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False or misleading statements by Donald Trump (second term)
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During his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump has made several false or misleading claims. The Associated Press fact-checked several of Trump's statements from his first week in office, declaring them false and misleading.[3]
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Events
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Major events during Trump's second presidency that were fact-checked for multiple falsehoods.
Inaugural statements
On January 20, 2025, Trump made his official inaugural address at the Capitol's rotunda, unscripted second and third speeches at the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall and Washington’s Capital One Arena, concluding the day with statements to reporters at the Oval Office. News media and fact-checkers declared Trump made multiple false and misleading statements, mostly repetitions of falsehoods from his campaign.[4]
Speech to a joint session of Congress
On March 4, 2025, Trump addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. News media and fact-checkers declared Trump made multiple false and misleading statements.[5]
News conference about crime in Washington, D.C.
Though Trump said in September 2025 that "the radicals on the left are the problem" with political violence,[6] cumulatively over decades, most extremist killings in the US have been caused by right-wing perpetrators.[7] From 2022 through 2024, all 61 political killings were committed by right-wing extremists.[8]
On August 11, Trump held a press conference to declare a "public safety emergency", announcing the deployment of the National Guard and other law enforcement agencies to crack down on crime and homelessness in Washington, D.C., following the deployment of hundreds of federal law enforcement officers over the weekend.[10][11][12]
News media and fact-checkers declared that Trump made multiple false and misleading statements,[13][14][15] noting that the rates of homicides and other violent crimes he declared were false, and there are legal issues regarding his use of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and the National Guard.
The New York Times noted that a chart Trump held up comparing Washington’s homicide rate to that of eight other "capitals" (Lagos, Nigeria, is not a capital), first appearing on Fox News and shared by JD Vance, cites outdated data and omits other capitals with much higher murder rates. It also pointed out that Jeanine Pirro's statements about her inability to prosecute minors were misleading and inaccurate.[16]
In the press conference, Trump talked about "a man" who quit "because he was asked to do phony numbers on crime (...) But he was asked by the city, I guess, that we don't want to show the real numbers." [11]: min.05:37 In an August 13 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that "a Precinct Commander was just suspended for allegedly manipulating the Violent Crime Statistics, and the D.C. Police Union, likewise, says the real numbers are much higher."[17]
In July 2025, NBC 4 reported that after an exchange of accusations between Michael Pulliam, the former commander of the 3rd District, an assistant chief, the police union, and the department, the commander, who denies any wrongdoing, was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May. In the related interview, DC Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton stated that high-ranking officers attend felony offense scenes and direct police officers "to take a report for a lesser offense", that it is "a directive from the command staff", and he called the official crime descent numbers "preposterous." As of the publication date, the investigation into the allegations was ongoing.[18]
In an August interview with NBC 4, Chairman Pemberton reiterated his assertions regarding crime numbers' descent, based on the police's day-to-day experience. NBC 4 contextualized his statements, pointing out the notable 2023 crime spike, and that crime and homicides have descended in multiple cities to rates even lower than D.C.'s. Regarding the White House's claim that "Metro Police Department leadership are allegedly cooking the books to make crime statistics appear more favorable",[19] NBC 4 noted that data reporting anomalies were found in just one police district.[20]
Press conference about autism, Tylenol, and vaccines
On September 22, 2025, Trump gave a press conference on the "autism crisis" and findings of the investigation led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in which he claimed that they had found Tylenol (paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen) taken during pregnancy was the cause of autism, and strongly recommended the public not to take Tylenol nor give it to infants.[21] It was also announced that the FDA is approving prescription leucovorin (folinic acid) for the treatment of children on the autism spectrum.
Trump also made various claims about vaccines, like that the Amish do not vaccinate nor take "pills", and they have "essentially no autism;" also, he expressed opposition to the vaccination schedule, claiming among other things that "it looks like they are pumping into a horse. You have a little child, little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess, 80 different blends, and they pump it in." Trump reiterated these claims in a September 26 Truth Social post.[22][23] These claims were determined as false by fact-checkers,[24][25] and the media[26][27][28][29] (which drew parallels with Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic),[30][31] plus entities such as the American Academy of Pediatrics,[32] the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,[33][34] the American Psychiatric Association,[35] the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy,[36] the World Health Organization,[37] the Consumer Healthcare Products Association,[38] the Autism Science Foundation,[39] and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.[40]
Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, strongly disagreed with Trump's claims as shares of the company fell 7.5% in trading Monday, reducing the company’s market value by about $2.6 billion.[41]
Regarding leucovorin, Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said that it can help treat some autism cases, but it is not a universal remedy: "You can have a perfectly normal folate level in your blood, but it may not be getting into the brain, and so there's a defect in the transport of folate into the brain. Leucovorin works around that", Gounder said. "Not all children with autism have this defect, so there's a test you can do to assess whether that's what's at play. For those kids, leucovorin has been shown to help, particularly with speech, getting kids to be more verbal than they were before."[26]
Trump’s comments on Tylenol seemed to be based on several studies,[42][43] including a 2025 American study that summarized 46 studies[44] that identified a slightly increased risk of autism associated with prenatal paracetamol use, but did not demonstrate causation.[45] During the press conference, the study was cited by Marty Makary, along with two others, as justification for officially advising pregnant women against taking Tylenol.[46] The study itself came under strong scrutiny in the scientific community, with members of the scientific community pointing to its inconsistent methodology, deviation from the cited systematic review and evidence grading protocols, and multiple choices that swayed the interpretation of results, with one professor stating “I’ve never seen any kind of review of any kind or any kind of meta analysis, at any time, in which somebody said, I don’t like the adjusted results, so I’m going to include the unadjusted results".[47] Large, well-controlled studies, including sibling-controlled analyses, find no causal link after adjusting for maternal conditions,[48][49][50][51] while untreated pain and fever is known to harm both mother and fetus.[52][53]
Ann Bauer, who co-authored the 2025 American study, declared herself concerned about the effects Trump's use of it could have: "Bauer worries such statements will cut both ways: People may put themselves at risk to avoid vaccines and Tylenol, the only safe painkiller for use during pregnancy. And she frets that scientists might outright reject her team's measured concerns about Tylenol in a backlash against misleading remarks from Trump and other members of his "Make America Healthy Again" movement."[54] In 2023, Andrea Baccarelli, also a co-author of the analysis and current dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was paid at least $150,000 to provide testimony (together with other experts) for a group of parents and guardians of children diagnosed with autism and ADHD, in a class action lawsuit against Tylenol’s manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson/Kenvue (in that year Kenvue span off from Johnson & Johnson). The plaintiffs paid Baccareli $700 an hour for his expert testimony, according to a 2023 deposition.[55] Denise Cote, the federal judge overseeing the case in the Southern District of New York, dismissed the lawsuit, describing the experts' testimonies as "unreliable" and not in adherence with the Daubert standard. Regarding Baccarelli's, Cote summarized that he "cherry-picked and misrepresented study results and refused to acknowledge the role of genetics in the etiology" of autism and ADHD. "The discussion in his reports is incomplete, unbalanced, and at times misleading. In general, Baccarelli downplays those studies that undercut his causation thesis and emphasises those that align with his thesis." In a statement, Baccarelli confirmed he consulted with the Trump administration ahead of its autism announcement, and that "further research is needed to confirm the association and determine causality." This stands in contrast to his expert report provided in the Johnson & Johnson lawsuit, Baccarelli wrote, "Substantial evidence supports a strong, positive, causal association between acetaminophen and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)."[46][56] Baccarell's his work demonstrated only a correlation and not a causal link, as the Trump administration has asserted.[55]
On October 9, 2025, Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. alleged a link between autism and circumcisions.[57][58] Kennedy cited a 2015 Danish study to justify this claim.[59] The validity of Kennedy's assertion about circumcisions being linked to autism has also been challenged by scientists and medical experts.[58][60] Kennedy Jr appeared to walk back his comments in an October 29, when he spoke with reporters and stated that the causative association between Tylenol use in pregnancy and autism was not definitely proven but instead showed it was very suggestive.[61]
Resulting lawsuits
On October 28, 2025 it was announced that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had sued the makers of Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, alleging that they had deceptively marketed the drug to pregnant women despite the drugs supposed links to autism and other disorders. In a statement Kenvue stated that they were deeply concerned about the "perpetuation of misinformation" being pushed by Paxton.[62]
September 2025 speech at the United Nations
Right About Everything
I'm really good at predicting things. They... had a hat, the best-selling hat, "Trump was right about everything". And I don't say that in a braggadocious way, but it's true. I've been right about everything.
On September 23, 2025, Trump delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. He spoke for nearly 57 minutes (despite having been asked to confine his remarks to 15 minutes, like all other speakers),[64] addressing a variety of subjects such as inflation in the US, his standing in national opinion polls, immigration and climate policies both in the US and abroad, and his personal role in settling international conflicts.[65][66]
Many of his claims were determined as false by fact-checkers[67][68][69] and the media.[70][71][72] Trump's claims about climate change were specifically addressed,[73][74][69] and some of his political claims elicited backlash and concern abroad.[75][76][77]
Trump's "your countries are going to Hell" speech[66][64] was also described as "colorful",[78] "combative",[66] "meandering",[79] and "inflammatory",[75] analyzed as a sign of changing times,[80][64] and as a sign of the "waning of US influence." As "Trump has moved to slash US funding of the UN, withdrawn from many of its agencies, and ordered a review of America’s interactions with the organisation", this has weakened its capacity to protect human rights, and "creating an opportunity for other nations to step in and attempt to fill the vacuum", with authoritarian nations such as China, Qatar, and Russia already taking initiatives in that regard, and countries like Chile and the Netherlands having their own human rights and cooperation talks.[81]
Demolition of the East Wing for the White House State Ballroom
On July 31, 2025, Trump said the new White House State Ballroom being constructed "won't interfere with the current building', wouldn't be "touching it", and would pay "total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of."[82] Demolition of the entire East Wing began in October 2025[83] without review by the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal construction.[84]
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False and misleading statements by topic
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Blame for start of Russo-Ukrainian War
Trump has falsely stated that Ukraine is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started the Russo-Ukrainian War:[85]
In Mr. Trump's telling, Ukrainian leaders were at fault for the war for not agreeing to surrender territory and therefore, he suggested, they do not deserve a seat at the table for the peace talks that he has just initiated with Mr. Putin. 'You should have never started it,' Mr. Trump said, referring to Ukrainian leaders who, in fact, did not start it. 'You could have made a deal.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rebutted that claim and accused Trump of spreading disinformation:[86]
"I would like to have more truth with the Trump team," Mr. Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv during a broader discussion about the administration, which this week opened peace talks with Russia that excluded Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky said that the U.S. president was "living in a disinformation space" and in a "circle of disinformation."
Peter Baker of The New York Times described how Trump has never uttered "one word of reproach for Mr. Putin or for Russia". He also debunked other false claims by Trump:[85]
As he often does, Mr. Trump flavored his comments with multiple false claims. Among them, he said that the United States has contributed three times as much aid to Ukraine since the war started as Europe has. In fact, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Europe has allocated $138 billion compared with $119 billion from the United States.
Jeffrey Epstein hoax
On July 12, 2025, during the controversy related to Jeffrey Epstein's client list, Trump posted on Truth Social in defense of Pam Bondi's handling of the case, stating that the file had been "written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 “Intelligence” Agents, “THE LAPTOP FROM HELL;”" he compared the "Epstein Files" to the Steele dossier declaring both as "FAKE", and requested MAGA to "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."[87] Trump's post was not well received by his supporters.[88][89][90]
On July 16, he posted again on the subject, declaring it was a "totally fake and made up story" created by Democrats, and stating: "Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax", a label he continued to use thereafter.[91] Trump's labelling of the Jeffrey Epstein case as a hoax made up by Democrats was declared as a falsehood by the media.[92]
On the July 17 episode of Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough noted that Trump supporters have been the ones talking about the case "for years", that it has been "almost a foundational belief for MAGA", and that Trump calling it a Democratic hoax, "it's just not true." Willie Geist noted the case existed and asked, "What part of this is a hoax?" Clips of Charlie Kirk, Benny Johnson, and Alex Jones, along with a tweet by Michael Flynn, were featured, calling for transparency regarding the case. Scarborough noted that Trump's false claim makes other claims of his dubious, and it is a baffling strategy.[93]
Uncle's acquaintance with Ted Kaczynski
On July 15, 2025, Trump spoke at an "Energy and Innovation" event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During discussion of artificial intelligence,[94][95] Trump professed to the intelligence of his uncle Prof. John G. Trump with a false anecdote of Prof. Trump teaching Ted Kaczynski (who he commented "very little difference between a madman and a genius")[95] at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and their supposed reaction to Kaczynski's identification as the Unabomber; this is impossible as John Trump died in 1985, a decade before Kaczynski was identified as the Unabomber and arrested in 1996. Kaczynski was an alumnus of Harvard University and the University of Michigan, having never attended MIT, a fact confirmed by MIT in response to Donald Trump's claim. Kaczynski could not contest Trump's claim, having himself died in 2023.[94][95] Trump also miscredited his uncle as having university degrees "in nuclear, chemical, and math"; Prof. Trump actually had a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Science in electrical engineering, and a Master of Science in physics.[94]
Alleged apology from Tucker Carlson
On June 13, 2025, Tucker Carlson accused Trump of having been "complicit" in Israel's attack on Iran. Five days later, Trump told White House reporters that Carlson "called and apologized the other day because he thought he had said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciate that." However, when (in an interview that aired July 19), a German journalist asked Carlson if this was true, Carlson denied having made any such phone call or apology.[96]
Economy
Drug prices
On July 22, 2025, Trump posted to social media: "We’re gonna get the drug prices down. Not 30% or 40% ... we’re gonna get them down 1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%." Reducing the price of something more than 100% would mean that the seller pays the buyer and not the other way around.[97]
Grocery prices
In an interview that aired on Fox News on November 10, 2025, Trump asserted that "prices are down" and that only beef and coffee prices remained high. University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers told CNN the next day that, to the contrary, "almost every category of goods or services sees the prices rising".[98]
Firing of Erika McEntarfer
On July 31, 2025, Trump issued an executive order imposing tariffs on imports from many of America's trading partners. On August 1, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly report on job creation, indicating that only 73,000 jobs were added in July, significantly below the expected 115,000. Additionally, revisions reduced 258,000 jobs from the May and June reports, increasing the unemployment rate to 4.2%.[99][100] Maria Bartiromo delivered the news live on Mornings with Maria; the panel members elaborated on the likely reasons for those results and possible ways to address the issues.[101]
Officials such as Stephen Miran,[99] Karoline Leavitt,[102] and Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer[103] sought to explain the report's results and to reassure the public on the grounds that the weak performance was tied to the fate of Trump's domestic spending legislation and the outcome of the tariff policy. They said that as Congress had passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, deregulations are being enacted, federal expenses are being cut, inflation has decreased, wages have increased, and new tariff deals that will rake in "billions of dollars" have been announced, uncertainty ended; Trump's policies are starting to sort into place, as the numbers still show that jobs for American workers are increasing.
Later on August 1, Trump ordered[104] the firing of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Erika McEntarfer, stating without evidence, both in posts on Truth Social[105][106] and public statements,[107][108]: min.00:20 that she had "rigged" the numbers, that is, that she had previously inflated the numbers to favor Kamala Harris's presidential bidding, that she had reduced his numbers to make him look bad, and the numbers were "a scam, in my opinion."[109][110] Trump's officials, such as Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer,[111][112][108]: min.00:53 and Kevin Hassett,[113] defended his decision on the grounds that the economy is growing; BLS's massive revisions since Covid make no sense and have been detrimental to the markets; the President has the right to fire the BLS head; the Bureau needs overhauling, to revise its formulas, and to be apolitical; their duty is to support the President, who is doing a great job; and reliable information, and transparency, are important for the economy.
Fact-checkers[114][115] and the media[116] established that Trump's claims were false, based on the way the data are collected and processed, which prevents the Commissioner from tampering with them; releases are regular; revisions are routine due to low response to the surveys, lack of resources, and the firing of the Technical Advisory Committee and Data Users Advisory Committee;[117][118] his timeline doesn't match reality; and Trump has a history of claiming that the BLS data are biased against him.
Trump announced he would soon choose a replacement for Ms. McEntarfer, "somebody who's gonna be honest"[107]: min.05:55 On August 7, Stephen Moore made an impromptu presentation[119] at the Oval Office to defend Trump's decision, showing a series of graphs favorable to him. With the first one, Moore stated that the reports' revisions manifested errors and incompetence, whereas Trump declared it was made purposely. The other graphs showed increasing or larger household income under Trump, "based on unpublished Census Bureau data", mostly by comparing Trump's first term's numbers to Biden's, including the impact of COVID in one graph.[120] The media noted that revisions are usual, the graphs' data were unverifiable, and it was not explained how they were calculated for the graphs.[121][122][123][117] On August 11, Trump named E.J. Antoni as McEntarfer's replacement.[124][125]
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