2026-02-05T18:30:47.152Z / CNN
当总统唐纳德·特朗普在周三接受NBC《晚间新闻》主播汤姆·拉马斯采访时声称“我正在——开始在经济方面获得非常好的民调”，拉马斯迅速反驳称特朗普关于经济的民调“并不乐观”。
特朗普立即收回了他的断言，转而声称他的经济相关民调“应该非常好”。
这是政治采访中的一个典型时刻——但这只是采访中拉马斯质疑特朗普虚假声明的少数几次之一。当总统反复重复数月或数年前就已被揭穿的谎言时，拉马斯只是简单地回应“对”或“是的”——或者根本不承认这些谎言。
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特朗普的快速不实言论很难被任何采访者应对，尤其是考虑到白宫给予他们的时间有限，采访者常常为了讨论计划好的话题而基本忽视这些连续的不准确信息。拉马斯当然提出了一些质疑性的重要问题，包括一些尖锐的跟进问题。NBC还在周三的网站文章中对一些虚假声明进行了事实核查。
但拉马斯对总统谎言的回避态度，让通过电视和社交媒体片段观看采访的观众无法立即获得对各种紧迫问题的纠正信息。例如，关于通胀的交流中充斥着特朗普大量不准确的数据和断言，拉马斯只用“对”这个词就一带而过。有一次，当特朗普声称在他任内只有“极少数”产品价格顽固地没有下降时，拉马斯最初的回应听起来像是在认可这个虚假声明：“是的，极少数。我明白。”
以下是CNN对特朗普采访中一些言论的事实核查。NBC发言人拒绝置评。
通胀与经济
特朗普任内的物价
特朗普的说法：拉马斯对特朗普说：“谈到经济，你已经让很多价格下降了，就像我们说的。但有些价格仍然顽固。”特朗普回应：“极少数。”
事实核查：并非只有“极少数”价格顽固地没有下降。消费者价格指数数据显示，在特朗普任内整体价格有所上涨——2025年12月，平均消费者价格比2024年12月高出2.7%——自特朗普2025年1月就职以来，价格上涨的产品远比下降的多。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：拉马斯重复了特朗普的虚假说法，称“但——但是当——是的，极少数。我明白。”然后他继续问特朗普：“不过，当你和美国人交谈时，你是否需要让他们明白，价格不会回到你第一任期时的水平，因为我们经历了疫情，并且出现了创纪录的通胀？”
特朗普继承的通胀
特朗普的说法：特朗普声称：“我继承了美国历史上最严重的通胀。它高得离谱。现在，你会说这不是历史上最严重的，而是48年的。你知道有一种理论。我说这是最严重的。但不管是48年还是其他什么，我继承了美国历史上最严重的通胀。”
事实核查：特朗普并没有继承美国历史上最严重的通胀。拜登任期最后一个完整月份（2024年12月）的同比通胀率为2.9%，特朗普在2025年1月部分接管时的那个月通胀率为3.0%；这些数字仅略高于2025年12月的2.7%。通胀率在2022年6月达到40年高点9.1%，但这并非48年高点，而且远低于1920年创下的23.7%的历史最高值。无论如何，在拜登任期最后两年半中，通胀率急剧下降。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：在特朗普的这些言论中，他两次说“对”。
当前通胀
特朗普的说法：“现在我们几乎没有通胀。想想看。你知道过去三个月的情况吗？1.2%。”几分钟后他又重复道：“过去三个月是1.2%。你知道的。”
事实核查：根据任何合理的模糊表述定义，2025年12月的同比通胀率2.7%都不是“几乎没有通胀”。而且过去三个月的通胀率也不是“1.2%”；2025年11月的同比通胀率为2.7%，9月为3%。（由于政府停摆导致的数据收集问题，政府无法计算10月的通胀率。）
特朗普上周在一篇报纸专栏中声称“过去三个月的核心通胀率降至仅1.4%”，但：特朗普在NBC采访中使用了“1.2%”；即使是1.4%的数据背后的数学计算也不清楚（CNN使用标准方法“年度化”数据时得到1.6%的结果）；白宫本周无视CNN对1.4%数据详细解释的请求；而且特朗普在采访中没有说他指的是“核心”通胀（不包括食品和能源价格）或使用年化数据。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：当特朗普声称现在几乎没有通胀时，拉马斯说“对”。特朗普第一次提到“1.2%”时，拉马斯插话说当前通胀率：“通胀率下降了——现在是2.7%。”但当特朗普重复“1.2%”的说法并坚持“你知道的”时，拉马斯说“是的。但是最后——好吧。”然后他转向了另一个话题。
汽油价格
特朗普的说法：特朗普说：“你看到上周的汽油是每加仑1.99美元。以前是每加仑4.5美元、5美元——（现在）是每加仑1.99美元。”
事实核查：根据AAA公布的数据，周三全国普通汽油平均价格约为每加仑2.89美元，比他2025年1月就职日的约3.12美元有所下降；自上周开始，每天的平均价格都在2.86美元或更高；在此期间，只有少数加油站以1.99美元或更低的价格出售汽油。GasBuddy石油分析主管帕特里克·德汉告诉CNN，1月26日至2月2日期间，GasBuddy在全国约15万个加油站中仅发现18至34个加油站在特价外提供每加仑2美元以下的汽油。
“在那些日期的平均是每周28个加油站，或者占所有美国加油站的0.018%。在这一点上，我宁愿在干草堆里找针，”德汉在周四的电子邮件中说。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；几分钟后他说了“是的”。
对美国的投资
特朗普的说法：特朗普声称：“我有18万亿美元被投入到这个国家。”
事实核查：18万亿美元的数字是虚构的。白宫在采访时的网站上说，特朗普任期内“重大投资公告”的数字是9.6万亿美元，即便如此也是严重夸大；去年秋天CNN的详细审查发现，白宫将数万亿美元的模糊投资承诺计算在内，这些承诺是关于“双边贸易”或“经济交流”而非对美国的投资，甚至连承诺的级别都达不到。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：拉马斯提出了一个接受特朗普虚假前提的跟进问题：“但美国人什么时候能感受到这些投资？”
中国和关税
特朗普的说法：特朗普谈到中国时说：“嗯，如你所知，他们正在支付大量关税。中国正在支付大量关税。”
事实核查：关税是由美国进口商支付的，而不是中国和其他外国国家，这些进口商往往会将部分成本转嫁给消费者。虽然外国出口商有时可能会降低价格以保持产品竞争力，但各种分析发现，特朗普2025年征收的关税成本绝大多数由美国企业和美国消费者共同承担。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；几分钟后他说了“是的”。
2020年选举
特朗普的说法：特朗普连续两次就2020年选举撒谎，说：“我赢了三次。”
事实核查：他在2016年和2024年赢了两次，2020年是公平公正地输掉的。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；他继续询问特朗普试图讨论的话题，即特朗普可能会让联邦政府支付数十亿美元纳税人资金，以解决他以个人名义而非作为总统正式身份提起的诉讼，该诉讼涉及他第一任期内非法泄露的纳税申报单。
特朗普本周另一次采访中关于选举的言论
特朗普的说法：拉马斯问：“你最近暗示要将选举国有化。你是什么意思？”特朗普回应：“当——我没有说‘国有化’——我是说我们国家的一些地区极其腐败。”
事实核查：正如拉马斯最初告诉他的那样，特朗普确实说过他想“将选举国有化”；说特朗普只是说美国某些地区腐败是不正确的。具体来说，在周一播出的采访中，特朗普说：“共和党应该说，我们要接管，我们应该接管投票，至少在15个地方。共和党人应该将选举国有化。”
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；特朗普很快继续提出关于选举的另一个虚假声明。
底特律、费城和亚特兰大的选举
特朗普的说法：特朗普谈到周一播出的采访时说：“我说我们国家的一些地区极其腐败。他们的选举非常腐败。看看底特律。看看费城。看看亚特兰大。”
事实核查：没有证据表明这些城市的选举“极其腐败”。多年来，特朗普一直声称民主党主导的城市地区在总统选举中腐败猖獗，但他没有提供任何证据。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：拉马斯说“是的”。
佐治亚州富尔顿县2020年选举
特朗普的说法：拉马斯问特朗普在亚特兰大所在的佐治亚州富尔顿县正在做什么，该县在1月底FBI特工搜查了一个选举办公室并查获了数百箱材料。特朗普回应：“我没做什么，但FBI进去了，因为——因为——我猜审查了多年，富尔顿县存在作弊行为。”
事实核查：没有证据表明富尔顿县在2020年选举中存在作弊行为。多年来，特朗普一直就该县处理2020年选举的方式提出虚假指控，这些指控已被反复揭穿——包括五年多前，佐治亚州共和党选举负责人和他第一任期司法部的一名高级特朗普政府任命者直接对特朗普说过。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有。相反，他问FBI特工在寻找什么。
外交事务与移民
特朗普对所谓贩毒船只的打击
特朗普的说法：特朗普吹嘘他对加勒比海和太平洋所谓贩毒船只的军事打击，称“我们每打掉一艘船就拯救了25,000名美国人的生命。”
事实核查：这个“25,000”的数字显然没有意义——尽管特朗普政府没有公开证明他反复声称的这些船只携带芬太尼（导致最多过量死亡的药物）。根据联邦临时数据，2024年美国所有药物过量死亡总数约为82,000人。约翰·霍普金斯大学公共卫生学院医学教授卡尔·拉特金在10月表示，总统的数字是“荒谬的”。你可以在这里阅读更详细的事实核查。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；特朗普很快转向了关于中国国家主席的轶事。
外国政府、监狱和移民
特朗普的说法：特朗普声称：“你知道，世界各地的监狱都被清空并送入我们国家。”他接着说：“但来自委内瑞拉、非洲的刚果（金）以及世界各地的监狱，监狱人口被清空后进入我们国家。”
事实核查：特朗普从未证明这些关于委内瑞拉、“刚果（金）”或“世界各地”的说法。在拜登政府期间，对委内瑞拉、刚果民主共和国和刚果共和国的专家表示，他们没有看到特朗普说法的依据，这两个刚果国家的政府都告诉CNN这些说法是虚假的，一位全球监狱人口专家告诉CNN，她“绝对没有证据”表明任何国家在拜登或特朗普任内为了将不受欢迎的公民作为移民送入美国而故意清空监狱和精神病院。（特朗普在这里比平时模糊一些，但他一般声称外国政府故意清空监狱和精神病院，将“不受欢迎”的公民作为移民送入美国。）
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：在特朗普的这些言论中，拉马斯说了“嗯哼”、“对”和“是的”。
拜登任内的移民
特朗普的说法：特朗普声称，在拜登任内，“我们允许2500万人进入我们国家。”
事实核查：“2500万”的数字是错误的；即使是特朗普之前的“2100万”数字也是严重夸大。截至2024年12月，拜登政府记录的全国范围内与移民的“遭遇”不到1100万，包括数百万被迅速驱逐出境的人。即使加上所谓的“逃脱者”（被众议院共和党人估计约为220万），总数也远未达到特朗普所说的数字。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：没有；在特朗普关于移民的更多言论之后，他说了“是的”。
拜登、移民和杀人犯
特朗普的说法：“拜登和他的团队让11,888名杀人犯进入我们国家。我们抓获了很多。我们把一些人带回来了。很多人我们不想带回来，因为我们不信任他们不会再次被送回来。”几分钟后他重复了“11,888名杀人犯”的说法。
事实核查：特朗普不准确地描述了联邦数据。国土安全部和独立专家指出，特朗普使用“11,888”这个数字时，指的是不仅在拜登任内，而是在包括特朗普第一任期在内的多个十年间进入美国的非公民，他们在某个时候（通常是在美国境内）因杀人罪被定罪，并且仍在美国境内，被列入移民和海关执法局的“非拘留名单”——其中包括正在服刑的人，而不是特朗普所说的在逃人员。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：在特朗普的第一次引语和第二次引语后，拉马斯都说了“是的”。
俄罗斯与选举
特朗普的说法：谈到外国干涉美国选举时，特朗普说：“每个人都知道俄罗斯——他们谈到俄罗斯，结果是一场骗局。那是——亨特·拜登。不是俄罗斯。”
事实核查：俄罗斯对2016年选举的干预并非骗局。它确实发生了。特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒领导的调查得出结论，“俄罗斯政府以广泛和系统性的方式干预了2016年总统选举”，并且其目的是帮助特朗普击败民主党候选人希拉里·克林顿。
“首先，一个俄罗斯实体开展了支持总统候选人唐纳德·J·特朗普并贬低总统候选人希拉里·克林顿的社交媒体活动。其次，一个俄罗斯情报机构对与克林顿竞选团队合作的实体、员工和志愿者进行了计算机入侵操作，然后泄露了被盗文件。”
穆勒报告说。
特朗普经常抓住穆勒报告说调查“没有证实特朗普竞选团队成员与俄罗斯政府在其选举干预活动中存在共谋或协调”这一点，宣称有关他或其竞选团队与俄罗斯勾结的说法是“骗局”。但穆勒发现证据表明，特朗普竞选团队认为这种干预活动符合其利益，并且“特朗普竞选团队中的个人与俄罗斯政府有众多联系”，尽管“证据不足以支持刑事指控”。
无论如何，俄罗斯干预本身显然是真实的。
特朗普对亨特·拜登（前总统拜登的儿子）的含混评论可能是指一些社交媒体公司在2020年大选临近结束时短暂压制了一则关于拜登儿子的有害新闻报道，而特朗普当时是与拜登竞选的。这与俄罗斯在2016年特朗普与克林顿竞选期间进行的干预无关。
拉马斯对特朗普说法的回应：特朗普说完后他说了“是的”。
CNN的艾丽西亚·华莱士和马歇尔·科恩对此文有贡献
Fact check: Trump repeats lies about inflation, immigration and elections in NBC interview
2026-02-05T18:30:47.152Z / CNN
When President Donald Trump claimed to NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas in a Wednesday interview that “I’m getting – starting to get great polls on the economy,” Llamas quickly pushed back by noting that Trump’s polling on the economy is “not great.”
Trump immediately backed off his assertion, retreating to a claim that his economy-related polling “should be great.”
That was a textbook moment in political interviewing – but it was one of the only times in the interview that Llamas challenged one of Trump’s false claims. Over and over, when the president repeated lies that were debunked months or years ago, Llamas responded simply “right” or “yeah” – or didn’t acknowledge them at all.
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Trump’s rapid-fire dishonesty is difficult for any interviewer to handle, especially given the limited time they are given by the White House, and it’s not uncommon for them to largely ignore the serial inaccuracy in order to get to the topics they’ve planned to address. Llamas certainly asked the president various skeptical and important questions, including some sharp follow-ups. And NBC published a fact check of some of the false claims in a Wednesday article on its website.
But Llamas’ hands-off approach to the president’s falsehoods left people watching the interview on television and through social media clips without immediate corrective information on a variety of pressing subjects. An exchange about inflation, for example, was littered with a bunch of inaccurate Trump figures and assertions that Llamas let pass by with the word “right.” And in one case, when Trump claimed it’s only “very few” product prices that have stubbornly refused to fall during this presidency, Llamas initially responded with a comment that made it sound like he was endorsing the false claim: “Yeah, very few. I get it.”
Here is a CNN fact check of some of Trump’s remarks in the interview. An NBC spokesperson declined to comment.
Inflation and the economy
Prices during this presidency
Trump’s claim: Llamas told Trump, “Talking about the economy, you’ve brought a lot of prices down, as we said. Some are still stubborn.” Trump responded, “Very few.”
Fact check: It’s not “very few” prices that are stubbornly refusing to decline. Overall prices have increased during this presidency, Consumer Price Index data shows – in December 2025, average consumer prices were 2.7% higher than they were in December 2024 – and far more products have gotten more expensive since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration than have gotten cheaper.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas echoed Trump’s false claim, saying, “But – but when – yeah, very few. I get it.” He then proceeded to ask Trump, “When you talk to Americans, though, do you have to get them to understand that the prices are not gonna come back down to your first term because we had a pandemic and we had record inflation?”
The inflation Trump inherited
Trump’s claim: Trump claimed, “I inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country. It was through the roof. Now, you will say it wasn’t in history, it was 48 years. You know there’s a theory. There was – I say it was the worst. But whether it’s 48 years or what, I inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country.”
Fact check: Trump didn’t inherit the worst inflation in US history. The year-over-year inflation rate in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, was 2.9%, and the rate in the month in which Trump took over partway through, January 2025, was 3.0%; those figures are only slightly higher than the most recent rate, 2.7% in December 2025. The rate did hit a 40-year high, 9.1%, in June 2022, but that was not a 48-year high, and it was far from the all-time high of 23.7%, which was set in 1920. Regardless, the rate then fell sharply over Biden’s last two-and-a-half years in office.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: He said “right” twice during these Trump comments.
Inflation today
Trump’s claim:“And now we have almost no inflation. Think of it. You know what it was for the last three months? 1.2%.” He repeated moments later, “For the last three months it’s at 1.2%. You know that.”
Fact check: The most recent year-over-year inflation rate, 2.7% in December 2025, is not “almost no inflation” by any reasonable definition of that vague phrase. And inflation wasn’t “1.2%” for the last three months; the year-over-year rate was 2.7% in November 2025 and 3% in September 2025. (The government couldn’t calculate the October rate because of data-collection issues caused by a government shutdown.)
Trump claimed in a newspaper op-ed last week “annual core inflation for the past three months has dropped to just 1.4%,” but: Trump used “1.2%” in the NBC interview; the math behind even the 1.4% figure is not clear (CNN got a result of 1.6% when using a standard method of “annualizing” data); the White House ignored CNN’s requests this week for a detailed explanation of the 1.4% figure; and Trump did not say in the interview that he was referring to “core” inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, or using annualized data.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas said “right” when Trump claimed we now have almost no inflation. He did interject with the current inflation rate after Trump first made his “1.2%” claim; Llamas said, “Inflation is down – 2.7 right now.” But when Trump repeated the “1.2%” figure and insisted “you know that,” Llamas said, “Yeah. But the last – okay.” He then moved on to another subject.
Gas prices
Trump’s claim: Trump said, “You saw gasoline this last week at $1.99 a gallon. It used to be, it was $4-and-a-half, $5 a gallon – (now) $1.99 a gallon of gasoline.”
Fact check: The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline on Wednesday was about $2.89, per data published by AAA – down from about $3.12 on his inauguration day in January 2025 – and the average was $2.86 or higher every day since the start of last week; a tiny number of stations were selling gas for $1.99 or less during that period. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told CNN that each day from January 26 through February 2, GasBuddy found just 18 to 34 gas stations around the country, out of about 150,000 stations GasBuddy tracks, offering gas for under $2 aside from special discounts.
“An average over those dates would be 28 stations over the course of the week, or 0.018% of all U.S. stations. I think I’d rather find the needle in the haystack at that point,” De Haan said in a Thursday email.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; he said “yeah” moments later.
Investment in the US
Trump’s claim: Trump claimed, “I have $18 trillion being invested into the country.”
Fact check: The $18 trillion number is fiction. The White House’s own website said at the time of the interview that the figure for “major investment announcements” during this Trump term is $9.6 trillion, and even that is a major exaggeration; a detailed CNN review last fall found the White House was counting trillions of dollars in vague investment pledges, pledges that were about “bilateral trade” or “economic exchange” rather than investment in the US, and vague statements that didn’t even rise to the level of pledges.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas asked a follow-up question that accepted Trump’s false premise: “But when can Americans expect to feel that?”
China and tariffs
Trump’s claim: Trump said of China: “Well, they’re paying a lot of tariffs, as you know. China’s paying a lot of tariffs.”
Fact check: Tariff payments are made by importers in the US, not China and other foreign countries, and those importers often pass on some of their costs to consumers. While foreign exporters may sometimes drop their prices to try to keep their products competitive, various analyses have found that the overwhelming majority of the costs of the tariffs Trump imposed in 2025 are being covered by a combination of US businesses and US consumers.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; he said “yeah” moments later.
The 2020 election
Trump’s claim: Trump lied twice about the 2020 election in rapid succession, saying, “I won three times.”
Fact check: He won twice, in 2016 and 2024, and lost fair and square in 2020.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; he continued to ask questions about the subject he was trying to get Trump to talk about, the possibility that Trump will have the federal government pay him billions in taxpayer money to settle a lawsuit he filed in his personal capacity, not in his official capacity as president, over an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first presidency.
What Trump said about elections in another interview this week
Trump’s claim: Llamas asked, “You’ve recently suggested nationalizing elections. What do you mean by that?” Trump responded, “When – and I didn’t say national(ize) – I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt.”
Fact check: As Llamas initially told him, Trump did say he wanted to nationalize elections; it’s not true that Trump merely said some parts of the country are corrupt. Specifically, in an interview that aired Monday, Trump said: “The Republicans should say, we want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; Trump quickly proceeded to make another false claim about elections.
Elections in Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta
Trump’s claim: Trump, talking about the interview that aired Monday, said this: “I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Atlanta.”
Fact check: There is no evidence that elections in any of these cities are “extremely corrupt.” Trump has claimed for years that Democratic-dominated urban areas are rife with corruption in presidential elections, but he has presented no proof.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas said, “Yeah.”
The 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia
Trump’s claim: Llamas asked Trump what he is doing in the Georgia county in which most of Atlanta is located, Fulton – where FBI agents in late January searched an elections office and seized hundreds of boxes of materials. Trump responded, “I’m not doing anything, but the FBI went in because it’s been under – under – I guess review for years, the cheating that took place in Fulton County.”
Fact check: There is no evidence of elections cheating in Fulton County in 2020. Trump has for years made false claims about the county’s handling of the 2020 election, which have been repeatedly debunked – including in comments made directly to Trump, more than five years ago, by Georgia’s Republican elections chief and by a top Trump administration appointee in his first-term Justice Department.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None. Instead, he asked Trump what the FBI agents are looking for.
Foreign affairs and immigration
Trump’s strikes on alleged drug boats
Trump’s claim: Touting his military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, Trump said, “Each boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives.”
Fact check: This “25,000” number obviously does not make sense – even aside from the fact that the Trump administration has not presented public proof for his repeated claims that the boats carried fentanyl, the drug involved in the most overdose deaths. The total number of US overdose deaths from all drugs in 2024 was about 82,000, according to provisional federal data. The president’s figure is “absurd,” Carl Latkin, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University school of public health with a joint appointment at its medical school, said in October. You can read a longer fact check here.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; Trump quickly pivoted to an anecdote about the president of China.
Foreign governments, jails and migration
Trump’s claim: Trump claimed, “You know, jails have been emptied into our country from all over the world.” He then added, “But from Venezuela, from the Congo in Africa, from all over the world, jails, the jail population, was emptied into our country.”
Fact check: Trump has never proven these claims about Venezuela, “the Congo,” or countries “all over the world.” Experts on Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring Republic of Congo said during the Biden administration that they had seen no basis for Trump’s stories, the governments of both of the Congo countries told CNN the stories are false, and an expert on the global prison population has told CNN that she has seen “absolutely no evidence” of any country emptying jails to somehow release prisoners into the US during either the Biden administration or this Trump administration. (Trump was slightly vaguer than usual here, but he has generally claimed that foreign governments have deliberately emptied prisons and mental health facilities to somehow send undesirable citizens to the US as migrants.)
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas said “mmhmm,” “right” and “yeah” during these Trump remarks.
Migration under Biden
Trump’s claim: Trump claimed that, under Biden, “We allowed in our country, I say, 25 million people.”
Fact check: The “25 million” figure is false; even Trump’s previous “21 million” figure was a wild exaggeration. Through December 2024, the last full month under the Biden administration, the federal government had recorded under 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants during that administration, including millions who were rapidly expelled from the country. Even adding in the so-called gotaways who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2.2 million, there’s no way the total was even close to what Trump has said.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: None; he said “yeah” moments later after some more Trump comments about immigration.
Biden, migration and murderers
Trump’s claim:“We have 11,888 murderers that Biden and his group let into our country. We’ve captured a lot of them. We’ve brought some of ’em back. A lot of ’em we don’t wanna bring back, because we don’t trust the country that they’re not sent back again.” He repeated the “11,888 murderers” claim moments later.
Fact check: Trump was inaccurately describing federal data. The Department of Homeland Security and independent experts have noted that the figure it appears Trump is referring to when he uses the “11,888” number is about non-citizens who entered the US not just under Biden but over the course of multiple decades, including during Trump’s own first administration. They were convicted of homicide at some point, usually in the US after their arrival, and are still in the US while being listed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “non-detained docket” – which includes people who are currently serving their prison sentences, not roaming free as Trump has also claimed.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: Llamas said “yeah” after both Trump’s first quote and second quote.
Russia and elections
Trump’s claim: Talking about foreign interference in US elections, Trump said, “And everybody knows that Russia – they talked about Russia, turned out to be a hoax. It was – Hunter Biden. It wasn’t Russia.”
Fact check: Russian interference in the 2016 election did not turn out to be a hoax. It happened. An investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion” and that it did so with the intention of helping Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents,” the Mueller report said.
Trump has often seized on the fact that the Mueller report said the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities” to declare that claims about him or his campaign having colluded with Russia were a “hoax.” But Mueller found evidence the Trump campaign felt it would benefit from those interference activities and that there were “numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign,” though “the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.”
Regardless, the Russian interference itself was clearly real.
Trump’s confusing comment about Hunter Biden, son of former president Joe Biden, may have been a reference to how some social media companies briefly suppressed a damaging news story about the younger Biden late in the 2020 election campaign, in which Trump ran against the elder Biden. That has nothing to do with the fact of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, in which Trump ran against Clinton.
Llamas’ response to Trump’s claim: He said “yeah” moments after Trump’s remark.
CNN’s Alicia Wallace and Marshall Cohen contributed to this article