{"id":413,"date":"2026-05-25T23:35:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2026-05-25T23:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:35:59","slug":"fact-check-trump-makes-false-claims-about-the-economy-elections-and-crime-in-state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":"Fact check: Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n President Donald Trump made numerous false or misleading claims in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.\n <\/p>

Read more The Milky Way ate another galaxy. Scientists say they\u2019ve found the scraps<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Many of them were long-debunked falsehoods familiar from his rallies, interviews and social media posts. These include various lies disparaging the fairness of US elections, his false claim that he ended wars that were never actually wars or never actually ended, and his fictional \u201c$18 trillion\u201d figure for supposed investment in the US over the past year.\n <\/p>\n

\n The subject on which he was most frequently inaccurate was the economy. Among other things, Trump overstated the performance of the economy during this presidential term to date, overstated the inflation he inherited from the Biden administration, used highly misleading figures when discussing gasoline prices, and wrongly asserted, twice, that foreign countries are paying the tariffs that are actually being paid by US importers.\n <\/p>\n

\n Here is a fact check of some of Trump\u2019s remarks:\n <\/p>\n

\n Economy and inflation\n<\/h2>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims US has secured \u2018$18 trillion\u2019 in investments\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated his regular false claim that he has secured $18 trillion in investments in the US since returning to office, saying, \u201cIn 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion pouring in from all over the globe.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The\u202f$18 trillion\u202ffigure is fiction. As of the night of Trump\u2019s address, the White House\u2019s\u202fown website\u202fsaid the figure for \u201cmajor investment announcements\u201d during this Trump term was \u201c$9.7 trillion,\u201d\u202fand even that is a major exaggeration; a\u202fdetailed CNN review\u202fin October found the White House was counting trillions of dollars in vague investment pledges, pledges that were about \u201cbilateral trade\u201d or \u201ceconomic exchange\u201d rather than investment in the US and vague statements that didn\u2019t even rise to the level of pledges.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nFact check: Trump\u2019s misleading claims on gasoline prices<\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n
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\nA gas pumping nozzle is seen at a Valero gas station on June 30, 2025, in Austin, Texas.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Brandon Bell\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Trump claimed gas prices are \u201cnow below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places, $1.99 a gallon.\u201d But no state had an average gas price on Tuesday below $2.37 per gallon, according to AAA; only two states had an average below $2.50 per gallon. And while there are some individual gas stations selling gas for below $2 per gallon, they are scarce; Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the firm GasBuddy, said during the speech that the firm found just four <\/em>stations across the country below $2 (aside from special discounts) out of the roughly 150,000 stations the firm tracks, so about 0.003% of the total.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump could fairly say gas prices have fallen during this presidency. They have declined from a national average of $3.12 per gallon on his inauguration day in January 2025, according to AAA, to a national average of $2.95 per gallon on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition, Trump claimed, \u201cAnd when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.\u201d We don\u2019t know what Trump saw, but the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Iowa on the day of the January 27 speech was $2.57, according to data published that day by AAA \u2013 and Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told CNN at the time that GasBuddy found just four stations in the state selling for $1.97 per gallon (aside from special discounts) out of 2,036 total stations the firm tracks, so 0.19% of the total.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump was fact-checked on this subject by an attendee at the Iowa speech he was referring to. When he\u202fspoke\u202fof gas in Iowa being $1.95 or $1.85 per gallon, someone in the crowd shouted, \u201cNo, $2.63,\u201d according to CNN reporter Steve Contorno, who was on scene. Contorno saw that the gas station right outside the venue where Trump spoke was selling for $2.69 per gallon.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims he inherited record inflation\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump falsely claimed that when he gave his previous address to Congress early last year, he had \u201cjust inherited \u2026 inflation at record levels.\u201d He added a bit later that former President Joe Biden and his congressional allies \u201cgave us the worst inflation in the history of our country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump didn\u2019t inherit the worst inflation in US history, and Biden never had the worst inflation in US history. The year-over-year inflation rate in Biden\u2019s last full month in office, December 2024,\u202fwas 2.9%, and the rate in the month in which Trump took over partway through, January 2025,\u202fwas 3.0%; the most recent rate, for January 2026, is 2.4%. The rate did hit a 40-year high,\u202f9.1%,\u202fin June 2022, but that was far from the\u202fall-time high of 23.7%, which was set in 1920. Regardless, the rate then fell sharply over Biden\u2019s last two-and-a-half years in office.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump touts declines in a smattering of grocery prices, but overall grocery prices are up\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump accurately touted declines in the prices of a small number of grocery products or product categories during this presidency to date, mentioning eggs, chicken, butter and fresh fruits. But he did not acknowledge that overall grocery prices are up an average 2.1% since January 2025, nor that far more grocery products have gotten more expensive during this presidency than have gotten cheaper.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump also said, \u201cAnd even beef, which was very high, is starting to come down significantly.\u201d The average price of beef and veal did decline in January compared to December, by 0.9% (or 0.4% using seasonally adjusted figures), but it was still 15% higher than it was in January 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump\u2019s baseless claim about the economy\n<\/h4>\n
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\nPresident Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House, on January 15, 2025.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Mandel Ngan\/Pool\/AFP\/Getty Images\/File<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Trump claimed that he inherited a \u201cstagnant economy\u201d from the Biden administration and that it is now \u201croaring like never before.\u201d Though there is no firm definition of \u201cstagnant\u201d or \u201croaring,\u201d the facts don\u2019t corroborate the suggestion that he has presided over a massive economic boom since returning to office in January 2025. The US economy grew 2.2% in 2025, which was lower than in any year of the Biden presidency; there was 2.8% growth in 2024. (The fall 2025 government shutdown likely reduced growth in late 2025.) The unemployment rate, meanwhile, increased from 4.0% in January 2025 to 4.3% in January 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\n The total number of\u202fjobs added in 2025, 181,000, was by far the lowest since 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic hit; about 2.52 million jobs were added in 2023 and about 1.46 million were added in 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\n The year-over-year Consumer Price Index inflation rate did fall from 3.0% in January 2025 to 2.4% in January 2026, and Trump certainly has some other positive data points to cite. But his story about taking the economy from deceased to scorching is just not supported by the overall numbers.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims foreign countries are paying his tariffs\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated his regular false claim that tariffs are \u201cpaid for by foreign countries.\u201d In fact, tariff payments are made by importers in the US, not foreign countries, and those importers often pass on some of their costs to consumers. While foreign exporters may sometimes drop their prices to try to keep their products competitive, various analyses have found that the overwhelming majority of the costs of the tariffs Trump has imposed this term are being covered by a combination of US businesses and US consumers.\n <\/p>\n

\n In an analysis released in February, officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York wrote, \u201cWe find that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs\u2019 economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers.\u201d The nonpartisan federal Congressional Budget Office wrote in a February report that \u201cthe net effect of tariffs is to raise U.S. consumer prices by the full portion of the cost of the tariffs borne domestically (95 percent),\u201d from a combination of price hikes by US businesses that are importing tariffed products and price hikes by US businesses that are facing less foreign competition because of the tariffs.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nFact check: Trump\u2019s claim that more Americans are working today than ever<\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated his regular claim that there are more people working today in the US than ever before. That\u2019s true, but the claim needs context: the number of people working tends to rise over time because the US population tends to rise over time. Economists say there are far better measures of the health of the labor market.\n <\/p>\n

\n The employment-population ratio, which measures the percentage of the population that is employed, is down slightly this presidential term so far, going from 60.1% in January 2025, the month Trump returned to office, to 59.8% in January 2026. The unemployment rate, which measures unemployment as a percentage of the labor force, has increased, going from 4.0% in January 2025 to 4.3% in January 2026; it hit a four-year high of 4.5% in November before easing. The labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of the population that is employed or actively looking for work, has been almost unchanged, ticking down 62.6% in January 2025 to 62.5% in January 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Taxes, government programs, and the budget\n<\/h2>\n

\nFact check: Trump\u2019s claim he passed largest tax cuts in American history <\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n
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\"President<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nPresident Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the US Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Win McNamee\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Trump once again claimed that the sweeping domestic policy agenda that he signed into law last summer\u202fcontained\u202fthe largest tax cuts in American history. But\u202fthat is not actually the case.\n <\/p>\n

\n The\u202fso-called big, beautiful bill made\u202fnumerous\u202fpermanent and temporary changes to the tax code, including\u202feliminating taxes on tips\u202fand overtime, giving\u202fadditional\u202ftax relief to\u202fsenior citizens and parents of young\u202fchildren\u202fand\u202fallowing companies to deduct certain investments more quickly.\u202fThe tax cuts amount to $4.8 trillion, or 1.3% of the nation\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP), over\u202fa decade,\u202faccording to the\u202flatest\u202fCongressional Budget Office\u202fanalysis, released earlier this month.\n <\/p>\n

\n However,\u202fthe bill\u202fis not the largest tax cut in history,\u202fexperts said.\u202fIt\u202franks\u202fseventh in terms of share of GDP\u202fsince\u202f1918,\u202faccording to Chris Towner, policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog group.\u202fThe largest\u202fwas former President Ronald Reagan\u2019s 1981 tax package,\u202fwhich\u202fcost 2.9% of GDP over four years. (Looking\u202fat revenue changes as a share of GDP is a common way to assess the size of tax cuts because it shows the changes relative to the size of the economy. It allows for comparisons across time despite shifts in inflation and population, for example.) Similarly,\u202fthe Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank,\u202ffound\u202fthat\u202fthe bill\u202fis\u202fthe sixth largest tax cut\u202fsince 1940, in terms of\u202fshare of GDP.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Tami Luhby<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump already broke his promise to always protect Medicaid\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump promised to \u201calways protect\u201d Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But he has already broken that promise on Medicaid, making big cuts to the safety net program last year.\n <\/p>\n

\n The \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d which Trump signed into law last summer, slashed more than $900 billion in federal funding over 10 years for Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO estimated that the law\u2019s Medicaid provisions would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 7.5 million in 2034.\n <\/p>\n

\n Among the law\u2019s most impactful provisions are requirements that certain able-bodied Medicaid enrollees ages 19 to 64 work, volunteer, attend school or participate in job training for at least 80 hours a month. The mandate, the first of its kind, also applies to parents of children ages 14 and older.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition, low-income adults enrolled through the Affordable Care Act\u2019s Medicaid expansion provision will have their eligibility reviewed more frequently and will have to pay up to $35 for certain care. Plus, many enrollees will face more paperwork and verification requirements, which could make it harder for some to apply for and maintain their benefits.\n <\/p>\n

\n Medicaid enrollees could also face other changes, since states would receive less federal funding for the program. This could force some states to eliminate certain benefits or tighten enrollment, among other alterations.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Tami Luhby<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims he achieved no tax on Social Security\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump again falsely claimed that he eliminated taxes on Social Security, one of his key campaign promises in 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith the great \u2018big, beautiful bill,\u2019 we gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security,\u201d he said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n The massive domestic policy package that Trump signed last summer did create an additional, temporary $6,000-per-year tax deduction for individuals age 65 and older (with a smaller deduction for individuals earning $75,000 per year or more). But as the White House itself has implicitly\u202facknowledged, millions of Social Security recipients age 65 and older will continue to pay taxes on their benefits \u2013 and that new deduction, which expires in 2028, doesn\u2019t apply to the Social Security recipients who are younger than 65.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Tami Luhby<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nFact check: Trump\u2019s false claim on balancing the federal budget by ending fraud<\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump baselessly claimed that eliminating fraud in federal programs would balance the federal budget, saying, \u201cIf we\u2019re able to find enough of that fraud, we will actually have a balanced budget overnight. It\u2019ll go very quickly.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The annual budget deficit far exceeds the estimated amount of money the federal government loses to fraud each year.\n <\/p>\n

\n A first-of-its-kind\u202festimate\u202fthat the federal Government Accountability Office released in 2024 found that between $233 billion to $521 billion is lost to fraud annually. But the federal budget deficit came in at\u202f\u202ffor the most recent fiscal year, which ended in September, according to the Treasury Department \u2013 more than triple the highest estimated fraud total.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Tami Luhby<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump\u2019s false claim that payments to service members came from tariffs\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump said, \u201cEvery service member recently received a warrior dividend of $1,776,\u201d then added, \u201cWe got the money from tariffs and other things.\u201d But these one-time payments did not come from tariffs. Rather, as CNN\u2019s Haley Britzky reported in December, \u201ca senior administration official said the $2.6 billion cost of the bonuses was being taken from $2.9 billion in extra funding for basic allowance for housing, or BAH, payments appropriated by Congress in July.\u201d The funding was part of Trump\u2019s big domestic policy bill and marked for \u201cimproving the quality of life for military personnel.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Immigration and foreign affairs\n<\/h2>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims a Charlotte killer \u2018came in through open borders\u2019\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump lamented the murder last summer of a refugee from Ukraine, Iryna Zarutska, who was killed on public transit in Charlotte, North Carolina. But Trump added a false claim that the alleged killer had migrated to the US, saying Zarutska \u201chad escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal set free to kill in America \u2013 came in through open borders.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In reality, the man charged with first-degree murder over the killing was, according to all available evidence, from the US. The Charlotte Observer has reported that the man\u2019s Facebook page said he was born in Charlotte and attended high school there, and the newspaper has interviewed his American mother.\n <\/p>

Read more CNN\u2019s guide to the most important elections of 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The Observer published its own fact check on Tuesday night noting Trump\u2019s claim was not true.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims that Biden allowed \u201811,888 murderers\u2019 to enter US as migrants\n<\/h4>\n

\n While criticizing the Biden administration\u2019s border policies, Trump repeated his regular claim that the Biden administration allowed 11,888 murderers to enter the US as migrants \u2013 saying, \u201cThey were murderers, 11,888 murderers. They came into our country.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump was inaccurately describing federal data. The Department of Homeland Security and independent experts have noted that the figure it appears Trump was referring to when he uses the \u201c11,888\u201d number is about non-citizens who entered the US not just under Biden but over the course of multiple decades, including during Trump\u2019s own first administration<\/em>. They were convicted of homicide at some point, usually in the US after their arrival, and are still in the US while being listed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s \u201cnon-detained docket\u201d \u2013 which includes people who are currently serving their prison sentences, not roaming free as Trump has also claimed.\n <\/p>\n

\n You can read more\u202fhere.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump makes unsupported claim about migrants from prisons and mental institutions\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump also claimed of migration to the US under Biden, \u201cThey poured in by the millions and millions \u2013 from prisons, from mental institutions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He was vaguer here than he usually is; in many other speeches, he has claimed that foreign countries have deliberately emptied their prisons and mental institutions to send undesirable citizens to the US as migrants. But his Tuesday phrasing still left open the impression that some massive number of former prisoners and people from mental institutions had entered the US under Biden. He has never provided any corroboration for such claims.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump falsely claims he ended eight wars\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated a familiar false claim about his role in foreign affairs: \u201cMy first 10 months, I ended eight wars.\u201d While Trump has played a role in resolving some conflicts (at least temporarily), the \u201ceight\u201d figure is a\u202fclear exaggeration.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump explained during the speech\u202fthat his list of supposed wars settled includes a war between Egypt and Ethiopia, but that wasn\u2019t actually a war; it is a long-running diplomatic dispute about a\u202fmajor Ethiopian dam project\u202fon a tributary of the Nile River. Trump\u2019s list also included\u202fanother supposed war that didn\u2019t actually occur\u202fduring his presidency, between Serbia and Kosovo. (He has sometimes\u202fclaimed\u202fto have prevented the eruption of a new war between those two entities, providing few details about what he meant, but that is different than settling an actual war.) And his list included a war involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, but that war\u202fhas continued\u202fdespite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration in 2025 \u2013 which was never signed by the leading rebel coalition doing the fighting.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s list also included an armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, where fighting\u202ftemporarily erupted again\u202fin December despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration\u202fearlier in 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n One can debate the importance of Trump\u2019s role in having ended the other conflicts on his list, or fairly question whether some have truly ended; for example, killing\u202fcontinued\u202fin Gaza after the October ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and Trump said in the speech, \u201cThe war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level; it\u2019s just about there.\u201d Regardless, Trump\u2019s \u201ceight\u201d figure is obviously too big.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump\u2019s claim about what Iran has said about nuclear weapons\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump said of Iran, \u201cWe are in negotiations with them; they want to make a deal, but we haven\u2019t heard those secret words: \u2018We will never have a nuclear weapon.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n We don\u2019t know what representatives of Iran\u2019s government have said during the closed-door negotiations. However, Iranian officials have repeatedly said in public comments that they will never have a nuclear weapon. In fact, on Tuesday afternoon before Trump\u2019s address, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media platform X: \u201cOur fundamental convictions are crystal clear: Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon; neither will we Iranians ever forgo our right to harness the dividends of peaceful nuclear technology for our people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to a translation on the UN website, \u201cI hereby declare once more before this Assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump is of course entitled to be skeptical of Iranian leaders\u2019 words about the country\u2019s nuclear intentions, as many others around the world have been for years. But Trump\u2019s claim here was about their words, not their actions.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n\ufeffFact check: Trump\u2019s inaccurate claims about NATO <\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated his claim that before he prodded NATO members to spend more on defense, the US was \u201cpaying for almost all of NATO.\u201d That\u2019s an exaggeration. \u202fshow that in 2016, the year before Trump took office the first time, US defense spending made up about 72% of total NATO defense spending; in 2024, the year before he returned to office, it was about 63%. Both figures are big, of course, but \u201calmost all\u201d is a stretch\u201d \u2013 and the US contributes a smaller percentage to NATO\u2019s own organizational budget. Under an agreed formula, the US provided\u202fabout 16%\u202fof that budget at the time Trump returned to office in 2025. When he took office in 2017, the US was contributing\u202fabout 22%\u202fof the budget.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition, Trump touted NATO members\u2019 2025 commitment to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense-related and security-related spending by 2035 \u2013 including at least 3.5% of GDP on the \u201ccore\u201d defense requirements that were covered by the previous target of 2% of GDP \u2013 saying they agreed \u201cto pay 5% of GDP for military defense, rather than the 2% which they weren\u2019t paying \u2026 Now they\u2019re paying 5 (percent) as opposed to not paying 2 (percent).\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But most NATO members are not yet meeting the new higher target, which, again, they have given themselves a decade to meet. NATO show that just three members, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, were at or above 3.5% in core defense spending in 2025, though they may be joined by others in 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely not true that the Allies are currently \u2018paying 5%\u2019 on hard defense, and even by 2035 they\u2019ve only committed to 3.5%, in terms of their defense budget conventionally-understood. As of mid-2025, *no* Ally is spending 5%, in fact not even 4.5%,\u201d professor Erwan Lagadec, who leads the NATO and European Union studies program at George Washington University\u2019s international affairs school, said in a January email.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lagadec added: \u201cIn 2025 the U.S. was \u2018only\u2019 at 3.2%, *down* from 2014 in terms of ratios to GDP (the only country in that situation). Hence the case can be made that the U.S. is now the \u2018laggard\u2019 going \u2018in the wrong direction\u2019; although of course the fact that the U.S. was spending a lower ratio in 2025 than 2014 on defense could be seen as a sign of success, i.e. the outcome of the other Allies doing more.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s claim that \u201cthey weren\u2019t paying\u201d when the target was 2% needs context. Although most NATO members were not hitting the 2% target as late as 2023, a majority hit the target in 2024; NATO show that 18 member countries were at or above 2% out of 31 countries subject to the target.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Elections and crime\n<\/h2>\n

\n Fact check: Trump\u2019s multiple false claims about US elections\n<\/h4>\n
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\nVoting booths set up in a polling place in the West Village of New York on October 30, 2025, during early voting.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Andrea Renault\/STAR MAX\/IPx\/AP<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Trump made a rapid-fire series of false claims about US elections while calling on Congress to pass a bill requiring voter identification and proof of citizenship when registering to vote.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump falsely claimed, \u201cCheating is rampant in our elections. It\u2019s rampant.\u201d It\u2019s simply not; all evidence suggests fraud makes up a minuscule percentage of votes cast. Trump referred to \u201ccrooked mail-in ballots\u201d; the incidence of fraud is also tiny with mail-in ballots, though experts say it is slightly higher than with in-person voting, and there is no basis to categorically describe them as \u201ccrooked.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He suggested that a Republican elections bill called the SAVE America Act would completely eliminate the use of mail-in ballots, but it wouldn\u2019t. And Trump said, \u201cThey have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat.\u201d That is a lie, as Democrats, like Republicans, are elected all the time in free and fair US elections.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump claims he inherited \u2018rampant\u2019 crime, but it was very low by historical standards\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump claimed that he inherited \u201crampant crime at home\u201d from the Biden administration. There is no firm definition of the word \u201crampant,\u201d but crime was very low by historical US standards at the time Trump returned to office in January 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe US violent crime rate in 2024 was the lowest since 1969 and the property crime rate was the lowest since 1961. Moreover, murder in the US fell at the fastest rate ever recorded in both 2023 and 2024 and was down 25 percent from 2020 levels,\u201d said crime data expert Jeff Asher, co-founder of the firm AH Datalytics.\n <\/p>\n

\n Murder spiked nationally amid the turmoil of the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, under both\u202fTrump in 2020\u202fand\u202fBiden in 2021. But even before the decline in violent crime in the second half of Biden\u2019s presidency and in the first year of Trump\u2019s second presidency, crime rates were nowhere near what they were in the early 1990s\u202fand at various points of the\u202f.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nFact check: Trump\u2019s two false claims about crime in Washington, DC<\/strong>\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump claimed that after his takeover of law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard in Washington, DC, last summer, the capital is \u201cnow one of the safest cities in the country.\u201d That\u2019s not true. Nor is his claim that the capital has \u201calmost no crime anymore,\u201d as a cursory glance at public data or police press releases shows; more than 1,300 crimes were reported in the last month.\n <\/p>\n

\n Asher told CNN in a February email: \u201cDC crime fell substantially in 2025 but it was not anywhere near the safest city in America.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Of the 50 largest cities tracked by Asher\u2019s Real-Time Crime Index, he said, \u201cDC had the 9th highest murder rate and 12th highest violent crime rate in 2025 of the 50 largest cities in the Real-Time Crime Index.\u201d Trump\u2019s intervention happened in August; in the period running from August through December 2025, Asher said, \u201cDC had the 18th highest murder rate and 17th highest violent crime rate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEven in the post-intervention period, DC\u2019s murder rate was more than 5 times higher than San Diego and San Jose and roughly 3 times higher than cities like San Francisco, New York, and Seattle,\u201d he said. And he added that crime in the capital was \u201cfalling considerably\u201d prior to Trump\u2019s Guard deployment, and continued to fall after the deployment, \u201cin a way that is hard to determine the impact of the deployment itself.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump could have accurately said the capital has had some prolonged recent stretches without a murder; the Washington Post reported that it began the year with a highly unusual three-week period with no homicides. But that stretch ended January 21.\n <\/p>\n

\nFrom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\n Fact check: Trump\u2019s unproven claim on fraud in Minnesota\n<\/h4>\n

\n Trump repeated his claim that Somali residents of Minnesota have committed $19 billion in fraud, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. We have all the information, and in actuality, the number is much higher than that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s possible this \u201c$19 billion\u201d figure will be proven true, but nothing close to that figure has been proven to date.\n <\/p>\n

\n In December, a federal prosecutor, Joseph Thompson, claimed that \u201chalf or more\u201d of $18 billion in federal funds billed by 14 Medicaid services in Minnesota deemed at high risk for fraud \u2013 and now under a third-party audit ordered by Gov. Tim Walz \u2013 might be fraudulent.\n <\/p>\n

\n But $9 billion is not $19 billion, Thompson didn\u2019t say all of the possible fraud was committed by Somali residents, and Walz\u2019s administration challenged Thompson\u2019s claim.\n <\/p>\n

\n One Walz administration official said in December that they had \u201cevidence of tens of millions of dollars in fraud to this point,\u201d not $9 billion; Walz himself said, \u201cYou should be equally outraged about $1 or whatever that number is, but they\u2019re using that number without the proof behind it.\u201d And Thompson \u2013 who resigned in January amid tension with the Trump administration over its handling of an ICE officer fatally shooting Ren\u00e9e Good \u2013 made clear at the time that the \u201chalf or more\u201d comment was an early estimate rather than a firm number.\n <\/p>

Read more Why did T. rex have tiny arms? A new study may finally have the answer<\/a><\/p>\n

\nF<\/em>rom CNN\u2019s Daniel Dale<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis article has been updated with additional items.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump made numerous false or misleading claims in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nFact check: Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=413\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fact check: Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union - 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