Joe Biden claims inflation was 9% when he took office in January 2021.
Fact Check: False.
- Washington Post: FOUR PINOCCHIOS: Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office
“Three times now, Biden has suggested that inflation was 9 percent — “skyrocketing” — when he took office. But it was 1.4 percent in January 2021.”
- Associated Press: Biden cites erroneous inflation statistic to make his case about the economy
“…inflation was nowhere near 9% when Biden took the oath of office in January 2021. It was actually at 1.4% that month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
- CNN: Fact check: Biden again falsely claims inflation was 9% when he became president
“For the second time in less than a week, President Joe Biden falsely claimed Tuesday that the inflation rate was 9% when he began his presidency.”
- New York Post: Biden repeats lie that inflation ‘was at 9% when I came in’ as president
“Biden again claimed Tuesday that the annual US inflation rate was 9% when he took office in January 2021 — when it actually was 1.4% and didn’t pass 9% until 17 months into his term — as he attempted to deflect public disenchantment with the economy […] The cumulative effect of inflation under Biden has caused the average consumer cost of goods and services to soar more than 19% since he took office…”
- National Review: Biden Continues to Lie That the Inflation Rate ‘Was at 9 Percent When I Came In’
“Biden’s decision to make this false claim twice in a five-day span offers a few possibilities […] One possibility is that Biden knows this is false, and this is a deliberate effort to mislead the public and get people to associate high inflation with Donald Trump’s presidency and not his own.”
- Politifact: Inflation “was 9% when I came to office.”
“Inflation hit 9% — the highest in about four decades — about a year and a half into Biden’s presidency. When Biden was inaugurated, year-over-year inflation was about 1.4%.”
Fox Business Host Neil Cavuto: It wasn’t 9%. If I can’t trust [Biden] quoting data in real-time, why should I believe what he is talking about now?
Biden Administration Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jared Bernstein: The annual growth in core inflation in the second quarter of ‘21 was in fact about 9%…
Cavuto: No, it wasn’t. You are almost as bad as he is. Why can’t you just say, “It was high, not as high as 9%.”? […] You’re just lying.