Fact Check: Biden Claimed Inflation was 9% as He Entered Office - Truth Paints a Much Different Story
President Joe Biden finally sat for an interview with CNN, but in doing so, delivered a major — and easily fact-checked — lie about the economy he inherited from President Donald Trump.
During his Wednesday interview with the network’s Erin Burnett, Biden was asked about his economy and the possibility of more actions by the Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates repeatedly to try to rein in the inflation that started soaring after Biden took office.
“They hope they’re going to get a rate cut,” Burnett said.
“Yeah, well, so, but I mean, no president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9 percent when I came to office — 9 percent,” Biden exclaimed.
Biden’s claim is not only simply wrong, it is way off.
Indeed, the last time inflation rates were anywhere near 9 percent before Biden’s term was back in 1981 as President Ronald Reagan worked to fix the horrid economy left to him by Jimmy Carter, according to a table compiled at the US Inflation Calculator website.
But, while Ronald Reagan’s 9 percent was on the way down from Jimmy Carter’s highs, the table shows, Biden is simply wrong that the 9 percent rate he saw in 2022 was in place during Donald Trump’s years in office.
The highest inflation rate the country saw when Trump was in office was 2.9 percent. And, unlike Reagan, Biden didn’t even start seeing higher rates until his second year in office when rates started climbing.
The highest rate under Donald Trump was 2.9 percent in May and June of 2018. He had a 2.5 percent inflation rate for nine months and 2.0 percent or less for 17 months.
The rate of inflation in January 2021, when Biden took office, was 1.4 percent, according to the table.
Joe Biden simply does not have the successful record racked up by either Reagan or Trump.
The highest rate Biden has seen thus far was the 9.1 percent in June of 2022. During his years in office, the country has had inflation under 2 percent for only two months — the first two months of his presidency.
Meanwhile, under the Biden administrationkl the country has had an inflation rate of more than 2.5 percent or more for 40 months, 5 percent or more for for 24 months, and 7.5 percent or more for 11 months.
Former President Trump’s son, Eric, blasted Biden for his obvious lie, jumping to X and proclaiming, “What a clown.”
What a clown https://t.co/B5qHPrzFTO
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) May 9, 2024
CNN may be regretting its big interview. Biden has been blasted for giving the fewest interviews of any president in 40 years, Just The News reported. But his penchant for disgorging one lie, false boast, and fake story after another is the reason the White House seems reluctant to let Biden appear before reporters.
Americans have a clear choice in November if they want to get the U.S. economy back on track.
Trump’s successful economic track record versus Biden crashing failure is a contrast no one can miss.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
