White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump's administration is cherry-picking inflation data to paint a more flattering picture of the economic climate, according to new reporting from CNN.
During the Thursday episode of her show "The Source," CNN host Kaitlan Collins took Trump's White House to task for falsely reporting the rate of inflation more than 10 months into Trump's second term. She began the segment by playing an exchange she had with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in which Leavitt insisted that the inflation rate was down to 2.5 percent from the three percent Trump inherited from former President Joe Biden.
"So we'retrending in the right directionwith more to come. And I wouldremind you, when President Trumpleft office in his first term,inflation was 1.7 percent, and theprevious administration jackedit up to a record high nine percent," Leavitt said. "Soagain, in ten months, thepresident has clawed us out ofthis hole. He's kept it low at2.5 percent. And we believe that numberis going to continue to decline,especially as energy and oilprices continue to decline aswell."
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale disputed Leavitt's claims that Trump had lowered inflation, pointing to the September consumer price index (CPI) report — which is the most recent month of data available — showing that inflation remained at three percent. Dale said Leavitt's use of the 2.5 percent figure was "very much apples to oranges," saying that she was purposefully using the average rate from all 10 months of Trump's second term — rather than the most recent figures — as a means of downplaying the impact of Trump's tariffs.
"So whenthe press secretary told ustoday that we're very muchheaded in the right direction,we're not," Dale said. "... They're grabbing this early-yeardata. Why are they doing that?Well, because inflation was lower before President Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day,' when heannounced sweeping globaltariffs that then made their waythrough the economy."
"So by using this ... annualized rate,they're making inflation soundrosier than it would if they usethe one month, most recent datathat everyone else is talkingabout," he continued. "So, no, this is not anapples-to-apples comparison."
"They're entitled to usewhatever kind of math they want," he added. "The annualized rate is a realthing, but they're not clearlyexplaining that they're doingso. And I think that's wherethey're misleading the public."
Watch the segment below: