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Trump speech fact-check: From ‘zero illegal aliens’ to inflation seeing ‘largest monthly decline’
President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday where he made several claims including blaming China of election interference in 2020.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday where the Republican made several claims, including blaming China of election interference in 2020. The speech came ahead of the crucial midterms elections this year. You can listen to the full speech here.
While Trump said the government was releasing documents from the intelligence community to support the claims that China had actively worked to interfere in the elections and undermine him during his first term, the president also made several claims about illegal immigrants in the US, the crime rate in the nation, and inflation levels.
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Here's a fact-check of the claims Trump made during the key speech today.
Zero illegal aliens in last 14 months
President Trump said that the US had seen zero illegal immigrants or aliens entering the country in the last 14 months. The US Customs and Border Protection announced ‘14 consecutive months of zero releases at the border, continuing the unprecedented trend of historically low border crossings.’
However, in May 2026, NewsNation reported the law enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Mexico border continued to see increases in the number of migrants illegally entering the United States.
Murder rate at lowest level since 1900
Trump spoke about historically low crime rates in the country, going on to say that the murder rate was at the lowest level since 1900. This stems from a Council on Criminal Justice report.
“When nationwide data for jurisdictions of all sizes is reported by the FBI later this year, there is a strong likelihood that homicides in 2025 will drop to about 4.0 per 100,000 residents. That would be the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900, and would mark the largest single-year percentage drop in the homicide rate on record,” the report read.
Trump had touted this figure in the past as well, saying “This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history. The lowest number in over 125 years—year 1900,” which is similar to what he said today.
Multiple publications like NPR, Axios, and BBC have also reported on this statistic. Hence, Trump's claim about the murder rate is true.
Inflation saw the largest monthly decline in more than 6 years
Yes, the inflation report for June did show a decline. The consumer price index fell 0.4% in June, its biggest monthly decline since April 2020.
This was driven by gas prices falling nearly 10%, which offset the continued increases in housing and food costs, as per WLKY. While Trump has touted this number in the speech today, which is factually correct, the President appears to have not portrayed the full picture.
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh cautioned against premature optimism, saying, “There might be some that look at this morning's data and say, 'Oh, mission accomplished. Everything is swell.' That is not my view.” Another expert warned that next month could see elevated headline inflation.
Tyler Schipper, an economist at the University of St. Thomas told the publication “The fact that energy prices help bring this headline inflation rate down, that reverses next month, and we could see elevated headline inflation right back in the news,” with the Iran war adding a degree of uncertainty.
Worst inflation in 48 years
Trump repeated the claim that he had inherited an economy that saw the worst inflation in 48 years, effectively blaming the Joe Biden government. While the president repeated the claim in today's speech, it is false.
While the the year-over-year US inflation rate hit about a 40-year high (not a 48-year high) during the Biden administration in June 2022, 9.1%, that was not close to the all-time record of 23.7%, set in 1920. Further, this was two years before Trump came into office, by which time inflation had plummeted, an earlier fact check by CNN of Trump's claim noted.
Biggest and best military
Trump's claim of having the ‘biggest’ military, is untrue in terms of troop numbers, with countries like China and India having more personnel in the military, as per Business Insider. However, it is unclear if the president was referring to troop numbers or speaking in terms of defense budget.
Trump also claimed the US is winning in Iran, but reports on the conflict suggest a protracted and escalating conflict with the US having intensified the naval blockade and launching airstrikes with Iran retaliating by targeting US assets and allied nations in the Gulf region.
More Americans working today than ever before
President Trump has made this claim several times during his second term. While it is true based on the sheer number of Americans working, this is just due to population growth. Hence, any future president can make the same claim, based on the size of the workforce.
However, analyzing the data shows a different picture. Employment peak came in January 2026 falling the next month, as per WRAL. Labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio were relatively high but not at all-time highs. The publication noted Trump’s second term underperformed his predecessors Obama, Biden and himself from his first term.
The publication, which fact-checked the statement, noted it was part true, but left out important details, or took things out of context.
