Fact checking Trump's 2026 State of the Union address
#State of the Union#Trump#Fact-checking#CBS News#Immigration#Economy#Crime statistics#Midterm elections
📌 Key Takeaways
CBS News fact checked Trump's 2026 State of the Union address
Murder rate claim confirmed as true with 125-year low
Illegal immigration claim partially true but incomplete
Employment claim misleading due to population growth
$18 trillion investment claim false or not supported by evidence
📖 Full Retelling
During President Trump's 2026 State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, CBS News fact checkers Laura Doan, Aaron Navarro, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, and Emma Li analyzed and rated the president's claims regarding his first-year accomplishments and agenda for the coming months before the midterm elections. The fact-checking team examined several key claims made by President Trump during his speech, with mixed results regarding their accuracy. They confirmed that the murder rate did see its largest decline in recorded history last year, with preliminary data suggesting homicides hit a 125-year low, though they noted the FBI's official annual crime report for 2025 won't be released until later this year. Regarding immigration, the team rated Trump's claim that no illegal immigrants have been admitted to the U.S. in the past nine months as partially true, explaining that while Border Patrol reported zero releases of migrants along the southern border, the claim doesn't account for all potential pathways of entry or transfers to other agencies. Economic claims received less favorable ratings, with the finding that Trump's statement about more Americans working today than at any time in U.S. history being misleading due to population growth factors, and his claim of securing $18 trillion in new investment being false or unsupported by evidence.
Annual report by the president of the United States
The State of the Union address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of most calendar years on the current condition of the nation. The speech generally includes reports...
Movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the defini...
Area of production, distribution, trade of, and consumption of goods and services
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources. A given eco...
News division of the American television and radio service CBS
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS headquartered in New York City. Along with ABC News and NBC News, it has long been among the big three broadcast news networks in the United States.
CBS News television programs include CBS Evening News, CBS Mornings,...
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.
Born into a wealthy New York City family, Trump graduated from the...
Politics Fact checking Trump's 2026 State of the Union address By Laura Doan , Laura Doan Fact Checker, CBS News Confirmed Laura Doan is a fact checker for CBS News Confirmed. She covers misinformation, AI and social media. Read Full Bio Laura Doan , Aaron Navarro , Aaron Navarro Digital Reporter Aaron Navarro is a CBS News digital reporter. He covered the 2024 elections and was previously an associate producer for the CBS News political unit in the 2021 and 2022 election cycles. Read Full Bio Aaron Navarro , Camilo Montoya-Galvez , Camilo Montoya-Galvez Immigration Correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization's social media accounts. Read Full Bio Camilo Montoya-Galvez , Emma Li Emma Li Emma Li is a fact checker for CBS News Confirmed. She combines open-source techniques with traditional reporting to fact check misinformation and verify user-generated content. Contact Emma at emma.li@cbsnews.com. Read Full Bio Emma Li Updated on: February 24, 2026 / 10:00 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google CBS News is fact checking President Trump's 2026 State of the Union address Tuesday night. The president is touting his first-year accomplishments and plans for his agenda this year, in the months before the midterm elections in November. Here are some of the claims the president made during his speech, and CBS News' ratings and context for those claims: True: Trump claims murder rate saw its largest decline in recorded history last year "Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history — the lowest number in over 125 years." Details : Preliminary data from independent researchers suggests that homicides may have hit an 125-year low last year, although the FBI's official annual crime report for...
