President Donald Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of 2026 on Thursday, a session that the administration presented as a summary of progress across the economy, housing, energy, health initiatives and drug prices. But in an AP Fact Check, the Associated Press reviewed multiple claims made by Trump and other officials and found several to be off the mark or inconsistent with public data and documented actions.
Investment figures were among the first items checked. Trump said that “$18 trillion is being invested now.” The AP said Trump did not provide evidence for that amount, characterizing the figure as exaggerated, highly speculative and far higher than what the AP said can be supported by statements from companies, foreign countries and the White House’s own materials. The AP said the White House website instead offers a lower figure of $9.6 trillion, and that the lower number appears to include some investment commitments made during the Biden administration.
The AP also pointed to a study published Tuesday that, in the AP’s description, raised doubts about whether more than $5 trillion in investment commitments made last year by major trading partners will actually materialize, and questioned how such money would be spent if it did. The AP’s review framed the gap between Trump’s $18 trillion claim and other publicly stated figures as a key example of missing support for the administration’s characterization.
In housing, AP Fact Check focused on a statement from Scott Turner, secretary of housing and urban development. Turner said, “Because of your policy sir, home sales in December, they rose sharply to their strongest pace in three years.” The AP said Turner overstated the situation. The AP reported that the National Association of Realtors said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of home sales in December rose to 4.35 million units—nearly the highest in three years—but that it was only a 1.4% year-over-year increase.
The AP said the picture could also be affected by short-term variation. It noted that the NAR separately reported that pending home sales in December fell 3% from a year ago, and said the December jump in closed sales could have been a monthly blip rather than a sustained trend.
The AP also addressed related claims made by Trump about housing prices. Trump has said he wants to keep home prices high to increase people’s net worth, while the AP said that approach would likely keep construction levels low and price out possible first-time buyers.
Wildfires near Los Angeles were another focus, including Trump’s comments about permitting for rebuilding. Trump said: “They have been unable to give permits. There are like three houses being built out of thousands and thousands. They have no permits.” The AP said that was inconsistent with reported permitting activity. The AP described that on Friday Trump signed an executive order directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration to develop regulations that would preempt state and local permit rules and allow builders to “self-certify” compliance with “substantive health, safety, and building standards.”
Still, the AP said Los Angeles county and city data show about 3,100 permits had been issued within the Palisades and Eaton fire zones as of Thursday, and that fewer than a dozen residences have been rebuilt but about 900 homes are under construction. The AP reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on social media, saying local officials are moving at a fast pace and calling for the Trump administration to approve California’s $33.9 billion disaster aid request. Survivor advocates told the AP that permits are not necessarily the primary obstacle for impacted households right now, in part because many still struggle to secure full insurance payouts and because some families face gaps of hundreds of thousands of dollars between insurance proceeds and rebuilding costs.
The AP also cited timing expectations from the Urban Institute. Andrew Rumbach, co-lead of the Climate and Communities Program at the Urban Institute, told the AP it typically takes about 18 months after a major wildfire for permitting to gain steam. The AP reported that he pointed to the recovery pattern of a December 2021 blaze south of Boulder, Colorado, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes: after a year, cleanup was mostly done and most permit applications were in, and it then took about six more months for permits to be issued. The AP said the two California fires killed 31 people and destroyed about 13,000 residential properties.
Another wildfire-related claim addressed water supply. Trump said officials “should have allowed the water to come down from the Pacific Northwest, which was very plentiful,” but the AP said that contradicts how California’s water systems work and that no water supply from the Pacific Northwest connects to California’s system. The AP described that most California water comes from the northern part of the state as mountain snow melts and flows into rivers connecting to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and that much of it is then sent farther south to farmers and cities such as Los Angeles through two major pumping and canal systems—one federal and the other state-run.
The AP said some Los Angeles fire hydrants ran dry during last year’s wildfires, but local officials said the outages occurred because the municipal water system was not designed to deal with such a massive disaster. The AP also revisited related claims by Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, who said an executive order got “water to the scene in your earliest days of your presidency.” The AP said Trump’s Jan. 24, 2025 executive order resulted in water going to a dry lake basin more than 100 miles from Los Angeles.
The AP Fact Check also described additional statements by Trump during the meeting that the AP characterized as exaggerated or inconsistent with available evidence. Trump said, “There’s never been a first year like this, including the fact that we put out — extinguished — eight wars,” and the AP said the statistic was highly exaggerated, while also adding that Trump has helped mediate relations among many nations but that his impact is not as clear-cut as he suggested.
The AP also challenged Trump’s claim about coal language, saying he said people were not allowed to say the word coal without preceding it by saying “clean, beautiful coal.” The AP said coal production is cleaner than historically, but that it still does not mean the fuel is clean. Finally, the AP said Trump’s remarks about China making wind turbines but not using them did not match what the AP said is the country’s role in both manufacturing and installation, reporting that China produces more than half of the world’s wind turbine supply and is installing wind power at a record pace.