President Donald Trump delivered a sequence of false claims about Greenland, the United States and his personal accomplishments as he spoke to the media throughout a Tuesday meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier than a NATO summit in Ankara.
Perhaps essentially the most topical of the falsehoods was about Greenland, the semiautonomous Danish territory Trump called again for the US to regulate. He wrongly claimed, as he has earlier than, that the island is “surrounded by China’s ships and Russian ships.” It’s merely not, as impartial consultants and numerous overseas governments have made clear.
Trump additionally revived his long-debunked claims that he has “settled eight wars,” that former President Joe Biden gave Ukraine “hundreds of billions of dollars worth of equipment,” that there was “$19.2 trillion” or extra invested in the US since he returned to workplace final yr, and that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
Here is a reality verify.
Greenland, Russia and China
Trump said Greenland is “surrounded by China’s ships and Russian ships.” But there may be merely no foundation for that declare – which has beforehand been rejected by impartial consultants, the Danish government and military, officers from other Nordic countries, Greenlandic officials and residents, and current and former US officials.
In an interview revealed final month, the commander of the Danish army’s Arctic forces stated that, as ordinary, they didn’t see Chinese or Russian ships in or round Greenland, Danish media outlet TV 2 reported. P. Whitney Lackenbauer, a professor at Trent University in Canada who’s an skilled on Arctic safety points, advised NCS in January that Trump’s declare was “completely invented,” and Lackenbauer reiterated in an e mail on Tuesday that the assertion “remains inaccurate.”
It’s potential Trump has seen labeled intelligence exhibiting some Chinese or Russian maritime exercise close to Greenland at some current level. But even that wouldn’t make it true that Greenland was “surrounded.”
Trump and wars
Repeating one of his most frequent false claims about overseas affairs, Trump said, “You know, I settled eight wars.” He didn’t. His “eight wars” listing is very flawed.
Trump’s listing includes two conditions that had been by no means truly wars throughout his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed state of affairs between Serbia and Kosovo. The listing additionally features a struggle, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that hasn’t actually ended regardless of a peace settlement brokered by the Trump administration.
In addition, the listing contains the struggle between Israel and Hamas, however Israel continues to conduct near-daily attacks in Gaza regardless of a US-brokered ceasefire settlement. And it contains the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, although Israel proceeded to affix the US in starting another war towards Iran in 2026.
Biden and help to Ukraine
Talking about Ukraine, Trump said, as he has before, that “when Biden was here, he gave them hundreds of billions of dollars worth of equipment.” That “hundreds of billions” declare is a major exaggeration. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German assume tank that closely tracks worldwide help to Ukraine, the US had allocated about $74 billion in army help to Ukraine (at present alternate charges) from late January 2022, simply previous to Russia’s full-scale invasion, via April 2026. Including monetary and humanitarian help, complete US help was about $132 billion.
Trump additionally repeated his frequent false declare that “we have $19 `trillion, $19.2 trillion to be exact, being invested in the United States.” This time, he added that this supposed complete was from solely the primary 12 months of this presidential time period, “so that number is now substantially higher” after almost 18 months again in workplace.
But even the $19.2 trillion determine is fiction.
At the time Trump made the declare on Tuesday, the White House’s own website claimed there had been “$10.6 trillion” in “major investment announcements” this time period, and even that was a significant exaggeration of precise funding. A detailed NCS review in October discovered the White House was counting trillions of {dollars} in imprecise funding pledges, pledges that had been about “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” relatively than funding in the US, and imprecise statements that didn’t even rise to the extent of pledges.
The White House determine contains pledges from US-based corporations in addition to overseas entities. Federal data revealed final month exhibits that new overseas direct funding in the US was about $232 billion in 2025.
Trump, as ordinary, described the 2020 election as “a rigged election.” That’s a lie. Trump misplaced a authentic election to Biden, truthful and sq..