Fact Check-Trump's Wisconsin rally speech examined

By Christina Anagnostopoulos, Sofia Paredes and Seana Davis

April 20 - Reuters examined 11 statements made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 2. While Reuters monitored the 58-minute speech in its entirety, the news agency did not examine opinions, rhetorical or direct questions, anonymous sourcing and information that could not be independently verified.

The statements are listed in chronological order with the timestamps in Central Daylight Time (CDT).

CLAIM

17:09 CDT – Trump says he won Wisconsin by "a lot," referring to the 2020 presidential election

WHAT WE KNOW

This is false. Joe Biden won the state of Wisconsin in 2020 with 49.4% of the vote over Trump's 48.8%.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to take up a case by Trump challenging the election results.

CLAIM

17:11 CDT – Trump says Biden declared Easter Sunday to be Transgender Visibility Day

WHAT WE KNOW

This is misleading. Biden made public remarks about Transgender Day of Visibility, but did not say Easter Sunday would become Trans Visibility Day.

Transgender Day of Visibility has been celebrated on March 31 for 14 years, according to the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD . It happened to be the same day as Easter Sunday in 2024. Read more.

CLAIM

17:12 CDT – While talking about crime during the Biden administration, Trump says crime in Venezuela is down by 67%

WHAT WE KNOW

The source of the 67% figure is unclear. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters request for the data supporting the figure.

According to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory , a Caracas-based research organization, violent deaths declined 25% last year from 2022.

CLAIM

17:18 CDT – Trump repeats his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen or illegitimate (again at 17:37-17:39 and 17:45)

WHAT WE KNOW

This is false. State governments, courts and members of Trump's administration have repeatedly rejected the former president's claims that the 2020 election was stolen .

Federal and state judges have dismissed more than 50 lawsuits alleging election fraud or other irregularities related to the 2020 presidential election brought by Trump or his allies. Read more .

CLAIM

17:19 CDT – Trump quotes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as saying, "The only way you're going to clean up this world is if Trump becomes president again"

WHAT WE KNOW

This is in line with past statements Hungary's nationalist prime minister has made about Trump. Orban said in a meeting with the former president in Florida last month that only Trump could bring peace to Ukraine's conflict with Russia.

"We need leaders in the world who are respected and can bring peace. He is one of them! Come back and bring us peace, Mr. President!" Orban said in a post on X after the meeting.

CLAIM

17:26 CDT - Trump says he built 571 miles of border wall. He did not specify which land border but since 2016 he has campaigned for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border

WHAT WE KNOW

This is not accurate. The Trump administration completed around 458 miles of barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

The majority were barriers that were built during previous administrations and replaced during Trump's tenure. In areas where no structures existed prior to Trump taking office in January 2017, his administration constructed a total of 52 miles of primary wall.

A January 2021 CBP report obtained by Factcheck.org shows 33 miles of new secondary wall were built during Trump's tenure.

CLAIM

17:27 CDT - Trump says illegal immigration into the U.S. fell to its lowest point " in history" during his presidency

WHAT WE KNOW

This is mostly true, based on available government data.

During Trump's administration, the number of apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol at the southwest border (an indicator of attempts of illegal border crossings) for a single month fell to their lowest point on record in April 2017, according to monthly CBP data that goes back to fiscal year 2000 .

CBP has yearly data for nationwide apprehensions by all land, air and sea routes since fiscal year 1925 .

Going by these figures, Trump's aren't the lowest on record but they are the lowest in over four decades. In fiscal year 1971, during Richard Nixon's administration, total apprehensions dipped to 302,517, which is below Trump's lowest tally of 310,531 in fiscal year 2017.

CLAIM

17:30 CDT – Trump says wages rose during his presidency without any inflation

WHAT WE KNOW

Nationwide wages rose 3.1% during Trump's presidency, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Cost Index inflation-adjusted constant dollar estimates.

Inflation was not at zero, but it was lower than during the Biden administration.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) during the Trump administration varied from a high of 2.9% in July 2018 to a low of 0.2% in May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave.

It is true that inflation significantly increased during Biden's tenure; it stood at 1.4% when he took office and rose to 9% in June 2022, following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Inflation rates have remained below 3.6% since October 2023.

CLAIM

17:34 CDT – The U.S. has more oil and gas than any country in the world

WHAT WE KNOW

Venezuela has the largest proven crude oil reserves as of 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) while Russia has the largest natural gas reserves , per the International Energy Agency.

As for recoverable oil resources, the expected amounts in existing fields, Saudi Arabia leads the way followed by the U.S. and Russia, according to a 2023 report by oil analysts Rystad Energy.

In terms of production, the U.S. became the world's largest crude oil producer in 2018 during Trump's presidency and has remained the top producer since.

The U.S. is also the top producer of natural gas. Since 2017, U.S. natural gas exports have exceeded imports. The latest rankings available (2022) from the EIA show the U.S. produces more energy from petroleum and other liquids than any other country.

The U.S. oil and gas industry has also boomed under Biden's presidency by almost all metrics, even if he has pushed to transition the economy toward a greener future, hitting record levels of crude oil production in 2023. Read more .

CLAIM

17:36-17:37 CDT – While talking about immigration, Trump says that under the Biden administration, the U.S. has taken in "at least 15 million people"

WHAT WE KNOW

It's not clear what Trump meant by the U.S. having "taken in" 15 million people. While it is true that the number of encounters reported by the CBP at the U.S.-Mexico border reached record levels during the Biden administration, it isn't 15 million.

CBP data compiled between January 2021 and February 2024 show 7,522,711 encounters at the southwest land border.

In terms of nationwide encounters , CBP registered 9,139,037 encounters between January 2021 and February 2024.

Encounter figures include data for Title 8 apprehensions and inadmissibles. This policy grants some migrants the chance to seek asylum in the U.S. or be processed for deportation.

Between March 2020 and May 2023, encounters also included expulsions under the now-expired Title 42 , a COVID-era restriction that allowed border agents to quickly expel migrants without allowing them to seek asylum.

CLAIM

17:50-17:51 CDT – Trump says he was the first president in decades who started no new wars

WHAT WE KNOW

Defining wars can be difficult. If we consider the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, Trump joins former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower in not having officially brought the U.S. into a new war since 1945.

Trump's tenure, however, did involve military hostilities overseas and the threat of new ones. The Pentagon said Trump ordered a 2020 drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani , triggering Iranian retaliation that threatened to spiral into open conflict, but did not.

The United States in 2017 launched a missile attack on a Syrian army airbase , marking an escalation of the U.S. military's role in Syria.

Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea in 2017 but eventually de-escalated tension with Pyongyang.

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to several requests for comment about the statements examined.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.

(Edited by Stephanie Burnett, Suzanne Goldenberg, Christine Soares)