Fact-checking President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress
Share and Follow

Six weeks into his presidency, Donald Trump is addressing Congress and the nation Tuesday evening, laying out his goals for the next four years.

ABC News, along with PolitiFact, is live fact-checking Trump’s speech statements that are exaggerated, need more context or are false.

The president teased on Monday it would be a “big night” and House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News over the weekend to expect “fireworks.”

This story is being updated throughout Trump’s speech.

TRUMP CLAIM: Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control-and we are working hard to get it back down.

FACT-CHECK: Lacking context.

Though egg prices did increase under President Joe Biden, they have recently surged under Trump too – and that’s because of bird flu, which has led to the deaths of 136 million birds since 2022, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

While the price of eggs was consistently rising due to inflation under Biden’s administration, the first significant price hike occurred in 2022, when bird flu began infecting flocks of birds in the U.S. Egg prices rose from $1.93 per dozen to $4.82 per dozen over the course of just that one year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The prices moderated again, back down to the $2-$3 range during the rest of Biden’s presidency – but have shot back up to a record-high $4.95 this January, again due to bird flu.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

TRUMP CLAIM: Trump won a mandate in the election

FACT-CHECK: This is in the eye of the beholder.

Trump’s victory was clear, but by historical standards, it was no landslide.

Trump has reason to celebrate winning both the Electoral College and the popular vote. In fact, he became only the second Republican to win the popular vote since 1988, after George W. Bush in his 2004 reelection win. Trump won each of the seven battleground states that political analysts said would decide the election.

In addition, the vast majority of U.S. counties saw their margins shift in Trump’s direction, both in places where Republicans historically do well and places where Democrats generally have an edge.On the other hand, Trump’s margins of victory – both in raw votes and in percentages – were small by historical standards, even for the past quarter century, when close elections have been the rule, including the 2000 Florida recount election and Trump’s previous two races in 2016 and 2020.

Trump’s victory also came without a big boost for down-ballot Republicans. Republicans lost a little ground in the House, which was already narrowly divided, and while Republicans flipped the Senate, Democrats won four Senate races in key battleground states even as former Vice President Kamala Harris was losing those states to Trump.

-PolitiFact’s Aaron Sharockman

TRUMP CLAIM: “We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.”

FACT-CHECK: Needs context.

There was no electric vehicle mandate put in place by the Biden administration. The Biden Environmental Protection Agency implemented tailpipe emissions standards last March that established an average of allowed emissions across a vehicle manufacturer’s entire fleet of offered vehicles.

The standards would have only impacted cars from model years 2027 to 2032. The standards allowed for a range of useable technologies, including fully electric cars, hybrids and improved internal combustion engines. Trump did sign an executive order on his first day in office to revoke these new standards.

-ABC News’ Kelly Livingston

TRUMP CLAIM: The Paris Climate Accord was costing the U.S. “trillions”

FACT-CHECK: False.

Trump defended his decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, saying the pact was costing the U.S. “trillions of dollars.”

That’s untrue.

The Trump administration defended the decision to withdraw from the climate agreement, in part, based on projections by consultant NERA Economic Consulting. It concluded that restrictions on fossil fuel emissions would result in a higher cost of production, and a higher cost of production would translate into the closure of uncompetitive manufacturing businesses. Those closures, in turn, would mean fewer manufacturing jobs.

The consultant estimated that these losses and their knock-on effects beyond the manufacturing sector would amount to 1.1 million jobs lost by 2025 and 6.5 million by 2040. The loss of jobs results in a corresponding decline in gross domestic product, with a loss of $250 billion by 2025 that accelerates to $3 trillion by 2040.

So the climate agreement wasn’t costing the U.S. trillions of dollars. It hypothetically could.

But even if it did, the study says that the long-term projections did not factor in all of the offsetting job gains and GDP growth associated with a clean tech transition.

-PolitiFact’s Aaron Sharockman

TRUMP CLAIM: Elon Musk found people in the Social Security system as old as 369

FACT-CHECK: This is misleading.

Elon Musk shared a chart on X and said he found millions of people in a Social Security database over the age of 110, including 1 who was in the 360-369 age bracket.

The acting Social Security commissioner said that people older than 100 who do not have a date of death associated with their Social Security record “are not necessarily receiving benefits.” Recent Social Security Administration data shows that about 89,000 people aged 99 and older receive Social Security payments.

Government databases may classify someone as 150 years old for reasons peculiar to the complex Social Security database or because of missing data, but that doesn’t mean that millions of payments are delivered fraudulently to people with implausible ages.

-PolitiFact’s Aaron Sharockman

TRUMP CLAIM: “Gold cards” don’t need congressional approval

FACT-CHECK: Misleading.

Immigration experts say Trump can neither create a new green card program nor shut down an existing one without congressional action.

Trump announced a plan to give people legal permanent residency in the U.S. if they pay $5 million. The so-called “gold card” would be similar to a green card in that it would let people live and work in the U.S. permanently and provide a pathway to citizenship.

Trump has described the program as a way to cut the U.S. deficit and has said it would replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program. But he hasn’t provided an official document creating the program.

-PolitiFact’s Aaron Sharockman

Copyright © 2025 ABC News Internet Ventures.

Share and Follow
You May Also Like
Indonesia

As Gaza Ceasefire Holds Steady, Trump Aims to Advance Indonesia-Israel Normalization Efforts

During his recent tour of Asia, President Donald Trump made a concerted…
KC Neufeld, right, shops with her family in Englewood, Colo., Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.

SNAP Cuts Shift Halloween Tradition: Ramen Replaces Candy in Trick-or-Treat Bags

When KC Neufeld shared a post on her Denver neighborhood’s Facebook page…
Andrew is just the start. A royal 'unravelling is coming', sources say

Royal Revelations: Inside the Looming Storm Set to Shake the Monarchy

The question of “if” has transformed into “when.” Recent revelations from Buckingham…
Jesse Eisenberg, 'Today' host Craig Melvin have awkward exchange over Mark Zuckerberg role

Jesse Eisenberg and Craig Melvin’s Awkward On-Air Moment: Revisiting the Mark Zuckerberg Role

It seems Jesse Eisenberg is steering clear of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s…
More Americans blame Trump, GOP for shutdown: Washington Post poll

Majority of Americans Hold Trump and GOP Responsible for Government Shutdown, Reveals Washington Post Poll

(The Hill) — As the government shutdown extends into its fourth week,…
Where did it all go wrong for Andrew? A timeline of his downfall

Unraveling the Downfall: A Comprehensive Timeline of Andrew’s Descent

Andrew will no longer hold the title of prince and is set…
Thieves steal more than 1,000 Native American artifacts in overnight California museum heist

Overnight Heist at California Museum Sees Over 1,000 Native American Artifacts Stolen

In a daring overnight heist, more than a thousand historic artifacts were…
Ruben Torres Maldonado, detained by federal immigration agents in Niles while daughter has cancer, released

Federal Immigration Agents Release Ruben Torres Maldonado Detained in Niles, While His Daughter Battles Cancer

A father, who was taken into custody by federal immigration authorities while…