The Department of Justice is investigating fake crime reporting data from the Metropolitan Police Department as Trump takes federal control of Washington, DC, and deploys federal troops and agents to remove criminals from the streets.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump signed two executive actions to declare a “public safety emergency” in the nation’s capital, federalize the DC police force, and authorize the use of National Guard troops to tackle the rampant crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration crises.
But leftists and Democratic city leaders have repeatedly pointed to fraudulent data to falsely claim that DC is safe and livable and that President Trump’s actions are unjustified.
The Gateway Pundit reported that the DC Police Commander, Michael Pulliam, was placed on leave in May over allegations that he fudged DC crime statistics to make the city appear safer.
The data claims that total violent crime for 2024 is down by 35% compared to 2023 and is at a 30-year low.
“In addition to the overall violent crime reduction, homicides are down 32%; robberies are down 39%; armed carjackings are down 53%; assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 27% when compared with 2023 levels, with the District reporting the fewest assaults with dangerous weapons and burglaries in over 30 years,” a January press release from the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia’s office claims.
MPD Chief Pamela Smith issued a statement on the allegations: “Any irregularity in crime data brought to my attention will be addressed immediately,” Smith said. “I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy.” Pulliam denies allegations that he altered crime data.
Now, the Department of Justice is probing the data.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently joined Fox’s Laura Ingraham to discuss the investigation and provide an update on Trump’s federal takeover of the capital.
“I can’t tell you for sure whether it goes further, but we’re, as you just suggested, we’re, of course, looking into this,” Blanche confirmed when asked if the scheme involves other leaders of the Metropolitan Police Department.
“The reality is that we know that DC has been an incredibly unsafe place to live for a very long time, and so in some ways, it’s not surprising that we hear about reports of this, of this type of conduct that suggests that DC is safer than everybody that lives here knows to be true. So, we’re investigating it, and hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of it at some point soon.”
Blanche further spoke about some of the successes they’ve had, including over 80 arrests in one night and removing weapons, drug offenders, MS-13 gang members, and hardened criminals from the streets.
“The same liberal media that’s out there criticizing us and saying that we’re doing something wrong and we shouldn’t have the National Guard. They’re the same liberal media that turn off the mics and jump for joy because they can now go to a restaurant without fear of getting mugged,” he said, also slamming the liberals and leftwing activists that advocate for liberal policies like no-cash bail.
“We’re fighting judges at the federal level, we’re fighting judges who are letting people out in prison, and we’re trying to frankly embarrass local leadership that that feels confident in these no cash bail laws that allow somebody to commit a violent crime, and before the sun is set, they’re back on the streets again. That is not America, that is not justice, that is not keeping America safe again, and so, in DC, what we’re doing is we’re showing an example to, hopefully, the rest of this country, that when you focus federal resources on keeping communities safe, it works.”
WATCH:
Per the Hill:
The investigation, led by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., comes from the same office that earlier this year publicized that violent crime in Washington had reached a 30-year low.
The D.C. police union, which supported Trump’s takeover of the force, has said it doubts crime is as low as the city reported.
Statistics released by the city show a 27 percent drop in violent crime and a 4 percent drop in property crime from 2024 to this year. The declines are even more significant for the full year comparisons of 2023 and 2024, with violent crime dropping 35 percent and property crime dropping 11 percent.
MPD did not immediately respond to request for comment nor did the U.S. Attorney’s Office. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) office did not comment.
