Here’s our fact-check of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in video form.
Video: FactChecking Trump’s Address to Congress
FactChecking Trump’s Address to Congress
In his first address to a joint session of Congress in his second term, President Donald Trump distorted the facts on fraud, immigration, aid to Ukraine, the economy, autism and more.
Trump Exaggerates on U.S. and European Aid to Ukraine, Loans
As President Donald Trump has sought to secure rights to Ukraine’s minerals as compensation for U.S. aid to fight the Russian invasion, he has repeatedly overstated the amount of aid provided by the U.S. compared with Europe and exaggerated the extent to which European assistance – unlike U.S. aid — is in the form of guaranteed loans.
The War of Words Over Medicaid Cuts
Democrats and Republicans are accusing one another of “lying” about what a House Republican budget resolution means for Medicaid, and both sides have made misleading or speculative comments. There’s little doubt the health care program would face cuts under the plan — and it would have to if Medicare cuts are off limits.
Posts Spread False Claim About DOGE Halting Supposed Obamacare ‘Royalties’
Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have been tasked by President Donald Trump with slashing federal spending. But social media posts falsely claim that as part of that effort, DOGE stopped “royalties” to former President Barack Obama related to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The claim came from a satirical website.
Will SAVE Act Prevent Married Women from Registering to Vote?
Q: Is it true that under the SAVE Act married women will not be able to register to vote if their married name doesn’t match their birth certificate?
A: The proposed SAVE Act instructs states to establish a process for people whose legal name doesn’t match their birth certificate to provide additional documents. But voting rights advocates say that married women and others who have changed their names may face difficulty when registering because of the ambiguity in the bill over what documents may be accepted.
RFK Jr. Minimizes Measles Outbreak in Texas
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the Department of Health and Human Services, downplayed the seriousness of an ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, falsely claiming that people had been hospitalized “mainly for quarantine” and misleadingly stating that the situation is “not unusual.” The Texas outbreak is already larger than any single outbreak last year and has led to the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015.
Posts Share Bogus Audio of Donald Trump Jr. Supporting Arms for Russia, Not Ukraine
A fake audio clip of Donald Trump Jr. saying that the U.S. should have sent weapons to Russia instead of Ukraine was shared across social media. Deepfake experts said the audio was apparently generated using artificial intelligence. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said the audio clip is “100% fake.”
Online Posts Misconstrue Data on Social Security Numbers
Elon Musk shared a chart on X purportedly showing more than 398 million eligible numbers in the Social Security database. Online posts misconstrued the figures to wrongly claim they showed how many people are receiving benefits, which would exceed the U.S. population. The Social Security Administration reported more than 68.4 million recipients in 2024.
FactChecking RFK Jr.’s First Interview as HHS Secretary
In Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first interview as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he made multiple incorrect or misleading statements, including about seed oils, an abortion drug and the notion that the U.S. has the “sickest population in the world.”