'Total fiction': CNN fact-checker demolishes 8 'wild exaggerations' in Trump's speech
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CNN host Kaitlan Collins and CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale on December 17, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
CNN host Kaitlan Collins and CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale on December 17, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
President Donald Trump delivered a nationally televised address carried by all major networks, and repeated many claims that have already been widely debunked.
On Wednesday, CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale singled out eight of the president's most obvious lies in what he characterized as a "half-asleep kind of presidential speech." He began by breaking down Trump's claims about having "stopped" inflation, pointing out that inflation was still ongoing. He then said that Trump's claim of inheriting record-high inflation was false, and that at the time former President Joe Biden left office, inflation was at three percent, which is where it was in September (the most recent month of data available).
Third, Dale pivoted to Trump's claim about lowering drug prices "by 400 to 600 percent," and described the statement as "mathematically impossible."
"If you cut it by morethan 100%, people would get paidto get their medications, whichof course is not happening," Dale said.
Dale acknowledged that while Trump's claim of overseeing a decrease in the price of eggs was true, his claim that "everything else is falling rapidly" was not. He pointed out that when looking at grocery prices, "far more products have increasedin price this term than havedecreased."
The CNN fact-checker then asserted that Trump's claim of securing "$18 trillion in investment this year" was "total fiction" and a "wild exaggeration," telling Collins that "even the White House website uses a figure of $9.6 trillion" which is based on "vague promises" and "not-even-promises."
Sixth, Dale focused on Trump's claim of lowering gas prices to $1.99 per gallon, telling CNN viewers that the lowest state average is currently around $2.40 per gallon. And according to Gasbuddy, only an estimated 100 gas stations out of 150,000 nationwide have gas prices below $2 per gallon.
At one point in Trump's speech, the president said "an army of 25 million people invaded the country" under Biden's presidency. Dale said the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is closer to 11 million, and that figure includes "millions of people whowere rapidly expelled from thecountry."
Finally, Dale insisted that Trump "has not settled eight wars," and that Trump's list of conflicts he supposedly ended "includesvarious wars, various situationsthat were not even wars andsome conflicts that have notactually been resolved."
"I couldgo on. I don't have time," Dale said.
Watch the segment below: