale_on_Twitter. In_November_2017,_when_news_broke_on_the_Roy_Moore_sexual_misconduct_allegations.html" "title="George_W._Bush.html" ;"title="Bill_Clinton.html" ;"title="Kim Jong-un">rump's nickname for Kim Jong-un">Kim_Jong-un.html" ;"title="rump's nickname for Kim Jong-un">rump's nickname for Kim Jong-unNorth Korea–United States relations">hasn't worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Bill Clinton">Clinton failed, George W. Bush">Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won't fail." Dale responded to Trump's tweet, noting that Kim Jong-un was eight years old in 1992. Trump subsequently blocked Dale on Twitter. In November 2017, when news broke on the Roy Moore sexual misconduct allegations">sexual misconduct allegations Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female. Sex or SEX may also refer to: Biology and behaviour *Animal sexual behaviour **Copulation (zoology) **Human sexual activity **Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse * ...

against Roy Moore, the Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee in the 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama, United States Senate special election in Alabama, Dale contacted more than five Republican chairmen across

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

for comment; several officials told Dale that the allegations did not change their support for Moore. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' used Dale's work as a source for Republican reaction to the scandal. In June 2019, Dale left the ''Toronto Star'' to join

as a full-time fact-checker for Trump. During the 2020 United States presidential election, Dale fact-checked both Trump and his opponent Joe Biden during the key events, including the presidential debates and convention speeches.

Personal life

Dale lives with his girlfriend and their pet Pomeranian. Dale is a teetotaler, having only had two drinks in his life. Dale married his girlfriend in July 2022.

Awards and honors

Dale won the

Edward Goff Penny Edward Goff Penny (15 May 1820 – 11 October 1881) was an English-Canadian journalist, businessman, and politician. Born in Islington (now part of London), England, Penny moved to Canada in 1844, settling in Montreal, Quebec and joined the ...

Memorial Prize in 2010 and 2011, the

National Newspaper Award The National Newspaper Awards (french: link=no, Concours canadien de journalisme) are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers. Synopsis The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards un ...

for Short Feature in 2012 and the Norman Webster Award for International Reporting in 2019. ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'' ranked Dale 8th in its list of 16 breakout media stars of 2016 for his fact-checking of Trump. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' named Dale's Twitter account its "Hot News Source" in 2018. ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

'' ranked Dale 47th in its list of the top 50 influential Torontonians in 2017, and 49th in 2018.

References

External links

* https://torontolife.com/tag/daniel-dale/ * https://www.canadalandshow.com/daniel-dale-on-trump-bloomberg-and-the-meaning-of-off-the-record/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Daniel Toronto Star people Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian newspaper journalists CNN people York University alumni People from Thornhill, Ontario Living people 1985 births Canadian television journalists Jewish Canadian journalists Writers from Toronto