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Trump cites crime drops
President Donald Trump took credit for what he called the nation’s “best crime record in recorded history,” pointing to new crime data on 2025 released by the F.B.I. on Friday.
““best crime record in recorded history””
The New York Times reported that Trump said “every single number” in the report was the lowest in recorded history, which the paper said was “not the case.”
The New York Times said the F.B.I. report states that “The 2025 murder rate is tied with 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate since F.B.I. estimations began in 1936,” and it quoted Jeff Asher saying, “The bottom line is that the U.S. murder rate was lower last year than it has been in the lifetime of anyone born after Kennedy was elected president.”
Trump also claimed that federal intervention in Washington, Memphis and New Orleans led to major crime declines, saying “In Memphis, crime is down 71 percent. In New Orleans, crime is down 75 percent. And in D.C., crime is down 81 percent,” while the New York Times said those drops were not reflected in available data.
Data dispute and rebuttal
A NOTUS review described the White House as misrepresenting and exaggerating a recent crime report to overstate the impact of last summer’s federal intervention in four cities.
NOTUS reported that the White House claimed that “The steepest homicide drops have come in cities where the Trump Administration stepped in after Democrat leaders failed to act,” listing Memphis, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., but that Ernesto Lopez said the steepest homicide drops weren’t in those four cities.
NOTUS said Lincoln, Nebraska, had the steepest drop, Washington, D.C., had the sixth steepest, Los Angeles the 17th, and Memphis and New Orleans weren’t included in the report.
NOTUS also reported that Jeff Asher called the White House’s claim an “incorrect statement,” while Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday, “Just today, another survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association found significant drops in violent crime including a more than 17% decrease in murders.”
What comes next
The New York Times said crime analysts agree that 2025 was a remarkable year with record declines and historically low crime rates, while also cautioning that the causes of the decline are unclear.
““But the reasons for the decline are much less clear than the decline itself.””
It quoted Adam Gelb, the president of the Council on Criminal Justice, saying, “That means lives saved, families spared trauma, and communities made safer — and it deserves to be celebrated,” and it added that Gelb said, “But the reasons for the decline are much less clear than the decline itself.”
NOTUS reported that the CCJ report used data from 36 cities and that the authors excluded Memphis due to statistical anomalies, while Lopez said he could not recall if New Orleans had been included in previous iterations.
NOTUS further reported that the White House’s release was published during a stretch when Trump’s approval rating has sunk to 38% or lower in multiple surveys, as he deals with the ongoing Iran war, and it said the White House published a news release featuring the survey from the Major Cities Chiefs Association after sending the statement to NOTUS.