Fact check: Trump baselessly claims Walz is ‘behind’ cyberattack, repeats debunked claims at Cabinet meeting
By Daniel Dale, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump rattled off some of his most common false claims about the economy, immigration and his foreign policy record at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday. Trump also made an entirely baseless allegation about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Here is a fact check of some of his remarks at the meeting.
Walz and cyberattacks
Trump spoke about cyberattacks this week that have targeted local water systems in multiple states; it is not publicly known who is behind them, but US and state officials are treating Iran as one of the suspects. Trump said, “I think that Minnesota is behind it. You know who is behind it? Minnesota. Because they’re grossly incompetent. I think the governor is behind it.” He added, “I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together.”
There is simply no basis for claiming Minnesota or Walz – the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2024 and a vocal Trump critic – is “behind it.” The FBI and Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement Thursday saying that since Monday, “Water and Wastewater Sector (WWS) utility companies in at least seven states have reported incidents to the FBI, and some of that activity degraded water operations.” Trump made no mention of the governors of the six other states.
Asked for comment on Trump’s remarks, a Walz spokesperson referred CNN to a series of his posts on social media platform X.
Walz wrote on his personal account, “Trump can’t beat Iran because he’s too busy waging war with Minnesota.” Walz also wrote on his official account, “Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran.” He added, “DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks. Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it.”
The economy
Factory construction: Trump said, “We’re building more factories and plants in this country than we’ve ever built before.” The White House could not identify any source for this claim when CNN inquired earlier this week. In reality, federal data shows that spending on US manufacturing construction, a common way to assess the state of factory-building in the country, has steadily declined during Trump’s second term after a spike that occurred during most of former President Joe Biden’s term (which had abated by the final months of Biden’s tenure). You can clearly see the 2025 and 2026 decline in this official chart.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of manufacturing construction spending in May 2026 (the most recent month with available data), about $174.8 billion, was down about 28% from May 2024, the last May under Biden, and also down about 28% from December 2024, Biden’s last full month in office. It was down about 26% from February 2025, Trump’s first full month in office, and down about 22% from May 2025.
Biden and inflation: Trump said, “When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe. The last administration created the worst inflation in 48 years.”
It is true that the year-over-year US inflation rate hit about a 40-year high during the Biden administration, 9.1%. That wasn’t a 48-year high – and, more importantly, that wasn’t the inflation rate Trump inherited; it occurred in June 2022, more than two years before Trump returned to office. Inflation then plummeted before Trump’s inauguration. The year-over-year inflation rate in the last full month of the Biden administration, December 2024, was 2.9%; it was 3.0% in January 2025, the month Trump was sworn in. That’s lower than the most recent available rate at the time Trump spoke Friday, 3.5% in June 2026.
Current inflation: Trump said, “This month, it was announced that inflation is dropping at the fastest rate in more than six years.”
Inflation last month did fall at the fastest rate in more than six years, and the announcement of that milestone did come this month. But Trump’s present-tense “is dropping” claim is worth checking because the data is backward-looking, not current; it didn’t say inflation is now dropping that fast. The rapid drop of June came largely because gasoline prices fell sharply amid a ceasefire with Iran; in July, as the US and Iran have traded attacks again, gasoline prices have jumped back up. Many analysts expect the steep inflation decline of June to be short-lived.
Immigration
Biden and migration numbers: Trump repeated his false claim that Biden allowed “25 million” migrants to enter the country. The “25 million” figure is false; even Trump’s previous “21 million” figure was a wild exaggeration. Through December 2024, the last full month under the Biden administration, the federal government had recorded under 11 million nationwide “encounters” with migrants during that administration, including millions who were rapidly expelled from the country. Even adding in the so-called gotaways who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2.2 million, there’s no way the total was even close to what Trump has said.
Migrants and murder: Trump also claimed that “11,888” of the people Biden let into the country are “murderers.” It’s not true that the Biden administration allowed in all these murderers; as Trump has on numerous prior occasions, he was inaccurately describing federal data. The Department of Homeland Security and independent experts have noted that the figure it appears Trump is referring to is about non-citizens who entered the US not just under Biden but over the course of multiple decades, including during Trump’s own first administration. They were convicted of homicide at some point, usually in the US after their arrival, and are still in the US while being listed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “non-detained docket” – which includes people who are currently serving their prison sentences. You can read more here.
Foreign Policy
Iran and the war: When talking about the war with Iran, Trump said that Iran’s air force and navy have been “obliterated” but that Iran still has “some” missiles and drones. But he said shortly afterward that “their leaders are all gone; everything is all gone. But they’ll fight onward.”
This “everything is all gone” claim wasn’t one-time hyperbole from Trump; he has repeatedly said Iran has been left with no military capabilities whatsoever. But by his own admission on Friday and on various other occasions, it’s clearly not true that “everything” is gone; Iran continues to have missiles, drones and other military capabilities. That’s obvious from Iran’s continued ability to attack US forces, countries in its region and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz area. CNN reported in late May that sources familiar with US intelligence said Iran was rapidly rebuilding certain capabilities that had been degraded by US and Israeli attacks.
And while it’s true that the US and Israel killed various top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran continues to be governed by the Islamic regime that led the country before the war – now led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous leader.
Trump and wars: Trump said, as he has many other times, “I ended eight wars.” He didn’t. His “eight wars” list is highly flawed.
Trump’s list includes two situations that were never actually wars during his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed situation between Serbia and Kosovo. The list also includes a war, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that hasn’t actually ended despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration.
In addition, the list includes the war between Israel and Hamas, but Israel continues to conduct frequent attacks in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. And it includes the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, though Israel proceeded to join the US in starting another war against Iran in 2026.
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