CBS Information is reality checking President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union tackle Tuesday evening. The president is touting his first-year accomplishments and plans for his agenda this yr, within the months earlier than the midterm elections in November.
Listed below are among the claims the president made throughout his speech, and CBS Information’ scores and context for these claims:
True: Trump claims homicide charge noticed its largest decline in recorded historical past final yr
“Final yr, the homicide charge noticed its single largest decline in recorded historical past. That is the largest decline, consider it, in recorded historical past — the bottom quantity in over 125 years.”
Particulars:
- Preliminary information from unbiased researchers means that homicides might have hit an 125-year low final yr, though the FBI’s official annual crime report for 2025 won’t be launched till later this yr.
- A January examine by the Council on Felony Justice, or CCJ, discovered a “sturdy risk” that the 2025 murder charge will drop to about 4 per 100,000 residents, which might be the bottom recorded in regulation enforcement or public well being information relationship again to 1900. The murder charge has been declining since 2022, in response to annual FBI experiences.
- The CCJ report additionally famous that the explanations for final yr’s decline aren’t clear, however researchers say attainable influences embrace “modifications in prison justice insurance policies and packages, shifts in using expertise, and broader social, financial, and cultural developments.”
By Laura Doan
Partially true: Trump claims that previously 9 months, no unlawful immigrants have been admitted into the U.S.
“Prior to now 9 months, zero unlawful aliens have been admitted to the USA.”
Particulars:
Mr. Trump is probably going referring to the variety of migrants launched by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
Over the previous 9 months, U.S. Customs and Border Safety has reported zero releases of migrants by Border Patrol alongside the U.S. southern border.
That doesn’t essentially imply each single migrant who has entered the U.S. illegally since Mr. Trump took workplace has been deported.
Some migrants initially arrested by Border Patrol after which transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement may very well be launched by that company, although the Trump administration has sought to bar those that entered the U.S. illegally from being eligible for bond.
Border Patrol’s numbers additionally don’t account for migrants who enter the U.S. illegally surreptitiously, with out being caught by Border Patrol brokers. It is unclear what number of of these so-called “got-aways” have been recorded beneath the second Trump administration.
General, unlawful border crossings have plummeted beneath Mr. Trump’s second administration, falling to the bottom degree since 1970 in fiscal yr 2025. Nonetheless, hundreds of migrants proceed crossing into the U.S. illegally every month. In January, Border Patrol apprehended roughly 6,000 migrants after they crossed the southern border unlawfully, authorities information present.
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Deceptive: Trump claims extra People working immediately than at any time in U.S. historical past
“Extra People are working immediately than at any time within the historical past of our nation. Take into consideration that — any time within the historical past of our nation, extra working immediately. And 100% of all jobs created beneath my administration have been within the non-public sector.”
Particulars:
Preliminary information from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics present there are roughly 158.6 million folks employed within the U.S., as of January 2026, which is greater than at some other level on report. However the whole variety of employed folks often rises because the inhabitants grows. About 157 million folks have been employed when President Joe Biden left workplace in January 2025.
Economists typically depend on the share of individuals working to check labor market power over time, which has remained largely flat over the previous yr. The labor drive participation charge sat at 62.5% in January, which is similar to the speed in December 2024, Biden’s final full month in workplace.
In the meantime, the unemployment charge has ticked up beneath Mr. Trump to 4.3% from 4.1% in December 2024.
By Aaron Navarro
False/not supported: Trump claims he is secured $18 trillion in new funding within the U.S.
“In 4 lengthy years, the final administration acquired lower than $1 trillion in new funding in the USA. And after I say much less, considerably much less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for greater than $18 trillion, pouring in from everywhere in the globe.”
Particulars:
- In response to the US Bureau of Financial Evaluation, new overseas direct investments over Biden’s 4 years in workplace did add as much as lower than $1 trillion.
- However a CBS Information evaluation discovered no proof that whole commitments or new investments strategy the dimensions the president has cited. New funding of $18 trillion would signify virtually 60% of U.S. GDP.
- The administration’s personal record of main funding commitments “made attainable by President Trump’s management” totaled $9.6 trillion as of the most recent replace in November, however even that determine is exaggerated and contains some investments introduced whereas Biden was president.
- Moreover, federal information reveals company funding ranges are just like ranges final yr, with U.S. firms on observe to take a position over $5 trillion in 2025. General, because the finish of the pandemic, company funding has been rising.
By Jui Sarwate
False: Trump claims fuel is “now under $2.30 a gallon in most states”
“Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states beneath my predecessor — it was, fairly actually, a catastrophe — is now under $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some locations, $1.99 a gallon. And after I visited the good state of Iowa only a few weeks in the past, I even noticed $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.”
Particulars:
Whereas fuel costs have dropped from a nationwide peak of $5.02 in June 2022 to $2.95, in response to AAA, they don’t seem to be under $2.30 in most states.
Just one state, Oklahoma, had a mean fuel worth round $2.30 as of Feb. 24, in response to AAA information. In response to GasBuddy, which tracks costs at roughly 150,000 stations nationwide, the most cost-effective 10% of all stations had fuel priced at $2.30, as of February 23. Solely eight fuel stations nationwide have been promoting a gallon of fuel for beneath $2, GasBuddy instructed CBS Information.
Trump particularly talked about $1.85 fuel in Iowa. AAA did report Iowa among the many 10 states with the bottom costs – however the common worth within the state was $2.50.
By Laura Doan, Julia Ingram, John Kelly
Deceptive: Trump claims “members of the Somali group have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer”
“Relating to the corruption that’s plundering — actually, it is plundering America — there’s been no extra beautiful instance than Minnesota, the place members of the Somali group have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer.”
Particulars:
- President Trump’s “estimated $19 billion {dollars}” determine refers back to the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported over a dozen state-run packages in Minnesota since 2018.
- The precise extent of the fraud and losses remains to be being investigated. In December 2025, a high prosecutor urged the full quantity of fraud may very well be $9 billion or extra.
- Greater than 90% of the folks charged in main fraud circumstances introduced earlier than December 2025 have been of Somali descent, in response to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for Minnesota. However the variety of folks of Somali descent charged, 82 people, is a small fraction of the Somali group throughout the state. Census Bureau information reveals that there are greater than 107,000 individuals who establish as Somali within the state.
- Prosecutors have stated the mastermind behind Feeding Our Future, Minnesota’s greatest fraud scheme up to now, is Aimee Bock, a White lady.
By Emma Li
Deceptive: Trump claims tariffs are paid for by overseas international locations and take “an important monetary burden off the those who I really like”
“As time goes by, I imagine that tariffs, paid for by overseas international locations, will, like prior to now, considerably substitute the modern-day system of earnings tax, taking an important monetary burden off the those who I really like.”
Particulars:
Mr. Trump and the White Home keep that it is overseas firms and exporters who pay for tariffs. He wrote in a January Wall Avenue Journal op-ed that information reveals tariffs have “fallen overwhelmingly on overseas producers and middlemen.”
The Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York revealed an evaluation in February that discovered over 90% of Mr. Trump’s 2025 tariffs have been handed onto U.S. shoppers and companies within the type of larger prices. It discovered that from January via August of final yr, U.S. importers bore 94% of tariff prices. That decreased barely in November, as exporters started to take up extra of the burden, however U.S. importers nonetheless remained on the hook for 86% of the tariffs, in response to their evaluation.
The Harvard Enterprise Faculty examine that the president cites in his Wall Avenue Journal op-ed discovered that U.S. shoppers paid for roughly 43% of the tariff-induced border prices after seven months of Trump’s tariffs, “with the rest absorbed largely by U.S. companies.”
As for the concept tariff income can offset or substitute earnings taxes — even when a president imposed 50% tariffs on all imports — the earnings generated would signify lower than 40% of earnings tax income, in response to the Peterson Institute.
Historians who examine U.S. commerce be aware that tariffs haven’t been seen as a major option to elevate income since earnings taxes have been launched in 1913. Earnings taxes generate over $2 trillion every year, in response to the Treasury Division.
In 2024, tariff collections on imports represented simply 1.7% of the greater than $4.9 trillion in whole federal income. And in response to the Congressional Analysis Service, tariffs haven’t accounted for far more than 2% of federal income within the final 70 years.
By Aaron Navarro
Deceptive: Trump claims new MFN agreements imply People, who’ve paid “highest costs of any nation” for prescriptions will now pay “the bottom worth wherever”
“Beneath my simply enacted Most Favored Nation agreements, People who’ve for many years paid by far the very best costs of any nation wherever on the planet for pharmaceuticals will now pay the bottom worth wherever on the planet for medicine.”
Particulars:
- It is true that prescription drug costs within the U.S. are usually a lot larger than in different international locations. In 2024, the RAND Group revealed its evaluation of prescription drug information, which confirmed that via 2022, prescription drug costs within the U.S. have been on common 2.8 instances larger than in 33 different nations. Model-name medicine averaged 4.22 instances as a lot within the U.S.
- Mr. Trump did signal an govt order in Could that threatened regulatory motion in opposition to drug firms that did not take steps to decrease drug prices for Medicare or Medicaid recipients.
- However well being coverage specialists say there are scant public particulars that lay out the total scope of Trump’s MFN agreements, together with which medicine are included and the way costs are decided. It is also unclear how these offers could be prolonged to all People.
By Emma Li, Laura Doan
Partially true/Deceptive: Trump claims worth of eggs is down 60%, and the costs of hen, butter, fruit, inns, autos and hire are “decrease immediately than after I took workplace by so much”
“The value of eggs is down 60%. Madam Secretary, thanks. The price of hen, butter, fruit, inns, cars, hire is decrease immediately than after I took workplace by so much.”
Particulars:
- The president’s claiim about eggs is correct — the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics information from January reveals common retail egg costs for buyers are down about 59% from their peak in March 2025 of $6.23 per dozen.
- However Bureau of Labor Statistics information from March 2025 via January 2026 reveals comparatively flat modifications in worth for the opposite merchandise and index objects he talked about:
- And whereas costs differ throughout merchandise, Client Worth Index information reveals common value of groceries in January elevated by 0.2% from the earlier month and by 2.4% from final yr.
By Jui Sarwate
False: Trump claims SAVE AMERICA Act should be handed “to cease unlawful aliens” from voting in U.S. elections as a result of “the dishonest is rampant in our elections”
“I am asking you to approve the SAVE AMERICA Act to cease unlawful aliens and others who’re uncommitted individuals from voting in our sacred American elections. The dishonest is rampant in our elections. It is rampant.”
Particulars:
- A number of research have discovered that noncitizen voting in federal elections, which is unlawful, is uncommon.
- The conservative Heritage Basis, which maintains a database of voter fraud circumstances introduced by prosecutors, contains solely 85 circumstances involving allegations of noncitizen voting over a two-decade interval from 2002 to 2023, in response to a Washington Submit evaluation. The nonpartisan Brennan Heart for Justice discovered solely 30 circumstances of suspected noncitizens voting reported by election officers in 2016 amongst 23.5 million votes forged throughout 42 jurisdictions reviewed.
- States have additionally carried out their very own audits of voter roles. A 2024 audit in Georgia discovered that 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million registered voters, in response to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. An audit in Texas discovered 2,724 potential noncitizens amongst 18.6 million registered voters, the secretary of state’s workplace stated.
- Noncitizens who vote in federal elections threat deportation and jail time. Whereas just some states require a photograph ID, when registering to vote, people should attest beneath penalty of perjury that they’re U.S. residents, and supply a driver’s license quantity or the final 4 digits of their social safety quantity.
By Julia Ingram
Deceptive: Trump claims Democrats’ refusal to vote to fund DHS means “no person’s getting paid”
“Tonight, I am demanding the total and fast restoration of all funding for the Border Safety, Homeland Safety of the USA and likewise for serving to folks clear up their snow. We’ve no cash due to the Democrats, and it might be nice- love to present you a hand at cleansing it up, however you gave no cash. No person’s getting paid.”
Particulars:
In the course of the partial authorities shutdown, some Division of Homeland Safety personnel are paid even when annual appropriations lapse — as a result of their pay comes from different funds authorities which are nonetheless legitimate (like payment income or beforehand enacted laws).
For example, Customs and Border Safety and Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers and officers are anticipated to be paid as a result of huge components of their budgets are funded by prior laws, not simply the expired DHS annual appropriation. The One Huge Lovely Invoice Act signed into regulation final yr by Mr. Trump allotted an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, with ICE alone getting $75 billion.
The opposite immigration company at DHS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies, which oversees authorized immigration, is usually funded by utility charges, so its operations and workforce proceed largely uninterrupted.
Most frontline “important” DHS employees (together with TSA brokers, FEMA employees, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company staff, Secret Service brokers, Coast Guard personnel whose funding has lapsed, and so forth.) are working however not receiving paychecks till the shutdown ends.
By Nicole Sganga, Camilo Montoya-Galvez
False: Trump claims Biden and Democrats “gave us the worst inflation within the historical past of our nation”
“The Biden administration and its allies in Congress gave us the worst inflation within the historical past of our nation. However in 12 months, my administration has pushed core inflation all the way down to the bottom degree in additional than 5 years. And within the final three months of 2025, it was all the way down to 1.7%.”
Particulars:
Beneath President Biden, year-over-year inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. That was the very best month-to-month charge in about 40 years, however not the very best ever. The Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties noticed inflation charges between 12% and 14%, in response to Federal Reserve information.
By the point Biden left workplace, the inflation charge had eased to about 3%, based mostly on Bureau of Labor Statistics information.
The figures Trump cited concerning inflation throughout his second time period used a less-common metric known as “core inflation,” which excludes meals and vitality.
Core inflation was 2.5% in January 2026, in response to the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Cleveland, the bottom since 1.6% in March 2021 – almost 5 years in the past.
The supply for Trump’s declare of 1.7% core inflation within the last three months of 2025 is just not clear. Core inflation was 2.6% in each November and December 2025, in response to the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Cleveland. Federal inflation information for October 2025 is lacking due to the 2025 federal authorities shutdown.
By Steve Reilly
