President Biden’s 2024 TIME Fact-Checking Interview

Read our full cover story on President Joe Biden here. You can also read the interview transcript here

President Joe Biden gave an interview to TIME about America’s role in the world and his foreign policy agenda.

Below is a review of Biden’s statements in the interview. TIME also published a transcript of the conversation.

What Biden said: “The Russian military has been decimated. You don’t write about it. It was decimated.

The facts: This is a fair assessment, according to a Reuters report in a declassified assessment of US intelligence provided to Congress. Intelligence determined that Russia had 360,000 active military personnel when it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. By December of last year, 315,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured in the war – an 87% reduction in troop strength. Even by the technical definition of the word “decimate” – to reduce it to 1/10 of the original – Biden’s characterization is accurate.

What Biden said: “We spent a lot of money in Ukraine, but Europe spent more money than the United States, collectively.”

The facts: The European Union has offered more than $107 billion in financial, military, humanitarian and refugee assistance since the start of the war in Ukraine on April 24. offered $175 billion in aid to Ukraine – $107 billion went directly to the Ukrainian government, while the rest supported other US government activities associated with the war. Some European governments have made larger financial contributions to Ukraine relative to the size of their economies than the United States, according to to the Council on Foreign Relations.

What Biden said: I spent a month in Ukraine when I was a senator and vice president.

The facts: Biden’s trips to Ukraine include six he won as vice president – ​​more than any previous president or vice president. He was also involved in Ukraine during his 36 years as a US senator. He sponsored or co-sponsored 39 pieces of legislation supporting Ukraine and worked on issues involving Ukraine as a longtime member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, including 12 years as chair or ranking member.

What Biden said: “Japan [is] dedicating 3% of its GDP to defense…”

The facts: Japan aims to spend 2% of its GDP on defense by 2027, according to a statement by Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. In 1960 to 2022Japan’s defense spending was 1% of GDP or less.

What Biden said: “I built a Quad that never existed before.”

The facts: The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, is a partnership between the US, Japan, Australia and India that began in 2004, following the Indian Ocean tsunami. The group was formalized by then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, but remained inactive until it was reformed in 2017. The Quad’s first in-person summit was held at the White House in September 2021, during Biden’s first year as president.

What Biden said: “Wage increases have exceeded the cost of inflation…”

The facts: New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that hourly wage growth has outpaced inflation over the past 12 months. In April, nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.9% compared to the previous year; inflation remained at 3.4%. But cumulative inflation has outpaced wage growth for most of Biden’s presidency.

What Biden said: “I remember when I was going to Taiwan, excuse me, to South Korea, to turn around the chip industry, that we had gotten $865 billion in private sector investment, private sector investment since I joined. who made this.”

The facts: The White House announced an $866 billion investment in the private sector in May, not when Biden went to South Korea in 2022. The funding was also intended for initiatives in the clean energy and manufacturing industries, and is not limited to only to the chip industry.

What Biden said: “There will be a billion people in Africa in the coming years.”

The facts: Africa’s total population now exceeds one billion people – it is estimated that 1.4 billion people live on the continent. This number is expected to reach almost 2.5 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations.

What Biden said: “I mean, that phrase that Macron used, and says that… I was taking notes for that. It said: Macron, they know the experience of brain death like never before. Given the lack of U.S. leadership, we should reassess the reality of NATO in light of the lack of U.S. leadership.”

The facts: Biden appears to be referring to what French President Emmanuel Macron said in an October 2019 interview with The Economist, in which he warned that European countries could no longer count on the United States to defend their NATO allies. “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” he said, adding that the alliance “only works if the guarantor of last resort works as such. I would say we should reassess the reality of what NATO is in light of the United States’ commitment.”