Donald Trump’s inauguration: fact checked

On 20 January 2025 in Washington DC, Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States, after winning the US election in November 2024. 

He gave his inaugural address indoors in the US Capitol’s Rotunda just after noon, then spoke a short time later in Emancipation Hall, in the US Capitol’s visitor centre, before giving another speech at a rally in the Capital One Arena. 

We’ve had a look at a number of claims from across these speeches. 

Has the US seen ‘record inflation’?

In his inaugural address, President Trump said he would “direct” his cabinet to “defeat what was record inflation and rapidly bring down costs and prices”.

The US, like many other countries, has seen levels of inflation increase in recent years, but not to an all-time high. US inflation was 2.9% in the 12 months to December 2024. It hit 9.1% in June 2022, which was its highest point in decades, but less than rates seen at other points in time. Monthly inflation was above 9.1% during the early 1980s and in the mid 1970s, for example. In June 1920 inflation was 23.7%, a record since 1914 at least and possibly much longer, though we’ve not found monthly or annual figures stretching back to the founding of the US. 

Did former President Biden pardon ‘almost everybody’ with a death sentence? 

Speaking in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, President Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden “pardoned almost everybody having a death sentence”. 

This isn’t correct. While former President Biden did commute the sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates serving federal death sentences, this isn’t the same as issuing them a pardon. The inmates whose sentences were commuted will instead serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It’s also worth noting that while former President Biden did commute the majority of federal death row inmates’ sentences, these represent only a small proportion of the total number of people in the US facing death sentences (the majority of whom are on state death rows).

How many people died building the Panama Canal? 

During his inaugural address, President Trump claimed that the United States “lost 38,000 lives” during the construction of the Panama Canal. This is similar to a claim he’s made before—in 2023 he quoted a figure of 35,000 deaths. 

It’s not clear what Mr Trump’s 38,000 figure was based on, but published estimates we’ve seen suggest this figure is too high if looking specifically at American deaths.

Construction work began in 1904 and the 77 kilometre-long canal opened ten years later. More than 40,000 labourers were involved and one estimate of the death toll states that around 5,600 died. The Panama Canal website says: “According to hospital records, 5,609 lives were lost from disease and accidents during the American construction era.”

Prior to US involvement, the French had attempted to build the canal during the 1880s and many more workers lost their lives then—different estimates suggest 20,000 or 22,000 workers died, many of them Jamaican. Most died from disease. 

In 2023 Matthew Parker, author of Hells Gorge: The Battle To Build the Panama Canal, told the BBC that as many as 12,000 people had died during the 1850s during the construction of the Panama Railway, but only around 200 of these were Americans. Virtually none of the deaths during the French construction period were Americans, he said, while only around 300 of the deaths during the final construction were American. 

Does China operate the Panama Canal? 

In his inaugural address, President Trump claimed “China is operating the Panama Canal”. It’s not quite clear what he meant by the claim, but it could benefit from some further context. 

The canal was once owned by the United States but was handed over fully to Panama in 1999. It is now managed by the Panama Canal Authority, a government agency of the Republic of Panama. 

However, Hutchison Ports PPC, a division of Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, operates the Balboa and Cristobal ports at either end of the canal. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, and has become more closely aligned with China in recent years. CK Hutchison is a publicly listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In December 2024, when then President-elect Trump threatened to retake control of the canal, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said “the canal is not under any direct or indirect control from China, the European community, the United States, or any other power”. 

Did President Trump win the youth vote by 36 points?

At the Capital One Arena rally, President Trump claimed “we won the youth vote by 36 points”. It’s not clear exactly what this was based on or how he was defining the “youth vote”, but the available data we have from exit polls doesn’t seem to support this claim.

Various analysis of exit poll data following the 2024 presidential election suggests the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won among 18-29 and 30-44 year-old voters. Mr Trump did improve his performance among these demographics compared to the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections (though not by as much as 36 points).

Mr Trump did outperform Ms Harris among male voters aged 18-29, as well as white voters in this age group, but we’ve not been able to find exit poll data suggesting he won either of these groups by 36 points.