On Monday in Washington, DC, a man was shot dead. Two girls had been injured in a separate capturing. People reported dozens of different crimes to the police.
The subsequent day, in each public remarks and an interview, President Donald Trump claimed that Washington now has “no crime.” He said Wednesday that “there is none,” making clear that he has been making a literal assertion that crime within the capital has utterly vanished.
It hasn’t.
There’s no doubt crime is down in Washington since Trump took over its police force and deployed the National Guard in August. If Trump desires to make a case for his actions, there are many authentic numbers he may cite.
Instead, as he has for years, he’s utilizing an even bigger however fictional quantity.
“Washington, DC is a totally safe city. You’re not reporting any crime because there is none,” Trump stated at the White House on Wednesday. “They said crime is down 87%, and I said, ‘No it’s not. It’s down 100%.’”
It’s not “down 100%.” Publicly obtainable police statistics clarify that crime continues to exist within the metropolis of about 700,000 residents – as even supporters of Trump’s actions freely acknowledge.
For instance, the union representing Washington cops, whose chief has backed Trump’s federal takeover, posted on social media on Monday that, within the 21 days because the takeover was introduced, general crime had dropped 21%. That’s an unmistakable decline, however nowhere close to “100%.”
You can slice crime information in lots of of how. There is no technique to discover that Washington has “no crime” or that, as Trump has additionally claimed in current days, “DC IS NOW A CRIME FREE ZONE.”
Despite the drop in crime because the federal takeover, the police figures present there are nonetheless lots of of crimes occurring each week. Even Trump’s occasional hedged claim that there’s now “virtually” no crime within the capital is unjustified.
In the final two weeks ending Sunday (August 18 – 31), reported general crime in Washington was about 28% decrease than within the two weeks ending the Sunday earlier than the federal takeover (July 28 – August 10). Reported violent crime was down about 7%. All of that’s excellent news. But it meant there have been nonetheless greater than 790 reported general offenses through the newer two-week span, together with greater than 85 reported violent offenses. That’s not “none.”
It’s inadvisable to make a lot of crime information from a single week, because the numbers can bounce round randomly, however it’s price noting that crime in Washington didn’t stop within the week previous to Trump’s feedback, both.
In the final week ending Sunday (August 25 – 31), reported general crime within the capital was once more about 27% decrease than within the final week ending on the Sunday earlier than the federal takeover (August 4 – 10), however that excellent news meant there have been nonetheless greater than 375 reported general offenses. And reported violent crime was up about 23%, to greater than 50 reported offenses.
On Wednesday, Trump contrasted his false “down 100%” declare with a supposed declare from different unspecified those who “crime is down 87%.” But general crime in Washington has by no means been “down 87%” at any level of the takeover.
Rather, Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser noted final week that the variety of carjackings specifically was 87% decrease through the first 20 days of the federal takeover than it was over the identical 20 days in 2024. That’s glorious, however it’s not what Trump stated. And there’s some vital context to notice in regards to the numbers: carjackings in Washington had already plummeted in 2025 earlier than the federal takeover, one other set of public police figures makes clear.
In July, the final full month earlier than the takeover, there have been 16 carjackings – down 64% from July 2024. Crime information skilled Jeff Asher noted in early August that this was Washington’s lowest variety of carjackings in any month since May 2020.
The quantity for August 2025 was even higher – simply 10 carjackings, six of them occurring earlier than the federal takeover. This was the bottom determine since March 2020.
Trump may have made correct factors like this and have had his claims be each spectacular and unimpeachable. Instead, he selected his ordinary exaggeration.
The president did an analogous type of useless deceiving when, amid the federal takeover, Washington was experiencing a stretch of consecutive August days with no homicide. Instead of merely touting the spectacular streak, which ended at 12 days, Trump repeatedly claimed it was Washington’s first such streak in “years.” In fact, Washington had a 16-day murder-free stretch earlier this yr.