As usual, President Donald Trump made quite a few false claims in his televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. And, as ordinary, most of them had beforehand been debunked.
Trump repeated acquainted false claims about shopper costs, funding within the US, international affairs, public security, the 2020 election, and his signature home coverage laws, amongst different subjects.
The meeting had simply ended at the time this text was printed. The article can be up to date with extra fact-check objects.
Inflation and the economic system
Grocery costs: Trump repeated his false declare that “grocery prices are down.” They’re up. The most up-to-date obtainable Consumer Price Index figures, for September, present common grocery costs had been up about 2.7% from September 2024; about 1.4% from January 2025, the month Trump returned to workplace; and about 0.3% from August to September.
Prescription drug costs: Trump repeated his false declare that an government order he issued on prescription drug costs will “slash drug prices by 200%, 300%, 400%, 500%, 600%, 700%, 800%,” including, “Nobody’s ever heard of it before”; later within the meeting, he used a “900%” determine. Nobody has heard of such reductions as a result of they’re mathematically unimaginable; if the president magically obtained the businesses to scale back the costs of all of their medicine to $0, that may be a 100% lower. You can learn an extended truth verify here.
Inflation below Trump: Trump falsely claimed, “Since last January, we’ve stopped inflation in its tracks.” That’s a imprecise phrase, however it’s not true by any affordable definition of “stopped in its tracks.” Inflation hasn’t been stopped at all; the year-over-year inflation rate in September, 3.0%, was the identical as the rate in January – in actual fact, should you go to a number of decimal locations, the September price was a tiny bit greater – and September was the fifth consecutive month the year-over-year price had elevated. (In equity, Trump did add Tuesday: “And there’s still more to do, there’s always more to do, but we have it down to a very good level.”)
Inflation below President Joe Biden: Trump repeated his false declare that “I inherited the worst inflation in history.” He added, “They say it’s the worst inflation that we’ve had in 48 years, I say ever.” Again, Trump inherited a 3.0% inflation price, similar as the newest price. He might have pretty mentioned the year-over-year US inflation rate hit a 40-year high under Biden in June 2022, when it was 9.1%, however that was not near the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920. Trump was additionally mistaken if he was claiming there was document cumulative inflation over the course of Biden’s presidency; it was a lot greater in the course of the Jimmy Carter administration.
Investment within the US: After referring to “new investments in the United States,” Trump repeated his false declare that “we’ve secured commitments of over $18 trillion.” This determine is fiction. At the time he spoke on Tuesday, the White House’s own website mentioned the determine was “$9.6 trillion,” and even that could be a main exaggeration; an in depth NCS evaluate 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” somewhat than funding within the US, or imprecise statements that didn’t even rise to the extent of pledges. You can learn extra here.
Gas costs: Talking about gasoline costs, Trump claimed, “We’re now at about $2.50 a gallon.” This declare isn’t false, since AAA found seven states had Tuesday common gasoline costs beneath $2.60 per gallon (and Oklahoma was below $2.50, at about $2.40 per gallon), however it’s value noting that the nationwide common stays effectively above $2.50 per gallon – virtually precisely $3.00 per gallon, according to AAA.
US assist to Ukraine: Trump repeated his false declare that “Biden gave away $350 billion” in assist to Ukraine, including, “That’s a massive amount of money.” Trump’s determine isn’t near correct. The US authorities inspector common overseeing the federal Ukraine response says the US had disbursed about $94 billion as of the tip of June 2025 (and had appropriated about $93 billion extra), together with cash that was spent within the US and in broader Europe somewhat than Ukraine itself. And a German assume tank that has intently tracked wartime assist to Ukraine says the US allotted about $133 billion to Ukraine (and had dedicated about $5 billion extra) by August, at present change charges.
Trump and wars: Trump repeated his false declare that “we ended eight wars” and “I’ve settled eight wars.” While Trump has performed a job in resolving some conflicts (at least briefly), the “eight” determine is a clear exaggeration.
Trump has explained that his record of supposed wars settled features a struggle between Egypt and Ethiopia, however that wasn’t truly a struggle; it’s a long-running diplomatic dispute about a major Ethiopian dam project on a tributary of the Nile River, a dispute that’s unresolved. Trump’s record consists of another supposed war that didn’t actually occur throughout his presidency, between Serbia and Kosovo. (He has generally claimed to have prevented the eruption of a brand new struggle between these two entities, offering few particulars about what he meant, however that’s totally different than settling an precise struggle.) And his record features a supposed success in ending a struggle involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, however that struggle has continued regardless of a peace settlement brokered by the Trump administration this 12 months – which was by no means signed by the main insurgent coalition doing the preventing.
One can debate the significance of Trump’s function in having ended the opposite conflicts on his record, or pretty query whether or not a few of them have actually ended. For instance, killing continued in Gaza in November after the October ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Regardless, Trump’s “eight” determine is just too massive.
Strikes on alleged drug boats: Defending his army strikes on alleged drug boats in worldwide waters, Trump repeated his false declare that “every boat that you see get blown up, we save 25,000 – on average – lives; 25,000 lives.”
Aside from the truth that the Trump administration has not offered public proof for his repeated claims that the boats carried lethal fentanyl – the Caribbean, the place many of the strikes have occurred, is not known to be a big fentanyl-smuggling route – his “25,000” quantity doesn’t make sense. The whole variety of US overdose deaths from all medicine in 2024 was about 82,000, in accordance with provisional federal data.
The president’s determine is “absurd,” Carl Latkin, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University college of public well being with a joint appointment at its medical college, mentioned in October. You can learn an extended truth verify here.
The 2020 election: Trump repeated his lies that the 2020 election was “a fake election” and “a rigged election.” Trump legitimately misplaced a free and honest election to Biden.
Crime in Washington, DC: Trump falsely claimed that Washington, DC, now has “no murders,” although he additionally mentioned last week’s deadly attack on National Guard troops. Even earlier than that assault, there continued to be homicides in Washington after Trump deployed the Guard there in August; here are some examples from November alone. Trump made an analogous comment final week, falsely claiming the capital hadn’t had a single homicide “in six months.”
Trump’s invoice and Social Security: Trump repeated his false declare that the massive home coverage invoice he signed earlier this 12 months consists of “no tax on Social Security.” The laws did create a further, momentary $6,000-per-year tax deduction for people age 65 and older (with a smaller deduction for people incomes $75,000 per 12 months or extra), however the White House itself has implicitly acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of Social Security recipients age 65 and older will proceed to pay taxes on their advantages – and that new deduction, which expires in 2028, doesn’t even apply to the Social Security recipients who are younger than 65.