Fact-Checking Trump’s Address to Congress
The president repeated familiar exaggerations and falsehoods about the economy,
the Department of Government Efficiency and tariffs.
By The New York Times
Published March 5, 2025
Updated March 6, 2025
President Trump’s speech on Tuesday was the longest presidential address to Congress in modern
history. Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Trump, in a speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night,
ticked off a list of purported accomplishments and justifications for his many
executive actions that have upended domestic and foreign policy. The speech, the
longest presidential address to Congress in modern history, clocked in at over an
hour and 40 minutes and was replete with familiar exaggerations and falsehoods.
Mr. Trump overstated the amount of what he called fraud uncovered by the
Department of Government Efficiency, misled about energy and environmental
policy, and justified sweeping tariffs with hyperbolic claims about world trade,
among other statements.
Here’s a fact check.
Nicholas Nehamas
“We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.”
— President Trump
This lacks evidence.
President Trump claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency had
identified hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud in the federal government.
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Colby Smith
“As you know, we inherited, from the last administration, an
economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
President Trump inherited an economy in solid shape, by most metrics. The
number of job vacancies is no longer at a record high and hiring has slowed, but
layoffs overall remain low.
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Ana Swanson
Trade Reporter
“We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like
we have never seen before.”
— President Trump
This lacks evidence.
The substantial tariffs that Mr. Trump is imposing on foreign products will raise
revenue for the government. But total U.S. imports last year were about $3.3
trillion, meaning that tariffs would have to be incredibly high to generate the
trillions of dollars of revenue that Mr. Trump claims.
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Coral Davenport
“We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were
making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And
importantly, we ended the last administration’s insane electric
vehicle mandate, saving our autoworkers and companies from
economic destruction.”
— President Trump
This is false.
While Mr. Trump has issued executive orders aimed at rolling back some of the
Biden administration’s climate regulations, the Trump administration has not
initiated the legal proceedings to do so. That can take years to complete. For now,
all those regulations remain on the books.
Additionally, there is no electric vehicle mandate, though the Biden administration
did enact a set of regulations that would, in effect, compel automakers to sell more
electric vehicles. Those rules also remain intact, for the moment.
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Linda Qiu
Fact-check Reporter
“I’ve stopped all government censorship and brought back free
speech in America.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order purporting to protect free speech, but he has
taken a number of other actions that arguably curtail speech. The White House has
barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One for declining
to use the term Gulf of America. He threatened this week to pull federal funding
from schools that “allow illegal protests,” a move condemned by the American Civil
Liberties Union as an infringement on the First Amendment. And civil rights
groups have sued over his efforts to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs,
which they say chill speech.
Colby Smith
“We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in
the history of our country. As president, I’m fighting every day to
reverse this damage and make America affordable again.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to bring prices down on “Day 1.”
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Apoorva Mandavilli
Health & Science Reporter
“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control — and
we’re working hard to get it back down.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
The price of eggs soared during the Biden administration. But that is because of a
bird flu, called H5N1, which has been decimating poultry flocks in the United
States.
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Lisa Friedman
“Our goal is to get toxins out of our environment, poisons out of
our food supply, and keep our children healthy and strong.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
So far, the Trump administration is doing the opposite of getting toxins out of the
environment.
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Eileen Sullivan
Correspondent, Washington
“Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United
States — many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang
members and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities
all throughout the world. Because of Joe Biden’s insane and very
dangerous open border policies, they are now strongly embedded
in our country. But we are getting them out and getting them out
fast.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
“Fast” is a relative term.
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Linda Qiu
Fact-check Reporter
“1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159, and over 130,000 people,
according to the Social Security databases, are age over 160 years
old.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
There are examples of improbably old people with active Social Security files, as
well as billions of dollars in overpayment or erroneous payments in Social Security.
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Ana Swanson
Trade Reporter
“The tariffs will go on agricultural product coming into America,
and our farmers, starting on April 2. It may be a little bit of an
adjustment period. We had that before when I made the deal with
China — $50 billion of purchases. And I said, ‘Just bear with me,’
and they did. They did. Probably have to bear with me again. And
this will be even better.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
Mr. Trump’s support has been strong among farmers, and many did bear with him
during the trade wars of his first term, even as his trade spats with other countries
prompted retaliation, and U.S. agricultural exports plummeted. But farmers were
also rewarded when Mr. Trump gave them more than $20 billion in payments to
help offset their losses. A working paper by economists at M.I.T., the World Bank
and elsewhere found that some farmers who were not hit particularly hard by the
trade conflict still received large payments.
Ana Swanson
Trade Reporter
“Countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs
than we charge them.”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
The United States does have lower average tariffs rates than most countries
globally, but the rates are fairly similar to those of other wealthy nations.
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Jan Hoffman
Reporter, Health/Science
“They have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels
never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens
and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
In the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been
announcing declines in overdose fatalities.
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Colby Smith
“Today, interest rates took a beautiful drop, big, beautiful drop. It’s
about time.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
U.S. government borrowing costs have fallen sharply in recent weeks. On Tuesday,
the yield on the benchmark 10-year note — which is the interest rate that investors
are demanding to buy that bond — took another big step down. It fell to its lowest
level since October before reversing course later in the day.
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Lisa Friedman
“$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes
committee, headed up — and we know she’s involved — just at
the last moment, the money was passed over by a woman named
Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, a 2022 law, Congress directed the
Environmental Protection Agency to grant money to organizations that, in turn,
would offer loans to businesses, homeowners and others to spur a transition to
clean energy across the country, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. As part
of that effort, the agency awarded $2 billion to Power Forward Communities, a
coalition of five organizations that focus on decarbonizing housing. One of those
groups, Rewiring America, stood to receive of a portion of those funds. Ms. Abrams,
a Democratic organizer and former candidate for governor in Georgia, served for
one year as a senior counselor to Rewiring America. She did not lead the
organization. The Trump administration has frozen the money and demanded
investigations by the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the E.P.A.’s inspector
general. A career federal prosecutor who served 24 years at the Justice
Department was asked to resign after she determined that there was not enough
evidence to open a grand jury criminal inquiry.
Apoorva Mandavilli
Health & Science Reporter
“I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
Mr. Trump’s move to withdraw the country from the World Health Organization
was among his first actions in his second term. The United States is required to
give a year’s notice for the decision to take effect.
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Linda Qiu
Fact-check Reporter
“Small-business optimism saw its single largest one-month gain
ever recorded, a 41-point jump.”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
In its November survey, the National Federation of Independent Business
Research Center said its small-business optimism rose by 8 points — not 41 points
— to 101.7, from October to November. This was the largest one-month increase
since the organization began releasing monthly surveys in 1986. The index grew
again to 105.1 in December, but fell to 102.8 in January. The highest ever recorded in
the survey was 108.6 in August 2018.
Lisa Friedman
“I withdrew from the unfair Paris climate accord, which was
costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.”
— President Trump
This requires context.
Mr. Trump did withdraw from the Paris agreement, a voluntary pact among nearly
200 nations to curb climate change. The United States had pledged under
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. $11.4 billion annually by 2024 to help poor countries
avert the worst consequences of the Earth’s warming. That’s more than other
countries pledged, but the United States is also the biggest historic greenhouse gas
emitter. But the United States has. also gone years without making good on its
financial pledges — notably the four years of Mr. Trump’s first administration, in
which he sought to block any money for climate change.
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Eileen Sullivan
Correspondent, Washington
“Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever
recorded. Ever.”
— President Trump
True.
In February, officials were on track to arrest 8,500 migrants, according to
preliminary data from the Department of Homeland Security.
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Lisa Friedman
“The previous administration cut the number of new oil and gas
leases by 95 percent.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
The Biden administration did significantly cut the number of new oil and gas leases
as part of an effort to transition the United States away from fossil fuels, the
burning of which drives climate change. It approved 315,997 acres of federal lands
for leasing, compared with the six million acres offered up by President Trump in
his first term — indeed a 95 percent reduction.
The Biden administration’s rationale was that drillers should first use the millions
of acres they had already leased before seeking more land. At the same time, the
Biden administration approved many permits for companies to drill on land and in
waters they had already leased, most prominently an $8 billion project, known as
Willow, in the North Slope of Alaska. The decrease in new leases did not hinder
production. On the contrary, oil and gas companies saw some of their most
profitable years during the Biden administration, and oil and gas production
surged to record highs.
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Coral Davenport
The Biden administration “closed more than 100 power plants.”
— President Trump
This is false.
The number of utility-scale electric power plants in the nation actually increased
during the Biden administration. There were 11,070 in 2020 compared with 13,257 in
2023, the last year for which numbers were available from the Energy Information
Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm. Mr. Trump might have
been referring to the number of coal-fired power plants, which dropped to 227 from
284 during that same time. The number of renewable energy plants rose to 7,684
from 5,918.
Linda Qiu
Fact-check Reporter
“Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe
that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong
direction. In fact, it’s an astonishing record: 27-point swing, the
most ever.”
— President Trump
This is misleading.
Mr. Trump was most likely referring to the results of one poll: Rasmussen Reports.
Other polls do not show a drastic swing or historic result.
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Julian E. Barnes
Domestic Correspondent
“Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian oil and gas
than they have spent on defending Ukraine, by far. Think of that.
They’ve spent more buying Russian oil and gas than they have
defending. And we’ve spent perhaps $350 billion, like taking
candy from a baby. That’s what happened. And they’ve spent $100
billion.”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
President Trump says versions of this all the time. But he overstates the U.S.
support for Ukraine. The Congressional Research Service reported that Congress
has appropriated $174 billion in aid for Ukraine since the 2022 fiscal year. The
Pentagon’s inspector general estimated that figure was about $182 billion.
There is more truth to Mr. Trump’s comparison of European spending. He is basing
this comment on a report from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air,
which found that Europe spent $22 billion last year on oil and gas imports from
Russia. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy said the European Union
allocated $20 billion to Ukraine last year, though individual member states have
contributed more.
Julian Barnes
Freelance Writer
“Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed
or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in
sight.”
— President Trump
This is exaggerated.
Mr. Trump frequently says this. But it exaggerates the number of troops killed and
injured in the war. Exact figures are not known, as both Russia and Ukraine hide
the number of casualties they have suffered. But Western intelligence agencies put
the number of troops killed and wounded in the hundreds of thousands, not
millions. There are less good numbers on how many civilians have been killed or
injured in the war, but the United Nations estimated in October that about 11,700
civilians had been killed and another 24,600 had been wounded. All told, however
horrible the war in Ukraine has been, the death count is not in the millions.
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Apoorva Mandavilli
Health & Science Reporter
“Not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, one in
10,000 children have autism. One in 10,000. And now it’s one in
36. There’s something wrong.”
— President Trump
This needs context.
Mr. Trump is right that one in 36 American children is diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the numbers were one in 150 children 25 years ago, much higher than the rate
Mr. Trump claimed.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the Department of Health and Human Services,
has suggested that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism. But
dozens of studies have examined that theory and dismissed it. Instead, studies
suggest that most of the increase in autism diagnoses is on the milder end of the
spectrum, in part because the diagnostic criteria have widened.
There may also be genetic and environmental factors involved. More than 100
genes are associated with the condition, and older parents, particularly older
fathers, are more likely to have children with autism.
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Julian E. Barnes and Zia ur-Rehman Julian E. Barnes reported from Washington. Zia ur-Rehman reported
from Karachi, Pakistan,
Trump says a man behind the attack on the Kabul airport was
captured.
Portraits of American service members killed in a suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate
at Kabul’s airport, displayed in the Capitol last year. Will Oliver/EPA, via Shutterstock
President Trump announced the capture of a top leader of the Islamic State in
Afghanistan and Pakistan who helped plan the 2021 attack on the Kabul airport
that killed 13 American service members and dozens of other people.
“We have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is
right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Mr. Trump
said during his address to Congress on Tuesday.
Current and former officials said the United States had provided intelligence to
Pakistan that led to its capture of the leader, Mohmmad Sharifullah, who helped
plot the attack on the Abbey Gate entrance to the Kabul airport.
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Chris Cameron Reporting from Washington
Trump taps into his instinct for political showmanship in honoring
guests during his Capitol address.
During his lengthy address to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump
blended solemn tributes with a flair for showmanship, as he acknowledged guests
in the House chamber and showered them with praise.
Devarjaye Daniel, a 13-year-old who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018, and
was invited to the speech as a guest, came dressed as an officer from the Houston
Police Department. Devarjaye, known as D.J., has been on a yearslong quest to be
sworn in as an honorary police officer in as many places as possible as he
undergoes treatments and surgeries.
Describing D.J. as “a young man who truly loves our police,” Mr. Trump announced
that he would give him “the biggest honor of them all,” making him an agent of the
U.S. Secret Service.
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Tyler Pager Reporting from Washington
Here are six takeaways from Trump’s speech.
“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight
years — and we are just getting started,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
President Trump took a defiant victory lap in the House chamber on Tuesday
night, using his address to a joint session of Congress to promote the flurry of
drastic changes to domestic and foreign policy that his administration has made in
just the first six weeks.
Delivering the longest address to Congress in modern presidential history, Mr.
Trump reprised many of the themes that animated his campaign for president and
spent little time unveiling new policies, as presidents traditionally have done on
these occasions. He spoke for roughly one hour 40 minutes.
“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in
four years or eight years — and we are just getting started,” he said.
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River Akira Davis Reporting from Tokyo
Reporter, Business desk, Tokyo
Trump says South Korea and Japan want to invest in an Alaska
pipeline.
ConocoPhillips oil pipelines on the North Slope of Alaska. Erin Schaff/The New York Times
President Trump said on Tuesday that Japan and South Korea want to work with
the United States on a $44 billion plan to produce and export natural gas from
Alaska, reviving interest in one of the world’s biggest energy projects.
The project, known as Alaska L.N.G., involves building an 800-mile pipeline from
fields north of the Arctic Circle to southern Alaska, where the natural gas would be
liquefied and shipped to Asia. China and Japan are the world’s two biggest
importers of liquefied natural gas.
Because of its high costs and the time required for construction, Alaska L.N.G. has
been viewed as a long shot in the industry. For years, major energy companies and
officials in Japan and South Korea rebuffed requests from Alaskan delegations to
participate, stalling the project’s progress.
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Michael D. Shear and Luke Broadwater Reporting from Washington
A combative Trump says ‘America is back’ and taunts his political
rivals.
President Trump delivered a contentious speech to Congress on Tuesday. Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Trump vowed not to lift tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners in
his first address to Congress on Tuesday, but appeared ready to reduce tensions
with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine just days after an Oval Office
blowup in which he threatened to abandon a key ally fighting an invasion.
During the 100-minute speech — the longest presidential address to Congress in
modern history — Mr. Trump read aloud a message of gratitude that Mr. Zelensky
had posted on social media earlier in the day. Mr. Trump said he appreciated the
message, and had received “strong signals” from Russia that the country was
eager for peace.
“Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” Mr. Trump said.
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Annie Karni Reporting from the Capitol
Congressional Correspondent, Washington
Slotkin, giving Democrats’ response, warns Trump ‘will make you
pay.’
Senator Elissa Slotkin urged demoralized Democrats not to “tune out,” saying
democracy itself was at risk. Pool photo by Paul Sancya
Senator Elissa Slotkin, a first-term Democrat from Michigan, delivered a simple
message as her party’s official response to President Trump’s combative and
lengthy address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night: Mr. Trump, she
said, was “going to make you pay in every part of your life.”
Ms. Slotkin, 48, fresh off a victory in a competitive race in a critical state, took up
the tricky task of giving the opposing party’s answer to the annual congressional
address at a moment when Democrats are struggling to find an effective message
and messenger for pushing back on a president unbound.
During Mr. Trump’s address, some Democrats heckled him, others held up signs of
protest and one lawmaker, Representative Al Green of Texas, was removed from
the chamber for a cane-waving tirade in which he shouted that Mr. Trump had “no
mandate” for his agenda and refused to sit back down.
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Robert Jimison Reporting from the Capitol
Audio Producer
Democrats protest Trump with signs, clothes and walkouts
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, holds a “That’s a LIE!” sign, while other
Democrats show their opposition during President Trump’s speech on Tuesday. Haiyun Jiang for The New York
Times
Some held up signs, some shouted retorts and others bore their messages of
dissatisfaction on their clothing. More than a dozen left the House chamber in a
show of protest.
Democrats, eager to register their opposition to President Trump before a big
television viewing audience, wasted no time and displayed little timidity in venting
their animus for Mr. Trump during his evening address to a joint session of
Congress.
What started with a showy disruption by Representative Al Green, Democrat of
Texas, who was ejected from the House chamber not long after Mr. Trump began
speaking for heckling him continued throughout the president’s speech with an
array of shows of dissent.
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Maya C. Miller Reporting from the Capitol
Al Green was removed from the House Chamber for heckling
Trump during the address.
President Trump got barely two minutes into his speech to a joint session of
Congress on Tuesday night before Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas,
stood to protest, disrupting the proceedings in a display that ultimately got him
thrown out of the House chamber.
As Mr. Trump extolled his own accomplishments during his first weeks in office
and boasted about his electoral success in November, Mr. Green, 77, rose from his
seat, shook his cane and began to shout.
“You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” yelled Mr. Green, who often creates
headaches for Democrats by deviating from party orders.
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Adam Liptak
Supreme Court Correspondent
Justices can find these speeches to Congress to be a trial.
Supreme Court justices at the Capitol on Tuesday, from top, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett
Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan and John Roberts. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. makes a point of going to the State of the Union
address. But he does not enjoy it, once calling it “a political pep rally.”
He was there again on Tuesday, accompanied by Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and
Amy Coney Barrett, both appointed by President Trump; Justice Elena Kagan,
appointed by President Barack Obama; and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a
Reagan appointee who retired in 2018.
“I’m not sure why we are there,” Chief Justice Roberts, who was appointed by
President George W. Bush, said in 2010, adding: “The image of having the
members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the
Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court, according to the
requirements of protocol, has to sit there expressionless, I think, is very troubling.”
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Carl Hulse Reporting from Capitol Hill
Top Democrats accused Trump and Musk of imperiling national
security.
Democrats accused President Trump of aligning with President Vladimir V. Putin of
Russia, seen here at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday. Pool photo by Pavel Bednyakov
Top congressional Democrats on military, intelligence and foreign policy matters
on Tuesday accused President Trump and Elon Musk of gravely undermining
national security by aligning with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and
dismantling the federal security work force at a perilous time.
“Since taking office a little more than a month ago, the president has alienated
nearly every international partner and ally we have, leaving us isolated in an
increasingly dangerous world as Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China work
together,” said the blistering statement signed by eight leading Democrats in the
Senate and the House.
The statement, written by lawmakers who are typically more restrained in their
comments given their sensitive roles on security issues, contained some of the
party’s most pointed criticism yet of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk just hours before the
president was to address a joint session of Congress. It questioned the motives of
the two men and argued they were steadily weakening the United States,
providing an opening for the nation’s adversaries.
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