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Trump Makes Multiple False Claims in ’60 Minutes’ Interview
President Donald Trump made at least 18 inaccurate statements during his recent “60 Minutes” interview with CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, covering topics ranging from grocery prices to foreign policy. The interview, recorded Friday and aired Sunday, lasted nearly 90 minutes, with approximately 28 minutes broadcast on television.
Trump repeatedly contradicted factual data, beginning with his assertion that grocery prices “are down” even after O’Donnell corrected him. In reality, Consumer Price Index figures for September showed average grocery prices increased since August (0.3%), since September 2024 (2.7%), and since January 2025 (1.4%), when Trump returned to office. Prices have risen across all six major grocery categories tracked by the government.
On inflation, Trump incorrectly claimed “we have no inflation” and that it’s “2% or even less than 2%.” Current data shows inflation at approximately 3% in September, unchanged from January when he took office after steadily decreasing during Biden’s final months.
The president made several economic misrepresentations, including his assertion that “$17 trillion” is being invested in the United States. The White House’s own website lists investment announcements totaling $8.9 trillion, and even that figure includes vague pledges and commitments that don’t represent confirmed investments.
Trump’s claims about tariffs contained familiar inaccuracies. He stated that China and other countries pay the tariffs he has imposed, when studies—including one from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission—found that American importers and consumers bear almost the entire cost.
Regarding military actions, Trump dramatically overstated the impact of strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, claiming “every one of those boats kills 25,000 Americans.” This would mean just 16 boats accounted for more than four years’ worth of all American drug overdose deaths, which totaled approximately 82,000 in 2024.
Foreign policy claims also contained numerous inaccuracies. Trump said he “knocked out eight wars,” listing conflicts between various nations. However, this figure is exaggerated—some of the “wars” he cited, like the Egypt-Ethiopia dispute over the Nile River dam project, weren’t actually wars but diplomatic disagreements.
On Ukraine, Trump falsely stated that “Joe Biden gave $350 billion to Ukraine.” Official figures from the inspector general overseeing Ukraine assistance show the U.S. had disbursed about $94 billion as of June 2025, with approximately $93 billion more appropriated. A German think tank tracking wartime aid estimates U.S. allocations at about $135 billion through August.
Trump made unsubstantiated claims about immigration, repeating his assertion that foreign countries, particularly Venezuela, are deliberately emptying prisons to send inmates to the U.S. Experts on international prison policy have found no evidence supporting this claim. He also greatly exaggerated migration numbers, stating “probably 25 million people were let into our country” under Biden, when federal records show fewer than 11 million encounters with migrants during that administration.
When questioned about recent Justice Department indictments of his critics—including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James—Trump denied giving instructions to “go after them.” However, in September he publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding these individuals, writing they were “all guilty as hell” and “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Throughout the interview, Trump continued to falsely claim the 2020 election “was rigged and stolen,” despite overwhelming evidence that he legitimately lost a free and fair election to Joe Biden.
The comprehensive list of misstatements highlights a pattern of factual inaccuracies that persisted despite corrections from the interviewer and readily available contradicting data.
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8 Comments
While I’m not a fan of Trump, I do try to evaluate claims objectively. I’d be interested to see analysis from other sources to get a fuller picture of the economic situation.
It’s disappointing to see a president make so many inaccurate statements, even in a high-profile interview. Fact-checking is important to hold leaders accountable and ensure the public has access to truthful information.
Interesting to see these fact checks on Trump’s 60 Minutes interview. Seems like he made quite a few false claims, especially around inflation and grocery prices. I wonder how his statements compare to actual economic data.
The $17 trillion investment claim seems particularly dubious. I’d be curious to know where that figure came from and what it’s supposed to represent.
I’m not surprised to see Trump making false claims, but it’s still concerning. Leaders should be held to high standards of honesty, especially on important issues like the economy.
Reliable data and fact-checking are crucial, especially when it comes to issues that impact people’s daily lives like grocery prices and inflation. This report seems well-researched.
It’s important to have rigorous fact-checking, especially for high-profile interviews. Glad to see this report calling out the specific inaccuracies in Trump’s statements.
Grocery prices increasing despite Trump’s claims? That doesn’t align with what he was saying. I’d be curious to see a more detailed breakdown of the price changes across different food categories.