President Donald Trump announced he is placing the Washington, DC, police department “under direct federal control” and deploying National Guard troops to the nation’s capital. CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checks Trump’s claims about crime rates in DC.

Washington

CNN conducted a fact-check of President Trump's recent statements regarding crime in Washington, D.C. According to CNN's Daniel Dale, while D.C. has historically had high crime rates and experienced a significant spike in 2023, the president's claims that crime is currently worsening are not supported by the data.

Recent statistics show that both murders and violent crime have dropped sharply since 2023. The number of murders in D.C. fell from 274 in 2023 to 187 in 2024, and has continued to decline in 2025. Carjackings have also decreased significantly, with July recording the lowest monthly total in over five years. The data indicates that crime is not rising as claimed, but rather has been falling.

CNN fact-checks Trump’s claims about crime in DC

And we are going to now do a deep dive into the fact check claiming that Washington, D.C. is getting worse. And I want to bring in the one and only Daniel Dale. Daniel. There was a lot of deception from the president there. So here's a reality check. There is no doubt that D.C. has for decades been a high crime city. It is among the U.S. cities with the highest homicide rates, though there are a bunch of other big cities that are worse. And D.C. did indeed have a big crime spike in 2023, which is the year the president kept citing. But contrary to what the president said today, even in 2023, D.C. did not have an all time high in murder. It was way worse during the crack crisis of the 80s and early 90s. And more pressingly, Dana, the president was just flat wrong when he said it's getting worse now, not getting better. Crime in D.C., including murder, has fallen sharply since that 2023 spike. It fell in 2024. It's fallen further in 2025. So let's look at some of this data. In 2023, D.C. had its most murders in more than two decades, 274. Of course, that's terrible. But it then plunged to 187 murders last year. And it's been falling again so far this year through July, according to figures compiled by crime data expert Jeff Asher. D.C. had 34 percent fewer murders than it did through the same period in that year, 2023. Now, how about violent crime more broadly? Well, that's also down sharply in the last year and a half. In fact, per Jeff Asher, D.C.'s officially reported violent crime rate in 2024 was the second lowest since 1966, so lower than every year of Trump's first administration. It's about a third of what it was in those bad old days, the early 1990s. And you heard from the president and his team about carjackings. Well, indeed, a problem in D.C. But what do the numbers say? Again, a big spike in 2023, down since. Asher noted the 16 carjackings reported in July were the fewest reported in any month in more than five years in D.C., down more than 87 percent from the same month in 2023. So, look, we know crime is an issue in D.C. We've lived there. We know that every violent crime is a shame, a tragedy, of course, not excusing any of them. But this isn't an ongoing crime spike like President Trump suggested. And he said it's rising even in the text of the executive order. I went through it. The first section says crime is rising in the Capitol. That is just not true.

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