Due diligence is the investigation that a reasonable person would make in good faith to ascertain the facts in a situation or to determine the truthfulness of assertions.
"I don't want to editorialize about this," she said, noting that her agency has not made a determination on the truthfulness of the assertions.
Indeed, this week local news organizations have combed through about 50,000 e-mails sent to Gov. Scott Walker to evaluate the truthfulness of his assertions that, despite the tens of thousands of protesters outside his office, a majority of people who wrote to him were supportive.
In Trumpspeak, a speaker can never be accused of lying if he's simply repeating the statements of others; it is the responsibility of those who make original claims to check for the accuracy and truthfulness of their assertions, not the person who repeats them – even if that person happens to be the most powerful person and speaker on the planet.
And Obama's opponent for the Presidency, who campaigned as "the straight-talker", performed actions that directly belied the truthfulness of his assertions.
The group is running television advertisements that feature its president, the actor Charlton Heston, questioning Mr. Clinton's truthfulness over his past assertion that the gun lobby is blocking gun control legislation.
Or will it be influenced by Serino's assertion of Zimmerman's truthfulness?
Mr. Ashcroft's truthfulness will be further tested over his repeated assertion that he sabotaged the federal judgeship nomination of Ronnie White, Missouri's first black Supreme Court justice, only because the nominee was a "pro-criminal" slacker on the death penalty.
Politifact, which tracks politicians' truthfulness, lists the majority of Trump's political assertions as false.
But truthfulness isn't the same as the truth.
The Bush administration's record for truthfulness is not such that one should rely on its often meaningless and vague assertions.
