While signing executive orders at the White House on Aug. 25, President Donald Trump wrongly said that an 11-day span of no homicides in Washington, D.C., was the “first time that’s taken place in years,” a claim reiterated by other members of the administration who credited Trump’s federal takeover of the district’s law enforcement.
The Trump administration has accused the Washington, D.C., police department of reporting “phony crime stats” and “cooking the books,” citing the suspension of a police commander for allegedly altering crime data. The U.S. attorney’s office in the district reportedly opened an investigation into whether city officials had manipulated crime statistics. Here’s what we know about the allegations.
The president strayed from the facts, mainly on immigration and the economy.
In his inaugural address, President Trump portrayed the United States as a nation in decline. But his rhetoric did not always match reality.
Bill Clinton overstated the effect of the crime bill he signed in 1994 when he said, “because of that bill we had a 25-year low in crime, a 33-year low in the murder rate.” Independent analyses found it had a modest effect on crime rates.