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Fact-checking Trump Cabinet meeting during shutdown, National Guard deployments
On October 9, local time, on the ninth day of the U.S. federal government shutdown, Donald Trump held a cabinet meeting. The meeting comes as Trump has deployed the National Guard to Chicago and attempted to send troops to Portland, Oregon. Cabinet members also discussed the first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the Trump administration's role in the negotiations.
The Poynter Institute (Political Affairs Verification) fact-checked its remarks about ending the seven wars, the Portland protests, pregnant women taking Tylenol, and more.
On October 9, 2025, Donald Trump spoke at the White House Cabinet meeting.
1. The Trump administration says hostages will be released on Monday or Tuesday
During a cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump said the hostages would be released on Monday or Tuesday.
“Getting them is a complex process,” Trump said.
Trump announced on October 8 that Israel and Hamas had signed the first phase agreement of his proposed peace plan.
“This means that all hostages will be released soon and the Israeli military will withdraw to the boundaries agreed by both sides, which is the first step towards a strong, lasting and lasting peace,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
The Trump administration’s “20 Points Plan” was announced in late September, saying all the bodies of hostages and victims in the world would be returned.
Under the plan, Israel will then release 250 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, as well as 1,700 Gazans detained after the Israeli attack on October 7, 2023.
“For every return of the bodies of an Israeli hostage, Israel will exchange the bodies of 15 Palestinian victims in the Gaza Strip,” the plan said.
The next stage will be more complicated. The plan states that humanitarian aid will be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip and that the United States will work with Arab countries and international partners to form an interim stabilization force to deploy to Gaza
Under the plan, Israel will not occupy or annex the Gaza Strip, and Hamas will no longer participate in the governance of the Gaza Strip.
The committee will be composed of Palestinians and international experts and is supervised by the Peace Committee, which is chaired by Trump and includes leaders from many countries, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Trump is expected to arrive in Israel on Sunday.
Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 Israelis and seized more than 200 hostages on 7 October 2023.The Gaza Ministry of Health reports that over the next two years, Israeli military operations have killed more than 6,70,000 Palestinians, including civilians and fighters.
by Amy Sherman.
Trump: “We solved seven wars, E-Ha is the eighth.”
Trump once again exaggerated his claim that he had ended seven wars, of which the Israel-Kazakhstan conflict was the eighth.
Trump did participate in mediating recent ceasefire agreements to ease conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. But most of these are only phased agreements, and the possibility of achieving long-term peace is very low. Some national leaders also raised objections to the extent of Trump's role.
The United States has participated in a temporary peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, but violence in the region continues and has killed hundreds of civilians since the June agreement was signed. After Trump helped promote the Cambodian-Thailand agreement, the two countries accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement, leading to frequent violent conflicts.
Egypt and Ethiopia’s long-standing confrontation around an Ethiopian dam on the Nile River remains unresolved, while in the case of Kosovo and Serbia, there is little indication that a potential war is brewing out.
Trump has made significant progress in helping to end the Israeli-Hamas conflict agreement; the agreement consists of several phases, so it takes time to observe whether peace lasts.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
Trump: “In my first term, we had the best economy.”
Economists told the Poynter Institute that this statement is wrong, even if we don't consider the last year of his term, which was during the COVID-19 pandemic and triggered the economic recession.
The strongest evidence in support of this argument — at least in the U.S. context — is unemployment. During Trump’s first term, unemployment dropped to a low that had never been reached since the early 1950s.
However, the annual GDP growth rate during the Trump administration was largely the same as in the last six years of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Wage growth during Trump's tenure also did not set a record. Adjusted for inflation, wages began to rise during Obama's administration and continued to grow during Trump's tenure. But these increases are moderate compared with the 2% annual increase in the 1960s.
Another key indicator – the growth rate of per capita consumption after inflation adjustment – was not higher during Trump’s tenure than the previous president. For many households, this statistic directly reflects the bottom line of economic activity, determining their ability to consume in food, clothing, housing, healthcare and travel.
During the three-year Trump administration ending in January 2020, per capita real consumption grew at an annual rate of 2%. Of the 30 non-overlapping three-year cycles from 1929 to the end of his term, the Trump-era data ranks 12th from the bottom.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
Trump: Ambitious bill calls for “social security zero tax”
This statement is exaggerated; we call Trump’s promise to cancel social security taxes a “compromise.”
The bill, which Trump signed on July 4, became a law, partly fulfilling his campaign promise to abolish the U.S. Social Security Tax for the elderly.
The bill provides tax breaks for many Social Security-eligible older Americans, but does not completely exempt Social Security benefits from taxation.
According to the Social Security Administration, more than half of social security beneficiaries currently need to pay a portion of the tax for their benefits. Under this law, millions of social security beneficiaries will continue to pay taxes.
The tax calculation is based on a complex formula that involves the taxpayer's total income, tax-free interest income, and half of the social protection contribution.
Under the signed bill, 65-year-olds and older will receive an additional $6,000 tax deduction. These deductions are increased on the basis of existing tax deductions for Americans over the age of 65 – $2,000 for married persons and $1,600 for unmarried and unmarried persons.
The new relief policy is temporary and will last until 2028.
One group that is unable to benefit from this tax deduction is those who receive social security benefits directly under the age of 65. Federal data for December 2024 show that approximately 5% of retirement benefits are between the ages of 62 and 64.
Other groups not eligible for deduction include the dependants of retired workers, the relatives of deceased workers, and disabled workers under the age of 65 and their dependants.
In the end, wealthier taxpayers will not benefit. According to the centre-right think tank Tax Foundation, the tax break will be phased out at higher income levels-$175,000 for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
5. Trump said that "the anti-fascist movement in Portland is out of control"
Trump said his administration was “striking harshly” against the anti-fascist movement, and “we are pursuing those who are funding them.”
The Anti-Fascist Movement (Antifa) is a broad and loosely connected coalition of left-wing activists; It is not an organization with full membership, leadership or base of operations. The oldest Antifa group is Rose City Antifa in Portland, Oregon, with similar organizations in multiple other cities.
In September, Trump issued an executive order listing the anti-fascist movement as a domestic terrorist organization.
Since June, protests have continued in the area around two blocks near the immigration and customs enforcement facilities of the city of Portland. About 60 people have been arrested for crimes such as reckless firing, assault and illegal intrusion, partly by local police and partly by federal law enforcement. The Portland police declared the incident a riot on the evening of June 14.
Trump had previously falsely claimed that "Portland is being burned to the ground".
Garry Lavry, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and former Director of the United States Terrorism Research and Response Alliance, told us: “A number of independent reviews over the past decade — including the analysis of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security reports, the Global Terrorism Database, and Congressional hearings — have shown that zero terrorist attacks can be blamed on the anti-fascist movement.”
A federal judge recently blocked plans to deploy personnel to Portland, and the Trump administration has appealed. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal will hold an oral debate today.
by Amy Sherman.
6. Trump says Venezuelan ship sunk by U.S. troops carried enough drugs to kill 25,000 Americans
Since September 2, the Trump administration has sunk at least four ships off the Venezuelan coast. Trump said the ships were carrying drugs to the United States, with drugs on each ship "sufficient to kill 250,000 Americans."
The U.S. government has not provided evidence that the ships carried drugs, what kind of drugs they were, and how much drugs they were. Experts on drugs and Venezuela tell us that the country plays a secondary role in drug trafficking to the United States. Most fentanyl in the United States comes from Mexico, while cocaine mainly comes from Colombia.
This argument is based on the assumption that all drugs have a uniform lethal dose, but in reality, the lethality of the drug varies depending on the user’s height, weight and tolerance to the drug.
In addition, not everyone is at risk of dying from drug overdose. To die from fentanyl or cocaine overdose, it must be ingested by the drug or other substances contaminated by it. Approximately 11% of the population aged 12 and older in the United States use illegal drugs.
— by Maria Ramirez Uribe
7. Trump promotes the government's achievements in military recruitment
Speaking of the army recruitment, Trump said: “Our recruitment has reached a record high, and a year ago there were headlines that we couldn’t recruit anyone to join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.”
In March this year, we discovered that Trump had made misleading statements about military recruitment.
During the Biden administration, the number of U.S. troops recruited increased from 200,000 in the fiscal year 2023 to 22.5 million in the fiscal year 2024, up to 12.5 percent.
The U.S. Army implemented a number of reforms during the Biden administration to improve the efficiency of recruitment, including the introduction of preparatory courses to help less qualified conscripts meet recruitment standards.
by Amy Sherman.
8. Trump: The Democratic Party "suffered a fiasco" in the 2024 general election
By historical standards, Trump's victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election is relatively narrow and far from a landslide.
Trump won both the voter’s ballot and the universal ballot.He also took seven of the most competitive key swing states.His voter’s ballot advantage even surpassed four of the seven general elections of this century, including the election Biden defeated Trump four years ago.
But from a historical perspective, Trump’s winning advantage—whether in absolute votes or in earnings—has been weak, even in the context of the twenty-five-year backdrop of elections that have become normal.
By counting the percentage of votes, his 2024 universal vote advantage was the smallest of all winners since Bush in 2000. If you go back earlier, only John Kennedy in 1960 (the advantage of 0.17%) and Nixon in 1968 (the advantage of 0.7%) won with a weaker universal vote gap.
Trump’s conjunctive effect was not noticeable.He succeeded in reversing Senate control, but Democratic Senate candidates won seats in key swing states, despite Trump taking those states.
“Trump’s victory is solid and convincing,” Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, told us in November, “H, the 2024 election is not a full recognition of the Republican Party.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
IX. Trump: "We will reduce the cost of medicines by 100%, 200%, 300%, 500% or even more."
Trump has said this many times, even claiming that he can reduce the price by 1000%. But mathematically speaking, such a sharp price cut is impossible.
A 100% price cut means consumers don't have to pay anything for medicines.
A 200% price reduction means that pharmaceutical companies need to pay consumers the full cost of drugs.
A price reduction of 500 percent means that pharmaceutical companies have to pay consumers four times the price of the drug.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
Trump warns pregnant women not to take Tino, but this is not the general advice of doctors
Trump claimed, “I would advise pregnant women not to take Teno ... what can you lose?”
Trump previously declared that "there is no harm in avoiding Tylenol during pregnancy", and our rating on this is a big lie!
For a long time, researchers have documented health risks associated with untreated fever during pregnancy, which can lead to an increased risk of birth defects and other pregnancy complications, especially in the early stages of pregnancy.
According to Maternal and Child Health, these risks outweigh contradictory research findings about a possible association between Tylenol and autism.
Doctors and researchers have found that acetaminophen, the main ingredient of Tylenol, is a safe and effective fever-reducing and analgesic drug during pregnancy. In contrast, other over-the-counter painkillers have clear risks, making Tylenol one of the few options for pregnant women.
-Amy Sherman and Madison Zopek
11. Trump: "But when you give 82 vaccines to a young baby who is not fully developed, that's just too many."
We have verified facts about Trump’s similar claims — that infants should be vaccinated with “80 different vaccines” — and concluded that they were “wrong.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children should receive 11 different vaccines before the age of 10, which can prevent 15 diseases.
If calculated by dose of vaccination (because some vaccines require multiple doses), the total is 30 doses. If new coronavaccines and influenza vaccines are included annually, the total dose will be increased to 52 doses.
Many vaccines can be combined by combining multiple doses into one injection, so the number of single injections children actually receive is usually much less than the number of vaccine doses.
-Louis Jacobsen and Grace Abels
What exactly was Robert Kennedy talking about when he mentioned the pregnancy professor at Columbia University who posted the "Fuck Tenno" web video?
Child Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy described a video he saw on social media, saying one of the pregnant women was a "adjunct professor" at Columbia University, "who was swallowing Tino while the fetus was still in her placenta."
We searched for a video that appeared to be the deleted video released by Columbia University obstetrics researcher Michelle Wu.
"I'm 28 weeks pregnant, you know what I'm going to take? Tylenol, acetaminophen," Takeshi said as he poured the pills out of the Tylenol bottle. "It'll work like magic, and my baby won't get autism."
The video appears to have taken two tablets in line with the typical recommended dosage.
After Trump advocated a lack of scientific basis — that taking the main ingredient of the tino in pregnant women could lead to autism — some conservative social media users claimed that pregnant women were fighting Trump by overdosing the tino.
Doctors, medical organizations and toxic control agencies interviewed by medical news agency MedPage Today said there was no surge in overdose of acetaminophen at the moment.
— by Maria Ramirez Uribe
Trump: “They invited me to give a speech in the Israeli parliament...This will be the first time a U.S. president does that.”
Trump is not the first U.S. president to address the Israeli Knesset. He will actually be fourth.
Jimmy Carter was the first president in 1979. followed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and President George W. Bush in 2008.
Three other U.S. dignitaries have spoken in the Knesset: Vice President Mike Pence in 2018, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1998 and Kevin McCarthy in 2023.
-LOUIS JACOBSON
Published in: Political Affairs Verification | politifact
Author: Pointe Institute
https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/oct/09/live-fact-checking-trump-cabinet-israel-ceasefire/
Compiled by: 24:00 Observatory