Fact-checking White House plaques targeting former US presidents

New memorial plaques have appeared under the portraits of former US presidents in the White House.

Unlike Donald Trump's previous statements about his predecessors, which were made in speeches, interviews and social media posts, these plaques installed outside the West Wing represent a more permanent attempt to shape the long-term views of past presidents.

The text includes a number of allegations and criticisms of past leaders, including Donald Trump's immediate predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

The descriptions also highlight Trump's willingness to go into detail, especially when it comes to how he and his political opponents are portrayed.

White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said the plaques “represent an eloquent written account of each president and the legacy they left behind.”

BBC Verify took a closer look at some of the claims on the so-called President's Walk of Fame.

The plaque also claims that Biden has “allowed 21 million people from around the world to come to the United States.”

The plaque does not indicate how the men allegedly entered the country under Biden, but Trump used variations of the 21 million figure several times when talking about the previous administration's track record at the US border.

In Wednesday night's presidential address, Trump said that under Biden, “our border was open, and because of it, an army of 25 million people invaded our country” and earlier this year he said Biden had allowed 21 million “illegal aliens to invade our country.”.

The number of migrants crossing the US border did reach record levels under Biden, but not to the levels claimed by Trump, who has never provided a source for these claims.

U.S. border officials are recording “encounters” with migrants, which includes people who tried to cross the border illegally and people who tried to enter legally but did not follow entry rules.

Biden was elected at the end of 2020 and into his four years in office. there were about 10 million encounters with migrants at the borderwith about eight million of them occurring on the southwestern US border with Mexico.

These figures do not include people who may have crossed the border undetected.

Last year, the US Department of Homeland Security estimated that there were As of January 2022, there are 11 million undocumented migrants living in the United States.with the majority arriving before 2010.

Biden's economic record has also come under attack, with the plaque claiming his policies have “resulted in the highest inflation ever recorded.”

It's true that inflation—the rise in the cost of living over time—rose significantly during Biden's first two years in office. will peak at 9.1% in June 2022. shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, this is not true. Inflation under Biden was the highest ever. This happened in 1920, when inflation reached 23.7%. It was also higher in the 1970s and 80s.

In addition to former presidents, Trump also added a plaque for his current term.

It includes several bold claims about his record since January. For example, it claims that Trump has achieved “victory over inflation.”

While inflation has fallen from a peak of 9.1% under Biden in 2022 – a time when many countries around the world experienced high inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine – it has not been “defeated” entirely.

In November 2025, inflation was still at 2.7% year on year. according to the latest official data. That's down from 3% in September, when the last inflation report was published.

Average U.S. grocery prices have risen 1.9% since the November 2024 election.

While listing Trump's accomplishments, the plaque also claims that Trump ended “eight wars in his first eight months.”

However, some conflicts lasted only a few days, and the level of Trump's influence in ending them remains controversial.

At least one of the “wars” simply wasn't a war. Egypt and Ethiopia had some diplomatic tensions, especially around the Nile dam, but there was no war between them in any sense.

The Indian Ministry of Defense also previously rejected Trump's demand to end the conflict with Pakistansaying the country has not responded to pressure from anyone.

It is true that Trump has successfully helped broker some peace agreements on some long-standing conflicts, such as between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But it is also unclear whether some of the peace deals will last, given that fighting has since flared up again along the Thailand-Cambodia border and between Rwanda and the DRC.

Former President Obama is also being criticized for his plaque, which claims the 44th president “presided over a stagnant economy.”

There is no official definition of economic stagnation, but it is generally viewed as a period of slow or no growth.

Obama took office shortly after the 2008 financial crisis, when the U.S. economy collapsed. Working from Data from Bureau of Economic Analysis over his two terms, from 2009 to 2017, you will achieve an average annual GDP growth of 1.7%.

Running the same exercise during Trump's first term using the same data suggests average growth rates are broadly comparable, although slowed by Covid-induced 2020.

The signs don't just attack Democrats. For example, former Republican President George W. Bush is criticized for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while former Democratic President Jimmy Carter is praised for some of his accomplishments.

Neither former Presidents Biden nor Obama have commented on the installation of their plaques.