This fact-check examines the veracity of major factual claims made by President Donald Trump during his November 14, 2025 interview with GB News presenter Bev Turner at the White House. Claims are rated as True, Mostly True, Partially True, Mostly False, or False based on available evidence.
Assistance from Claude AI. For a summary of the interview, see Trump Tells GB News: America’s “Hottest Country in the World” After 10-Month Turnaround, Pursues Billion-Dollar BBC Lawsuit.
Military Recruitment Claims
Claim
“We have had record people wanting to join our military… best recruitment numbers in the history of our country. And a year ago, we had the worst.”
Rating: MOSTLY FALSE
Analysis
While military recruitment has increased, the improvement began well before Trump’s second term and cannot be attributed solely to his policies. Multiple fact-checking organizations found Trump’s claims misleading.
According to Defense Department data, military recruitment began recovering in fiscal year 2023 and continued improving through 2024 under President Biden. The Defense Department reported recruitment rose from 200,000 in fiscal year 2022-23 to 225,000 in fiscal year 2023-24, a 12.5% increase while Biden was still in office (Pfeiffer, 2025). By October 2024, before Trump’s election, enlistments were up 60% over the previous year.
Military experts attribute the recovery to Biden-era reforms rather than Trump’s election. These include the Army’s Future Soldier Prep Course launched in 2022, the Navy’s Future Sailor Prep Course launched in 2023, pay raises approved by Congress (14.5% for junior enlisted troops), and professionalization of the recruiting enterprise (Lawrence, 2025; Asch as cited in Rosen, 2025).
Katherine Kuzminski, director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, stated: “We don’t have a survey among individuals who didn’t join, why they didn’t join and whether or not the election outcome had something to do with it” (Price, 2025). David Segal, a University of Maryland sociology professor and expert on military recruitment, noted: “The peak in Army recruiting was in late August 2024 — months before the election. In short, Trump shouldn’t get credit for processes that preceded his election” (Pfeiffer, 2025).
The Christian Science Monitor reported that March 2025 enlistments of 13,000 were “still fewer than the 16,800 recorded in January 2018, during Mr. Trump’s first term, and the 20,000 recorded in August 2024 under President Joe Biden” (Murphy, 2025).
References
Lawrence, Q. (2025, February 11). Army recruiting numbers in December and January broke records. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5292163/hegseth-says-trump-boosted-military-recruiting-its-been-improving-for-over-a-year
Murphy, F. X. (2025, August 11). After years of sluggish enlistments, the US military gets a surge of recruits. The Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2025/0811/military-recruiting-trump-defense
Pfeiffer, S. (2025, March 11). Donald Trump takes credit for military recruitment turnaround that started with Joe Biden. PolitiFact. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/mar/11/donald-trump/military-recruitment-is-up-donald-trump-joe-biden/
Price, J. (2025, May 19). Military recruiting numbers are up, but the rise started before the election. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5397229/military-recruiting-numbers-are-up-but-the-rise-started-before-the-election
Rosen, J. (2025, April 25). FACT FOCUS: Trump credited with rising military recruitment. Growth started before his reelection. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2025-04-25/fact-focus-trump-credited-with-rising-military-recruitment-growth-started-before-his-reelection
Washington D.C. Crime Claims
Claim
“Washington DC was very unsafe. And now it’s the safest place in the country. It took me two months to make it good.”
Rating: MOSTLY FALSE
Analysis
Crime in Washington, D.C. was already at historic lows before Trump’s military intervention, and his characterization of making it “the safest place in the country” is unsupported.
Multiple sources confirm that violent crime in D.C. had already declined to a 30-year low before Trump deployed the National Guard in August 2025. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that violent crime in D.C. fell to a 30-year low as of January 2025 (Belam, 2025). Metropolitan Police Department statistics showed that homicide, sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon, robbery, and overall violent crime had all dropped by double-digit percentages before the federal intervention (Belam, 2025).
While some additional crime reduction occurred after the National Guard deployment, data analysis suggests the impact was limited. The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub modeling showed that “shootings started plummeting in mid-April, suggesting the military presence is probably not responsible for the decline.” Their model estimated “fewer than one shooting victim difference citywide, compared with what would have been expected had the deployment never happened” (Derysh, 2025).
A Baltimore Sun analysis found an 18% reduction in reported crimes during the first 30 days of National Guard deployment compared to the previous month, but noted these reductions continued pre-existing trends (Trone, 2025). CNN reported crime statistics as of September 4, 2025 showing a 37% drop in carjackings, 50% decrease in robberies, and 23% drop in violent crime, but noted “violent crime declined in 2024 and has declined again so far in 2025” before the deployment (Conte & Polantz, 2025).
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated: “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year” (Belam, 2025).
References
Belam, M. (2025, August 15). Trump puts Washington, DC, police under federal control, deploys National Guard. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/trump-washington-crime-fed-national-guard-homeless.html
Conte, N., & Polantz, K. (2025, September 4). With no end in sight, National Guard members deployed to DC grow weary. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/04/politics/national-guardsmen-deployed-to-dc-balance
Derysh, I. (2025, October). What does crime in D.C. look like post-Trump’s troop deployment? The Trace. https://www.thetrace.org/2025/10/dc-shooting-data-trump-national-guard/
Trone, C. (2025, September 23). Did the National Guard lower crime in DC? What data shows before, after Trump sent troops. Yahoo! News. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/did-national-guard-lower-crime-080000342.html
Border Crossing Claims
Claim
“You know what we have now for the last six months? Zero.”
Rating: MOSTLY FALSE / MISLEADING
Analysis
While border crossings have dropped dramatically under Trump’s second term, they have not reached “zero” as claimed. The claim conflates different metrics and overstates the reduction.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows border crossings at historic lows but not zero. In June 2025, Border Patrol encountered 6,070 illegal immigrants at the southern border (White House, 2025a). In July 2025, Border Patrol arrested 4,598 illegal immigrants, averaging 148 illegal crossings per day (White House, 2025b). August 2025 saw 6,319 Border Patrol apprehensions on the southwest border (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2025).
The White House has conflated “zero releases” into the interior with “zero crossings.” While it is accurate that Border Patrol released zero illegal immigrants into the U.S. interior for several months in 2025, apprehensions and encounters continued. As Axios reported: “The Trump administration hasn’t completely closed the border in recent months and continues to allow thousands of noncitizens entry into the U.S.” (Gonzalez, 2025).
PBS News noted important context: “Illegal immigration has generally been dropping since March 2024. And it dropped significantly after June, when Biden implemented a policy limiting people’s ability to apply for asylum at the southwest border” (Bajak & Santhanam, 2025). The trend of decreasing border crossings predated Trump’s second term.
Border crossings did reach unprecedented lows under Trump’s policies, with June 28, 2025 recording only 136 apprehensions in a single day according to CBP (White House, 2025a). However, the characterization of “zero” for six months is inaccurate.
References
Bajak, A., & Santhanam, L. (2025, February 22). Fact-checking the Trump White House’s claims about illegal immigration dropping sharply. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-the-trump-white-houses-claims-about-illegal-immigration-dropping-sharply
Gonzalez, O. (2025, July 16). Trump immigration crackdown sees illegal border crossings hit decades-low. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2025/07/15/illegal-border-crossings-decades-low-trump
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (2025, September 1). Trump administration delivers 4 straight months of 0 releases at the border. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/trump-administration-delivers-4-straight-months-0-releases-border
White House. (2025a, July 2). “EXTRAORDINARY”: President Trump drives illegal border crossings to a new historic low. https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/extraordinary-president-trump-drives-illegal-border-crossings-to-a-new-historic-low/
White House. (2025b, August 1). “UNHEARD OF”: Illegal border crossings plummet to another new record low. https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/08/unheard-of-illegal-border-crossings-plummet-to-another-new-record-low/
BBC Resignations Claim
Claim
“The Director General has resigned, the head of news has resigned over this.”
Rating: TRUE
Analysis
This claim is accurate. Both BBC Director-General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned on November 9, 2025 following criticism over the broadcaster’s editing of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech.
Multiple news sources confirmed the resignations. NPR reported: “The BBC said Director-General Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness had both decided to leave the corporation” (NPR, 2025). CNN confirmed that “Two top leaders at the BBC resigned on Sunday amid an escalating scandal over impartiality and bias” (Pallaro & Dale, 2025).
The resignations followed the leak of an internal memo by former BBC adviser Michael Prescott that revealed the BBC had misleadingly edited Trump’s January 6 speech in a documentary to make it appear he had directly called for violence. The BBC subsequently apologized for the edit, with BBC chair Samir Shah stating the edit created “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” (Shah as cited in Folkenflik, 2025).
In his resignation letter, Davie stated: “Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility” (Davie as cited in Associated Press, 2025). Turness similarly acknowledged: “The ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC” (Turness as cited in Associated Press, 2025).
References
Associated Press. (2025, November 9). BBC director resigns after criticism of the broadcaster’s editing of a Trump speech. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bbc-director-resigns-criticism-broadcasters-editing-trump-speech-rcna242858
Folkenflik, D. (2025, November 14). BBC apologizes for edit of Trump speech but says it won’t provide legal compensation. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/14/nx-s1-5608004/bbc-apology-trump-speech
NPR. (2025, November 9). BBC director resigns after criticism of the broadcaster’s editing of a Trump speech. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/09/nx-s1-5603609/bbc-director-resigns-after-criticism-of-the-broadcasters-editing-of-a-trump-speech
Pallaro, L., & Dale, D. (2025, November 9). BBC leaders resign amid scandal over misleading edit of Trump speech. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/uk/bbc-leaders-resign-amid-scandal-over-trump-speech-latam-intl
CBS/60 Minutes Settlement Claim
Claim
“We just settled that case” with CBS/60 Minutes.
Rating: PARTIALLY TRUE
Analysis
A settlement was reached, but Trump’s characterization omits important context about the timing, amount, and nature of the agreement.
Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. However, the settlement was not finalized until July 2, 2025 (Folkenflik, 2025b), several months after Trump’s November 14, 2025 interview claim that “we just settled.” The lawsuit was filed in October 2024, and negotiations extended through mediation in early 2025.
The settlement included $16 million allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not to Trump personally, and did not include an apology from CBS (CBS News, 2025). CBS maintained the interview was “not doctored or deceitful” throughout the proceedings.
Press freedom advocates condemned the settlement. Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, stated: “A cold wind just blew through every newsroom this morning. Paramount may have closed this case, but it opened the door to the idea that the government should be the media’s editor-in-chief” (Folkenflik, 2025b).
The settlement occurred while Paramount was seeking FCC approval for its acquisition by Skydance Media, a deal requiring transfer of broadcast licenses. Trump’s appointee as FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, had initiated a formal review of complaints against CBS, creating significant regulatory pressure on the company (Folkenflik, 2025a).
References
CBS News. (2025, July 2). Paramount, President Trump reach $16 million settlement over “60 Minutes” lawsuit. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit-settlement/
Folkenflik, D. (2025a, February 6). CBS appears poised to settle Trump lawsuit over ’60 Minutes’. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/06/nx-s1-5288181/why-cbs-stands-at-the-epicenter-of-trumps-assault-on-the-media
Folkenflik, D. (2025b, July 2). CBS bends to Trump’s power with $16 million settlement. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/07/02/nx-s1-5454790/cbs-settlement-trump-60-minutes-harris-interview-analysis
Russia-Ukraine Casualty Claim
Claim
“Last week they say during the month, during the last month, actually, 25,000 soldiers were killed between the two countries. Fairly evenly split.”
Rating: UNVERIFIABLE / LIKELY INFLATED
Analysis
This specific claim cannot be verified from available sources, and appears inconsistent with documented casualty rates.
Multiple credible sources tracking Russia-Ukraine War casualties do not support the figure of 25,000 killed in a single month. Meduza and Mediazona’s joint analysis, which tracks Russian casualties through the National Inheritance Registry, estimated that “if an average of 200–250 soldiers were killed each day in 2024, the number climbed to about 300 during the peak of Russia’s 2025 offensive” (Meduza, 2025). At 300 deaths per day for 30 days, this would equal approximately 9,000 Russian deaths per month—substantially below Trump’s claim of 12,500 per side.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported that Russia averaged 5,000 to 5,800 soldiers killed per month during the first year of the war (Wikipedia, 2025). More recent estimates from mid-2025 suggested between 200,000 and 220,000 total Russian deaths since the start of the war (Meduza, 2025), indicating monthly averages well below 25,000 combined casualties.
A statement attributed to Trump in August 2025 claimed: “I was just told that almost 20,000 Russian soldiers have died this month” (Mezha, 2025), which differs from the November interview claim and remains unverified by independent sources.
Political scientist Neta Crawford estimated a total of 323,000 dead in the war by July 2025, with an average rate of 7,690 killed per month across all parties (Wikipedia, 2025). This total monthly figure for all combatants is substantially lower than Trump’s claim for a single month.
References
Meduza. (2025, November 4). How many soldiers have Russia and Ukraine lost? And how do their armies compare? https://meduza.io/en/feature/2025/11/04/how-many-soldiers-have-russia-and-ukraine-lost-and-how-do-their-armies-compare
Mezha. (2025, November 16). Russian military losses in Ukraine conflict as of November 2025. https://mezha.net/eng/bukvy/russian-military-losses-in-ukraine-conflict-as-of-november-2025/
Wikipedia. (2025, November 15). Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
Chicago Crime Reduction Claim
Claim
“Even Chicago… crime is down now 40%.”
Rating: UNVERIFIABLE
Analysis
This specific 40% reduction figure for Chicago crime under Trump’s intervention cannot be verified from available sources. No federal deployment to Chicago had occurred as of November 2025 despite repeated threats.
Wikipedia’s comprehensive entry on 2025 federal force deployments notes: “The Pentagon was planning a military deployment in Chicago, Illinois, for weeks ahead of August 2025, with reports at the time stating that thousands of National Guard troops could be mobilized by September 2025. However, by October 11 no such deployment had occurred” (Wikipedia, 2025).
The entry further states: “Trump has repeatedly singled out Chicago as ‘next,’ calling it a ‘mess’ and claiming residents are ‘screaming’ for federal intervention. No formal request has been made to Illinois officials, and crime data shows significant declines (homicides down 30%, shootings down 40% in the past year)” (Wikipedia, 2025).
This indicates that while Chicago has experienced crime reductions, these occurred independently of any federal Trump administration intervention, as no deployment took place. The 40% figure Trump cited may refer to pre-existing local trends rather than federal action.
Trump threatened “Apocalypse Now”-style action against Chicago in September 2025, but no actual deployment materialized (Wikipedia, 2025).
References
Wikipedia. (2025, November 12). 2025 deployment of federal forces in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_deployment_of_federal_forces_in_the_United_States
Settled Wars Claim
Claim
“I settled eight Wars and I have one to go.”
Rating: UNVERIFIABLE
Analysis
Trump provided no specific details about which eight conflicts he claims to have settled, making independent verification impossible. No comprehensive documentation exists in available sources confirming these settlements.
Trump referenced settling a conflict between India and Pakistan involving “nuclear nations” where “eight planes were shot down,” claiming he resolved it “within 48 hours” through threats of tariffs and cancelled trade deals. However, no major India-Pakistan conflict with this specific description and outcome is documented in recent news archives.
Trump also mentioned resolving conflicts that had lasted “32 years” and “36 years” and settling them “in, like, two days,” but did not identify these specific conflicts.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict, which Trump acknowledged as unresolved, remains the most significant ongoing European war. Trump stated it “should have never started” and described it as “a bloodbath” with casualties “not since the Second World War” comparable in scale.
Without specific conflict identification and independent confirmation from diplomatic sources or international organizations, this claim cannot be fact-checked effectively.
Additional Context and Observations
Several other claims merit brief notation:
North Sea Oil Claims: Trump’s characterization of UK North Sea oil resources and taxation is partially accurate but oversimplified. The North Sea does contain significant oil reserves, though “a thousand years of life” is hyperbolic. UK taxation on North Sea operations is complex and has been adjusted multiple times, though not to “almost a hundred percent” as claimed.
Glasgow Life Expectancy: The claim about male life expectancy of 57 in Glasgow’s east end aligns with documented health disparities in Scotland. Public health data has shown extreme variations in life expectancy across Glasgow neighborhoods, with some areas having life expectancies comparable to developing nations.
DEI Elimination: The claim that “DEI is dead. It’s dead. It’s not even talked about anymore” represents a policy position rather than a verifiable fact. Federal DEI programs have been significantly reduced or eliminated under Trump’s second term through executive orders, though private sector and state-level DEI initiatives continue.
Methodology Note
This fact-check relied on reporting from established news organizations (NPR, CNN, CBS News, PBS NewsHour, Axios, The Christian Science Monitor), fact-checking organizations (PolitiFact), government sources (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Defense), and academic research (Center for Strategic and International Studies, Meduza/Mediazona investigations). Claims were rated based on the preponderance of credible evidence available as of November 2025.
Where claims could not be verified due to insufficient specificity or lack of available evidence, they were rated as “unverifiable” rather than presumed false. This conservative approach reflects the limitations of fact-checking when claims lack sufficient detail for independent verification.