On August 11, 2025, President Donald Trump announced plans to produce his own crime statistics to justify his controversial federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, dismissing official data showing a significant decline in the city’s crime rates as “fake.”
The statement, reported by The Daily Beast, comes amid Trump’s broader anti-crime initiative, which includes deploying 800 National Guard troops to the capital and threatening similar actions in other major cities like New York and Chicago.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from D.C. officials and analysts, who argue it undermines local governance and misrepresents the city’s improving safety metrics, intensifying debates over federal overreach and data integrity.
During a White House press conference, Trump claimed that Washington, D.C.’s reported crime statistics, which show a 26% drop in violent crime and a 35% decrease in homicides since 2023, are manipulated by local police to present a falsely positive picture.
“The stats showing crime going down in D.C. are fake,” Trump stated, proposing to release his own crime figures to support his narrative of a city plagued by “violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people.”
He cited outdated 2023 data, before the significant crime reduction, to justify federalizing the D.C. police, a move he described as a “liberation” to combat what he called a “crime-riddled hellscape,” per The New Republic.
Official data from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, cited by CNN and The Independent, contradicts Trump’s claims, showing violent crime at its lowest level in three decades, with a 12% drop in homicides in 2024 alone.
During the press conference, MSNBC and CNN displayed real-time graphics highlighting these declines, with national violent crime down 4.5%, further undermining Trump’s assertions, as reported by Raw Story.
Trump’s insistence on creating alternative statistics follows his recent actions to fire the labor statistics chief over an unfavorable jobs report and demand changes to the U.S. Census, per The Daily Beast.
Federal Takeover and National Guard DeploymentTrump’s takeover, announced on August 11, 2025, involves federalizing the D.C. police and deploying 800 National Guard troops, with 850 officers and federal agents patrolling the city on the first night, resulting in 23 arrests, followed by 43 more the next day, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump described the initiative as a “beacon” for other cities, naming New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Oakland as potential targets for similar federal interventions, per The New Republic and CSPAN.
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin, told Fox Business that the D.C. operation could serve as a “blueprint” for future takeovers, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to specify a timeline for the deployment, per The New Republic.
The administration is also considering a 600-soldier “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” equipped with riot gear, stationed in Alabama and Arizona, to address unrest nationwide, according to The Washington Post, as cited by The Independent.
Trump suggested that cities should “self-clean up” by ending policies like cashless bail to avoid federal intervention, stating, “We’re going to look at New York in a little while. Let’s do this together,” per The New Republic.
D.C. Leaders and Critics Push Back
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser condemned the takeover as an “authoritarian push” during a virtual town hall, urging residents to protect the city’s autonomy and renewing calls for D.C. statehood to secure its independence, per The Independent.
“We reported last year the lowest level of violent crime in 30 years,” Bowser said on The Breakfast Club radio show, emphasizing the city’s progress and rejecting Trump’s dystopian portrayal.
She argued that the federal intervention plays into a false narrative about urban crime, undermining D.C.’s self-governance as a non-state entity subject to congressional control, as explained by The Independent.
Analysts and legal experts have raised alarms about the implications of Trump’s actions. John Bowden, writing for The Independent, noted that rules governing National Guard deployments restrict their law enforcement roles in most states, limiting Trump’s ability to replicate the D.C. takeover elsewhere without significant legal challenges.
Posts on X, such as those from @AageWinther and @DemocratDavis, criticized Trump’s manipulation of crime data, with @AageWinther stating, “Trump presented inaccurate crime statistics to justify a federal takeover of D.C. police,” and @DemocratDavis citing The New York Times’ report that Trump “misstated” data to justify his actions.
Others, like @colleen_benn, called Trump’s approach “unhinged,” reflecting public skepticism.
Trump’s plan to create alternative crime statistics aligns with his broader pattern of challenging official data, as seen in his disputes with labor and census officials.
The move raises concerns about data integrity and the politicization of federal agencies, particularly as Trump’s administration explores military-style interventions in Democratic-led cities.
A senior administration official told Rolling Stone that normalizing military deployments is a priority, signaling a potential escalation of federal control, per The New Republic.
D.C.’s unique status, created by the U.S. Constitution’s Residence Act of 1790, makes it vulnerable to such interventions, unlike states with stronger legal protections, as noted by The Independent.
The controversy has intensified calls for D.C. statehood, with Bowser arguing that the takeover underscores the need for full representation, given the District’s 700,000 taxpaying residents lack voting rights in Congress.
As Trump’s administration pushes forward, with plans to extend the D.C. operation beyond its initial 30-day limit, the debate over federal overreach, crime statistics, and urban governance is set to escalate.
Also Read: MAGA Now Scrutinize Trump Over Epstein Client List Failure
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