VERIFYING claims from the presidential debate between Trump and Biden

Under rules from CNN, which hosted the debate, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not qualify. 

VERIFY fact-checked these claims made by Biden and Trump during Thursday night’s debate.

THE CLAIM

Trump: “[Biden] inherited almost no inflation and it stayed that way for 14 months.”

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

The inflation rate when President Joe Biden took office was low, but did increase over time.

WHAT WE FOUND

The inflation rate steadily rose over the course of the following 17 months, peaking at 9.7% in June 2022. 

A White House official told VERIFY that “the pandemic caused inflation around the world by disrupting our economy and breaking our supply chains.”

The inflation rate of 1.4% in January 2021 was fairly in line with the inflation rate of the previous six months, which fluctuated between 1% and 1.4%. 

The lowest inflation rate during the pandemic was seen in May 2020, when there was a 0.1% inflation rate.

THE CLAIM

Biden: "Unemployment rate [under Trump] rose to 15%."

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Yes, for one month during the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate under Trump did reach nearly 15%. 

The unemployment rate was between 3.5 and 3.8% from February 2019 to February 2020, the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the U.S. economy.

The unemployment rate did not make it back down to 3.8% again until February 2022. Since then, the unemployment rate has fluctuated between 3.4 and 4.0%.

THE CLAIM

Trump: “More people died [of COVID-19] under [Biden’s] administration than our administration, and we were right in the middle of it, something which a lot of people don't like to talk about, but he had far more people dying in his administration.”

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

It’s true that more people have died of COVID-19 during Biden’s term than Trump’s. However, COVID-19 only broke out in the final year of Trump’s term. People have been dying of COVID-19 for all three and a half years of Biden’s term.

WHAT WE FOUND

The CDC tracks deaths related to COVID-19 using the National Vital Statistics Surveillance system, which is based on death certificates. The data is published on a weekly basis.

The first COVID-19 death recorded by the CDC happened during the week of Jan. 11, 2020, while Trump was in office. Trump officially left office the day Biden was inaugurated, Jan. 20, 2021.

Between the week of the first recorded death and the week Trump left office, the CDC reports 467,407 people died of COVID-19.

As of May 25, 2024 – the most recent week for which the CDC has data – a total of 1,192,282 people have died of COVID. That means since Biden was inaugurated, there have been 724,875 COVID deaths – significantly more than during Trump’s term, as the former president claimed.

However, these numbers need context. COVID-19 didn’t exist until the final year of Trump’s presidency, whereas it has existed for the entirety of Biden’s nearly four years in office.

The 467,407 deaths under President Trump occurred over a 379-day period, while the 724,875 deaths under Biden occurred over 1,219 days. In the first 379 days of Biden’s term, 476,705  people died of COVID, a nearly identical number to Trump’s.

THE CLAIM

Trump: "Democrat-run states allow after-birth abortions."

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Democrat-run states do not allow after-birth abortions. Killing a child after birth, or infanticide, is illegal in all 50 states. 

WHAT WE FOUND

Killing a child after birth is infanticide, which is illegal in all 50 states.

Experts also told the Associated Press that it is not physically possible to perform an abortion if a woman has already gone into labor naturally.

“Patients who are laboring at term are never having an abortion,” Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, told the AP. “They are having a delivery.”

THE CLAIM

Biden: “$15 for [an] insulin shot as opposed to $400.”

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Biden did cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for Medicare enrollees starting in 2023. But Biden exaggerated how much people were paying for insulin shots before the law took effect.

WHAT WE FOUND

The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022, did cap insulin prices at $35 a month for seniors who have Medicare starting in 2023. Biden mistakenly said $15 instead of $35. He corrected himself later in the debate and said the cost of insulin was capped at $35. 

However, the president exaggerated how much money people were paying for insulin shots before the law took effect.

Biden suggested insulin used to cost people $400 per shot. But government data show that’s false.

In a 2022 report on the affordability of insulin, the Department of Health and Human Services provided an estimate for out-of-pocket insulin costs. It found that people enrolled in Medicare or private insurance paid an average of $452 per year for insulin in 2019 – not per shot, as Biden claimed.