Rep. Chuck Edwards made it less than a minute into his opening remarks Thursday night, at his first town hall since being re-elected last November, before the crowd drowned him out for the first time.

In that case, it was applause: As the Republican representing North Carolina’s 11th District referenced his colleagues’ recent reluctance to engage with their constituents, the 300 or so attendees packing A-B Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium made it clear they were happy to have him there.

But it was one of only a few cheers Edwards would get all night. A constituency angry over federal layoffs, international relations, and President Donald Trump’s trade war unleashed its frustration. Tidal waves of jeers were punctuated by individual entreaties for Edwards to hear them out, to criticize Trump or his right-hand billionaire Elon Musk, or to offer a word of compassion. (“Are you a human being?” one attendee yelled.)

Whenever one of the law enforcement officers lining the room opened an exterior door, the crowd gathered outside — a combination of those who planned to protest the event and those who couldn’t get in — unleashed a torrent of boos.

Edwards was visibly irritated at times, smirking at outbursts from the audience and chiding them for talking over him. But he stuck to the plan, facing the audience for about 90 minutes, including an hour of question-and-answer. He touted the work of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the House’s Republican-led budget resolution. He dodged questions on Ukrainian refugees and whether he’d support raising or eliminating the maximum taxable income for Social Security. 

Occasionally he broke with party leadership. He said he didn’t support the ideas, repeatedly floated by Trump, to annex Canada and Greenland. And he reminded the crowd that he was there against the advice of the National Republican Congressional Committee — “in spite of my colleagues in D.C. saying, ‘Chuck, you’re an idiot.’”

Asheville Watchdog looked deeper into some of the claims Edwards made Thursday. Here’s what we found:

Claim: Edwards disputed the premise of an audience member’s question about Trump’s lack of support for Ukraine.

“I believe the president is very supportive of Ukraine,” Edwards said. “I believe the president recognizes that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is a murderous dictator. … I know that Vice President J.D. Vance suggested that if Putin not come to the table for a peace treaty, that he may be facing American soldiers.”

Context: In the two months since his inauguration, Trump has accused Ukraine of instigating its war with Russia and called the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a dictator, false claims that echo Putin talking points. 

A televised Oval Office meeting late last month exposed the rift between the American and Ukrainian administrations, as Trump and Vance berated Zelensky and threatened to abandon Ukraine. Zelensky was asked to leave the White House, and in the following days, CNN reported, Trump ordered a pause on military aid to Ukraine.

Putin and Trump have historically spoken of each other in admiring terms, though Trump has at times been critical of Russia’s role in the war with Ukraine. Vance did seem to threaten military action against Russia last month, saying the U.S. could use “military tools of leverage” if Putin refuses to agree to a peace deal. On Friday morning, Putin pushed off a proposal for a month-long ceasefire, saying he would need to set several conditions to move forward.

Claim: Asked about canceled and postponed meetings at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerning vaccines, Edwards said he was “not aware of any meetings that were canceled.”

Context: Last month, the CDC abruptly postponed an advisory committee meeting on immunizations without setting a new date. New Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has been a vocal vaccine skeptic for decades, has been a critic of the committee. 

A few days later, the FDA canceled an advisory committee meeting on selecting the strains to be used in next season’s flu shot. The FDA issued its recommendations for flu shot composition this week without the independent input. Experts have said the cancellations raise serious concerns about transparency and scientific validity at agencies under Kennedy.

Claim: Edwards said there “have been no cuts to the staff of the VA.” As the audience booed — with some yelling out that Edwards was lying — he attributed the perception of cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs to a “leaked memo looking at the efficiency of the VA.”

Context: There have been staff cuts at the VA under Trump: Last month, the department announced it had laid off more than 2,400 probationary employees in “non-mission critical positions” across two rounds of dismissals. Earlier this week, federal judges in two separate cases ordered the administration to temporarily reinstate employees who lost jobs in mass firings at the VA and other federal agencies.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that an internal memo circulating at the VA called for a reorganization that would eliminate more than 80,000 jobs.

Claim: Edwards repeatedly rebuffed assertions that the House Republican budget plan calls for or would result in cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

“There’s nothing in that resolution that mentions the word Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security,” Edwards said. “There’s no intent from President Trump, nor from the current Congress, to do anything to disrupt payments for Medicare or Social Security.”

Context: Edwards was repeating what has become a common talking point for House Republicans this month: that their budget resolution contains no mention of cutting those programs. That’s true.

But the Congressional Budget Office (which Edwards roundly denounced Thursday) has said it would be impossible to impose the proposed cuts — $880 billion to programs under the Energy and Commerce Committee over the next decade — without digging into Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Republicans have explicitly ruled out cuts to  Medicare, implicitly putting a larger target on Medicaid. Health policy experts have backed the CBO’s statement.

Musk, repeating debunked claims about tens of billions of dollars in waste and improper payments to dead people, has reiterated his plans to target Social Security benefits for cuts as recently as this week.

Claim: Asked about Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Edwards responded with a prewritten list of cuts by the agency that he said he supported — and he labored through it, reading, sometimes inaudibly, as the audience voiced its displeasure.

Context: Edwards described several cuts in language that directly matches posts from DOGE’s X account. But some of them appear to lack context.

His mention of “a $532,000 grant that was awarded by (the National Institutes of Health) to use a mouse model to investigate the effects of cross-sex testosterone treatment” echoes language publicized by DOGE, but as Snopes.com reported, a grant matching that amount and description appears to have already been paid out in 2023, rather than being an ongoing cost.

Similarly, a “$1.7 million grant awarded by NIH for the China Health and Retirement longitudinal study at Peking University in Beijing” seems to refer to a long-term international survey, meant to collect data for studies on population aging, that the NIH has been funding almost every year since 2010, including during Trump’s first term. According to NIH records, it received a $1.7 million grant last year.

And Edwards repeated a claim that DOGE identified $300 million in Small Business Administration loans to borrowers older than 115 years in 2020 and 2021. But that claim appears to be tied to Musk’s assertions that tens of millions of dead people are receiving Social Security benefits. Those claims have been debunked and stem from confusion around a programming language used in Social Security’s record-keeping system, which sometimes defaults to erroneous dates for entries with missing or incomplete birthdates.

Claim: In response to a question on the Trump administration holding up funding that Congress had already approved, Edwards said this: “There is nothing in the Constitution that says every dollar that Congress sends the administration has to be spent.”

Context: The question of who has the power of purse has dominated Trump’s return to office. He has suspended trillions in federal spending and essentially shut down the United States Agency for International Development.

Article 1 of the Constitution decrees that Congress passes laws to spend or appropriate money. But there have been many battles about the powers of the legislative and executive branches over the years. During President Richard Nixon’s second term, his refusal to spend money on projects he didn’t like led to Congress passing the Impoundment Control Act in 1974 to prevent presidents from overriding Congress on appropriations.

Trump and Office of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought say the act is unconstitutional, a stance many scholars disagree with. Georgetown law professor Stephen Vladeck told NPR there is no good-faith argument to support Trump and Vought’s view. But he also noted that while the Impoundment Control Act generally prohibits presidents from halting funds, it does allow the president to tell Congress in some cases that he doesn’t want to spend appropriations. In those cases, under the law, Congress is to decide whether it wants to let the president impound the money.

In a 5-4 ruling earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the administration’s request to block a lower court order to restart $2 billion in payments to USAID for work that has been already completed. It’s likely the high court will be weighing in on additional cases surrounding the constitutionality of Trump’s freezing of funds. 

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Jack Evans is an investigative reporter who previously worked at the Tampa Bay Times. You can reach him via email at jevans@avlwatchdog.org. Keith Campbell is The Watchdog’s managing editor. You can reach him via email at kcampbell@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

Related