President Donald Trump has sparked a lot of controversy in the past with some of his exaggerations and verbal missteps.
So NewsChannel 5 Investigates watched and listened closely to his Nashville speech.
One of the claims that viewers suggested on Twitter that we should check was this one about the effects of his immigration efforts.
"We've already experienced an unprecedented 40 percent reduction in illegal immigration on our Southern border -- 61 percent, 61 percent since Inauguration Day. Sixty-one percent -- think of that!"
It turns out, that's mostly true.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of apprehensions on the Southwest border dropped from 58,478 in December to 42,504 in January, then 23,589 in February.
.@realDonaldTrump claims 61 percent reduction in Southwest border apprehensions since Inauguration. Dates may be bit off, but mostly true. pic.twitter.com/oRoJ5pUHI0
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) March 16, 2017
The agency does not appear to track the numbers precisely since Inauguration Day.
But there's no doubt that illegal immigrants are not risking it in the same numbers.
Then there was the President's claim about his proposed military spending.
"Our budget calls for one of the single largest increases in defense spending in history in this country."
The phrase "one of" leaves some wiggle room.
Still, that's misleading.
Below is a recent tweet from the director for defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
Trump's proposed defense budget is hardly one of the largest increases, was higher in FY09, FY08, FY03, FY02... #Jointsession pic.twitter.com/83wfcOFvEC
— Todd Harrison (@ToddHarrisonDC) March 1, 2017
Trump's proposal seeks an increase of nearly 10 percent.
But Politifact notes that in the last three decades, there have been 10 years when the base defense budget has gone up more than that.
And the website adds, in some years, the increase was more than double Trump's proposal.
Overall, the President was more careful this time on some of the lines that have landed up in the middle of controversy, suggesting there's apparently some value in working off a teleprompter after all.
Fact Check: US lags far behind China. Not clear what @realDonaldTrump can do about that. Leads other countries https://t.co/ARXToyDb18 pic.twitter.com/v8bIPTUMUN
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) March 15, 2017
