President Donald Trump made false claims about NATO, NASA, overseas coverage, taxes, immigration and different topics in a Fox Business interview that aired Wednesday morning.
Here is a truth test of a few of his remarks to Fox host Maria Bartiromo, who let nearly all the falsehoods go unchallenged.
US spending on NATO: Trump declared, “This country should not be paying trillions of dollars to NATO.” At one other level within the interview, he requested “why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO” if it is not going to help the US on the Iran warfare. But the US doesn’t really pay NATO trillions of {dollars} or spend tons of of billions per yr on NATO. Trump gave the impression to be doing what he has done for years: combine up the nation’s personal army spending, which is tracked by NATO, with the nation’s direct contributions to NATO itself.
The US definitely spends tons of of billions per yr on protection — in the neighborhood of $1 trillion within the 2026 fiscal yr — and the Trump administration has made a $1.5 trillion funds proposal for fiscal 2027. But solely a tiny fraction of that spending is distributed to NATO. Under an agreed formulation, the US is liable for about 15% of NATO’s direct funding, which NATO says is about $6.3 billion in 2026 (at present trade charges) — so underneath $1 billion in 2026.
Even if the US supplies extra funding for NATO initiatives, and even when Trump is counting US defense spending in NATO member countries, Trump’s claims about “paying trillions of dollars to NATO” and “spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO” are means off.
Iran’s assaults on Gulf nations: Trump, speaking about Iran’s assaults on Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, claimed that they have been “shocked when they got hit” and added, “You know, these countries were not expected to be hit.” We can’t communicate for the nations themselves, however quite a few specialists on the area had publicly said that they anticipated Iran to strike its Gulf neighbors if it was attacked.
Trump and wars: Trump repeated his false declare that “I ended eight wars.” While Trump has performed a task in resolving some conflicts (not less than quickly), the “eight” determine is a clear exaggeration. As we’ve repeatedly noted, his listing consists of two conditions that have been by no means really wars (a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a thriller scenario between Serbia and Kosovo) and not less than one warfare that didn’t really finish (involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo), amongst different points.
Other presidents and wars: Trump additionally repeated his false declare that no different president has ever ended a warfare: “Nobody’s ever ended one war. Who’s ended one? Nobody.” In actuality, US presidents have performed a serious position in ending varied wars by successful these wars, together with World War I, World War II and the Gulf War — and US presidents have brokered quite a few peace agreements in wars not being fought by the US. President Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his position in a peace settlement ending a warfare between the Russian and Japanese empires; President Jimmy Carter performed a serious position in brokering a 1979 peace agreement to finish a long-running state of warfare between Egypt and Israel; President Bill Clinton performed a serious position within the 1995 peace settlement that ended the Bosnian War; and US administrations have mediated a protracted listing of different armed conflicts.
Migration underneath Biden: Trump, speaking about immigration, repeated his false declare that there have been “25 million people coming across” throughout the Biden administration. The “25 million” determine is false; even Trump’s earlier “21 million” determine was a wild exaggeration. Through December 2024, the final full month underneath the Biden administration, the federal authorities had recorded underneath 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants throughout that administration, together with tens of millions who have been quickly expelled from the nation. Even including within the so-called “gotaways” who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2.2 million, there’s no means the entire was even near what Trump has mentioned.
Illegal border entries underneath Trump: Trump additionally repeated his false declare that “in the last nine months, not one person came across the border illegally.” US Customs and Border Protection has made a narrower declare, saying the authorities haven’t launched any migrants into the nation during the last 11 months after encountering these migrants crossing the border. But it’s clear that some migrants evaded authorities to cross the border illegally throughout that interval and throughout a 9-month interval — although it seems the variety of “gotaways” was a lot smaller than it was throughout the Biden administration.
Customs and Border Protection doesn’t launch official figures on “gotaways” (and didn’t reply to a NCS request for data in February), however there have been definitely some migrants who crossed illegally over the last 9 months. In December, the conservative Washington Examiner interviewed Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks and reported that Banks mentioned that on December 18, simply 17 migrants crossing the southern border evaded arrest. The Examiner reported that Banks was “anticipating a day in the near future where not a single person who crosses illegally will get away,” however clearly that day hadn’t occurred but.
Trump may pretty be aware that the variety of migrants encountered on the border was way down in 2025 in comparison with 2024 ranges underneath Biden.
The border wall: Touting his work on the southern border, Trump mentioned, “You know, I built over 1,000 miles of wall.” That will not be true.
A federal report written days after Trump left workplace in 2021, obtained by NCS’s Priscilla Alvarez that yr, mentioned complete wall building throughout Trump’s first time period was 458 miles. (Specifically: 52 miles of recent “primary” wall inbuilt elements of the border the place no limitations beforehand existed, plus 33 miles of “secondary” wall that was inbuilt locations that have been beforehand barrier-free, plus one other 373 miles of major and secondary wall that was constructed to interchange earlier limitations the federal government claimed had turn into “dilapidated and/or outdated.”) The present US Customs and Border Protection web site says that, throughout Trump’s second presidential time period, one other roughly 36 miles of extra wall have been accomplished, together with substitute limitations and secondary limitations, and that roughly 77 miles are underneath building.
Even together with the roughly 77 miles underneath building doesn’t get you to “over 1,000.”
The web site additionally says that, previous to the beginning of Trump’s second time period, there have been about 719 miles of present wall that met the Border Patrol’s “operational requirements.” But not all of these miles have been constructed throughout Trump’s first time period — and, in addition to, including roughly 36 miles and roughly 77 miles to an preliminary amount of roughly 719 miles nonetheless wouldn’t add as much as “over 1,000.”
Taxes and the Fed
Tax on Social Security: Trump mentioned that, if Democrats take energy once more, they may finish Republican insurance policies together with “no tax on Social Security for our seniors.” But that coverage doesn’t exist. The huge home coverage invoice Trump signed in 2025 did create an extra, non permanent $6,000-per-year tax deduction for people age 65 and older (with a smaller deduction for people incomes $75,000 per yr or extra), however because the White House itself has implicitly acknowledged, tens of millions 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.
The price ticket for the Fed renovation: Again slamming Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the worth tag of a renovation to the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, Trump claimed that “they’re going to spend maybe $4 billion” and that the venture is “going to cost maybe $4 billion.” The Fed says on its website that the venture has a funds of $2.46 billion. Trump did qualify his “$4 billion” claims with the phrase “maybe,” and the $2.46 billion complete may definitely rise — the venture was initially estimated at $1.9 billion — however a “$4 billion” expenditure will not be a certainty.
Sen. Thom Tillis: Bartiromo requested Trump whether or not he thinks Republican Sen. Thom Tillis goes to vote to substantiate Kevin Warsh, the president’s decide to succeed Powell; Tillis has said he gained’t vote for any Fed nominee till the Justice Department drops a criminal investigation into Powell associated to his congressional testimony about the renovation.
Trump responded, “Well, we’re gonna have to find out. He might not, but that’s why Thom Tillis is no longer a senator. You know Tom Tillis is no longer a senator, right?” But that’s not proper. Tillis announced last year that he wouldn’t run for reelection within the 2026 midterms, however he’s nonetheless a senator; his time period ends in January 2027.
After Bartiromo responded, “Well, he’s on his way out,” Trump mentioned, “Well, no, he quit. But he quit.” But he then implicitly acknowledged Tillis didn’t resign, saying he heard Tillis’ feedback however “I think he doesn’t want the legacy of stopping a great — person who could be great.”
NASA: Trump falsely claimed that, earlier than he began the Artemis program throughout his first presidency with the objective of returning people to the moon, “NASA was closed. It was totally closed.” It’s merely not true that NASA was “closed” earlier than he got here to workplace in 2017, as Space.com, NCS and many others defined when Trump made comparable claims in 2020; NASA has been in steady existence since its founding in 1958, and main NASA initiatives started throughout the pre-Trump presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In truth, the house launch system (SLS) used within the latest Artemis II lunar flyby was developed under Obama beginning in 2011, whereas the Orion spacecraft utilized in Artemis II also predates Trump’s time in office.
“It is NOT correct that NASA was dead under the Obama administration,” John Logsdon, founding father of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, the place he’s a professor emeritus, advised NCS in 2020; “much was started, like the commercial crew program … and the beginning of the Space Launch System that will return Americans to the Moon — plus lots of robotic science.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Trump advised a narrative about how liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined to retire underneath Democratic president Barack Obama regardless of her superior age and well being issues, however he added, “And about two minutes after the election, she went out, and I got to appoint somebody.” Trump’s timeline is inaccurate. Ginsburg’s death in September 2020, at 87, got here throughout Trump’s first presidency and greater than six weeks earlier than Trump’s election defeat to Joe Biden, not “about two minutes after the election.” (Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to interchange Ginsburg, and the Senate quickly confirmed her in late October 2020.)