'Fear-mongering': FBI report destroys major Trump talking point

06 August

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters ahead of boarding Marine One to depart for New Jersey, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that violent crime was out of control under former President Joe Biden, and that his "law-and-order" policies are making the United States much safer than it was during Biden's four years in the White House. But according to an FBI report released on Tuesday, August 5, violent crime decreased when Biden was in office.

The Guardian's Richard Luscombe explains, "The bureau's annual Reported Crimes in the Nation Statistics report reflects a 4.5 percent year-on-year decrease in all violent crime nationally in 2024, with murder and non-negligent manslaughter falling 14.5 percent from the 2023 figure. Reported rapes were down 5.2 percent from the year before, while aggravated assaults and robberies declined 3 percent and 8.9 percent respectively."

The new FBI figures, according to Luscombe, "belie Trump's oft-repeated fear-mongering during the election campaign that 'soft-on-crime' Democrats had fueled surging crime rates, particularly in major cities under their control."

The FBI's report, Luscombe notes, also "shows that murders in cities with more than 1 million residents declined by 19.1 percent, the highest percentage of any category of crime, while rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults showed drops of between 1 percent and 9.8 percent."

Crime analyst Jeff Asher is examining the FBI's figures on his SubStack page.

Asher cautioned that "not every crime is reported to law enforcement" but considers the data impressive nonetheless.

Asher wrote, "The nation's murder rate for 2024 was down 26 percent from 2020's figure and roughly even, slightly lower actually, relative to where it stood pre-pandemic. The nation's reported violent and property crime rates stood at the lowest levels since the 1960s in 2024…. The 2024 data adds confidence that 2025 will feature the lowest murder rate ever recorded."

Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

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