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
Issues: fentanyl
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.
Illegal Immigration and Fentanyl at the U.S. Northern and Southwest Borders
In recent remarks to the press, President Donald Trump restated his intention to impose 25% tariffs on U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada as early as Feb. 1. His reasoning: “vast” illegal immigration and “massive” amounts of fentanyl coming to the U.S. from those countries. But Trump drew a false equivalence between the two countries. In fact, the magnitude of the difference is enormous.
Harris Makes Unsupported Claim About Fentanyl Flows
Federal data do not show that “the flow” or “intake” of illegal fentanyl into the United States has been cut “by half” during the Biden-Harris administration, as Vice President Kamala Harris claimed in television interviews.
FactChecking the Vice Presidential Debate
Despite a mostly civil debate between Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the two disagreed repeatedly not just on policy, but also on the facts. We referee some of those competing claims, and other factual missteps by the vice presidential candidates.
Final Night of the GOP Convention
We fact-checked former President Donald Trump’s speech accepting his party’s nomination.
FactChecking the Second GOP Primary Debate
There were some new clashes, and plenty of claims we’ve heard before, as seven Republican candidates faced off in California.
FactChecking Tim Scott’s Presidential Campaign Announcement
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina announced on May 22 that he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. We reviewed his speech — and an exclusive NBC News interview he did shortly after — and found that he made a few claims that were false, misleading or lacked important context.
FactChecking the House Speaker Election
There were some factual missteps in several nominating speeches by lawmakers as Rep. Kevin McCarthy repeatedly fell short of the votes needed to become speaker of the House.
Ad Misleads on Percentage Increase in Fentanyl Seizures Under Biden
The overall increase in fentanyl seized at the southwest border under President Joe Biden is nowhere near as high as a Republican ad misleadingly claims. U.S. border officials seized 13,021 pounds of the drug in Biden’s first full 15 months in office, which is 70% more than the 7,677 pounds seized in Donald Trump’s last full 15 months as president.