President Donald Trump inaccurately claimed that the murder rate in Washington, D.C., “reached the highest rate probably ever” in 2023, and he ignored a decline in murders since then to justify a federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement.
Issues: crime
Trump Now Citing Murder Stats He Used to Dismiss as ‘Fake News’
President Donald Trump recently boasted that the nation’s murder rate has “plummeted by 28%” since he took office. Data supplied by local police departments do show the nation’s murder rate is dropping, as it has been for several years. Notably, Trump now seems comfortable with crime data that he criticized repeatedly during the campaign as “fake news.”
FactChecking Trump’s ‘Meet the Press’ Interview
Crime Stats Still Show a Decline Since 2020
Biden’s Numbers, 2024 Pre-Election Update
Vance’s Misleading Claim About Immigrants and Murders in Springfield, Ohio
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, circulated a baseless rumor on social media that the residents of Springfield, Ohio, “have had their pets abducted and eaten by” immigrants. Now, Vance has cherry-picked data to make the unfounded claim that immigrants are responsible for an 81% increase in the city’s murders.