It wasn’t easy to choose only 25. But it was easier than it used to be.
As in his first presidency, President Donald Trump’s first full calendar year back in the White House featured a relentless stream of falsehoods. In 2025, the range of his claims narrowed even as the volume remained characteristically high.
Trump’s misinformation has long been driven by repetition. In 2025, that repetition became even more pronounced. He still introduced new distortions from time to time, but he leaned heavily on a familiar core of claims—deployed in almost any venue, regardless of context, and repeated even after being publicly debunked.
If you watched even a handful of his speeches or interviews, you likely heard some of the year’s greatest hits: the claim that he secured $17 trillion or $18 trillion in investment, the insistence that consumer prices fell this year, the boast that he ended seven or eight wars, and the recurring story that foreign leaders emptied prisons and mental institutions to send unwanted people across the US border as migrants.
Below is a highly subjective list of Trump’s top 25 lies of 2025. Some made the cut because he repeated them constantly, some because of their real-world consequences, and some because they were simply breathtaking in how far they strayed from reality.
Inflation, tariffs and the economy
Lie: Trump secured $17 trillion or $18 trillion in investment in 2025
Trump loves enormous numbers—even when they’re fictional. Throughout the year, he repeatedly claimed he had secured “$17 trillion” in investment in the US in less than a year. Even when the White House’s own website listed a much lower total at the time (and even that figure was widely criticized as inflated), he escalated his claim to “$18 trillion,” continuing to repeat it anyway.
Lie: “Every price is down”
Trump insisted there was “no inflation” even though inflation continued. He said “every price is down,” despite widespread price increases. He claimed grocery prices were “way down,” though they had risen, and asserted beef was the only grocery item that got more expensive, despite many others also increasing. Polling suggested most Americans didn’t accept the claims.
Lie: Trump was reducing prescription drug prices by “2,000%, 3,000%”
Trump repeatedly promoted his “most favored nation” approach with impossible math—saying drug prices would drop by “500%,” “1,400 to 1,500%,” or even “2,000%, 3,000%.” A price decline beyond 100% would imply consumers get paid to obtain medication, but he continued using these figures instead of describing real, measurable reductions.
Lie: Foreign countries pay the US government’s tariffs
As prices rose—partly due to Trump’s broad tariffs—he clung to the claim that foreign countries pay the tariffs. In reality, tariff payments are made to the US government by US importers, who often pass costs to consumers. In November, Trump undercut his own argument when he suggested he could lower Americans’ coffee prices by lowering tariffs on imported coffee.
Public safety
Lie: Portland was “burning down”
Trump repeatedly claimed Portland was “burning down” or “burning to the ground.” In reality, sporadic clashes near a single Immigration and Customs Enforcement building did not mean an entire major city was engulfed in flames—something locals, officials, and media outlets repeatedly noted as he continued the exaggeration.
Lie: Washington, DC had no murders for six months
Trump bypassed a factually useful point—declining crime after his August federal takeover of DC law enforcement—and instead claimed in a November speech (three separate times) that the city had not seen a single murder “in six months.” Police statistics and tracking by The Washington Post show the city actually recorded more than 50 homicides during that period.
Lie: “I invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water”
Trump first tried to link Los Angeles wildfires to an unrelated California water policy involving a fish species far to the north. Later, he cast himself as the hero of an action-movie tale—claiming he “broke into” and “invaded” Los Angeles to unleash water. What occurred was a separate stunt: the movement of roughly two billion gallons of water from one part of the Central Valley to another, unrelated to Los Angeles.
Lie: The Democratic governor of Maryland called Trump “the greatest president of my lifetime”
After Maryland Gov. Wes Moore publicly disputed Trump’s claims about Baltimore, Trump said Moore had privately praised him at the Army-Navy game as “the greatest president of my lifetime” and told him he was doing “a fantastic job.” Behind-the-scenes video later aired by Fox News showed Moore did not say what Trump claimed. Trump then tried to flip the story—suggesting the camera “caught” Moore rather than disproving Trump’s account.
Foreign affairs
Lie: Ukraine “started” Russia’s war on Ukraine
Trump repeatedly rewrote the basic history of the conflict. In February, he told Ukraine, “You should’ve never started it,” reversing the reality that Russia initiated the war. He later made additional claims that downplayed Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s 2022 assault.
Lie: Trump was speaking “in jest” when he promised to immediately end the Ukraine war
On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump seriously promised to end the Ukraine war “within 24 hours” or even before he arrived at the Oval Office as president-elect. In May, when asked why the war continued more than three months into his term, Trump retroactively claimed the pledge was “in jest.” The record shows he presented it as a serious promise.
Lie: The US government planned to spend $50 million on “condoms for Hamas”
To defend cuts to foreign aid, Trump repeatedly claimed the government had been poised to send $50 million to Gaza “to buy condoms for Hamas,” later inflating it to $100 million. Fact-checks found no credible basis for the story, but Trump continued using it.
Lie: Every drug boat in the Caribbean “kills 25,000 Americans”
Facing backlash for military strikes on alleged drug boats, Trump argued “every one of those boats kills 25,000 Americans.” Experts said the figure was nonsensical—especially given that total US overdose deaths from all drugs in 2024 were about 82,000, based on provisional federal data. Skepticism also centered on the claimed trafficking route and whether the shipments were destined for the US.
Lie: Trump “didn’t say” he had no problem releasing full footage of a September boat strike
In early December, Trump told an ABC News reporter he would “certainly” release all additional Pentagon footage of a follow-up strike. Five days later, he told another ABC reporter, “I didn’t say that,” then attacked ABC and disparaged the reporter who accurately referenced his earlier remarks.
Lie: Foreign leaders emptied prisons and mental institutions to send their “most undesirable” people into the US
Trump repeatedly claimed that countries “all over the world” cleared prisons and mental institutions and sent those people to the US as migrants—sometimes embellishing with dramatic threats about what would happen if they returned home. Despite the frequency of the story, his campaign and White House teams were never able to produce evidence that even one foreign leader carried out such a plan, let alone many.
Lie: Trump ended seven or eight wars
Trump campaigned for a Nobel Peace Prize by claiming he had ended “seven wars,” later “eight,” describing them as raging conflicts with “countless thousands” being killed. He listed examples that didn’t match reality, including “Egypt and Ethiopia,” who were not at war (they have a diplomatic dispute about an Ethiopian dam project). He also cited a Serbia-Kosovo “war” that did not occur during his presidency and pointed to conflicts that had not actually ended. After helping broker an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, he increased the number to “eight,” even as violence continued and another cited conflict—Thailand and Cambodia—resumed in December.
Lie: “The people of Canada like” the idea of becoming the 51st US state
Among multiple false claims about Canada during his push to annex it, Trump asserted Canadians supported becoming the 51st state. Polls found the idea overwhelmingly unpopular—opposed by roughly 9 in 10 Canadian adults.
Justice and elections
Lie: Capitol rioters “didn’t assault”
After granting clemency to January 6, 2021 perpetrators, Trump continued to recast the insurrection. He claimed rioters had “no guns,” despite multiple rioters possessing firearms. He portrayed Ashli Babbitt as “innocently standing there” and even “trying to sort of hold back the crowd,” despite video showing she was shot while attempting to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby. He also claimed rioters “didn’t assault,” contradicting extensive video evidence and numerous trial records showing assaults occurred.
Lie: Critical media coverage of Trump is “illegal”
Trump repeatedly insisted that critical reporting about him is “illegal.” It is not.
Lie: Trump didn’t pressure the Justice Department to go after his opponents
In late October, CBS journalist Norah O’Donnell asked whether he instructed the Justice Department to pursue political opponents following indictments involving John Bolton, James Comey, and Letitia James. Trump responded: “No, and not in any way, shape or form.” Yet his own Truth Social posts showed public pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action “NOW” against Comey and James (and also against Rep. Adam Schiff) less than two months earlier.
Lie: Obama, Biden and Comey made up the Epstein files
To justify withholding documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein, Trump claimed: “These files were made up by Comey…by Obama…by the Biden (administration).” The documents are real and were not fabricated. As PolitiFact noted, federal investigations into Epstein occurred during the George W. Bush administration and Trump’s first term, and Epstein died more than a year before Biden was elected. While Maureen Comey served as a prosecutor in cases involving Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, that does not support Trump’s claim that the files were “made up.”
Lie: The 2020 election was “rigged and stolen”
Years after his 2020 defeat—and even after returning to office—Trump continued insisting the election was “rigged and stolen” and has now “been caught.” The 2020 election was free and fair, and repeated investigations and court proceedings have not substantiated his claims.
Lie: The US is “the only country in the world” with mail-in voting
Trump repeatedly claimed the US is the only country that uses mail-in voting, as part of his effort to eliminate it. Many other countries use mail-in voting, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland. He used similar “only country” claims elsewhere, including on birthright citizenship, despite other nations also maintaining that policy.
Health care, legislation and Democrats
Lie: Babies get 80-plus vaccines at once
Trump promoted misleading vaccine claims using invented figures. In September, he described a “vat of 80 different vaccines” being pumped into a child. In October, he claimed “82 vaccines in a shot” are given to babies. Infants do not receive 80 or 82 vaccines total, let alone all at once, and vaccines are not mixed together in a single “vat.”
Lie: Trump’s big domestic policy bill didn’t change Medicaid
With public concern rising over the bill’s impact on Medicaid, Trump claimed in June, “Your Medicaid is left alone. It’s left the same.” The legislation made major Medicaid rule changes, reduced federal funding by hundreds of billions of dollars, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected it would leave millions more people uninsured by 2034.
Lie: The domestic policy bill was “the single most popular bill ever signed”
Despite multiple polls showing the bill was deeply unpopular—and, according to one scholar’s analysis, more unpopular than any major bill in over 30 years—Trump labeled it “the most popular bill ever signed in the history of our country,” and repeatedly called it “the single most popular bill ever signed.” He offered no evidence to support the claim.
