President Donald Trump says data showing crime decreasing in Washington, D.C., is fake and has a novel way to fix it: releasing his own crime statistics.
After firing the labor statistics chief because he didn’t like her latest jobs report and then demanding changes to the Census, Trump has turned his sights to D.C.’s decreasing crime rate, insisting it has been manipulated by police.
Asked if the administration would now release its own crime stats to counter D.C.’s official figures, the president replied, “Yes.”
“They are giving us phony crime stats, just like they gave other stats in the financial world,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “But they’re phony crime stats. Washington, D.C., is at its worst point, and it will soon be at its best point. You’re going to have a crime-free city.”
The comments came as Trump’s crackdown entered its third day in Washington, with 800 National Guard troops now mobilized across the district and the White House in charge of the metropolitan police.
According to the Pentagon, guards will not perform law enforcement tasks but will be able to detain people temporarily until federal agents arrive—just as they did in Los Angeles to help quell protests that had erupted over immigration raids in June.
The crackdown in D.C. sparked a public backlash on Wednesday night, when local police officers, Homeland Security personnel, and plainclothes agents set up a new checkpoint in a typically safe restaurant strip in northwest Washington.
More than 100 protesters soon gathered near the site to heckle officers and chant “get off our streets.”
Crush Bar, a popular LGBTQ+ hotspot on 14th Street, shut its doors for the night due to the massive law enforcement operation.
“Because of the bullshit police presence on Wednesday night, we are closing for tonight. Maybe someone should have suggested the weekend?” the bar posted on Instagram.
Trump, however, insists his takeover is justified because crime is “out of control” in the city—even though data show it has fallen to a 30-year low.
The latest D.C. figures show homicides are down 12 percent this year compared to last; assaults with a dangerous weapon have fallen by 20 percent; burglaries are down 20 percent; and robberies are down by 30 percent.
But the president claims the data is fake, referencing the case of a D.C. police commander who is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district.
The commander, Michael Pulliam, was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May for allegedly fabricating data—one week after he reportedly filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief and the police union, which has backed Trump’s takeover of the capital.
“We will have crime under control very shortly in D.C,” Trump said. “Sadly, I guess the mayor or whoever it was, asked the numbers to be fudged so they would show less crime. The fact is, it’s worse than it’s ever been.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office for comment.
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