The Federal Bureau of Investigations has quietly revised its yearly crime data report, lending credence to Donald Trump’s vision of America on the campaign trail. Despite being repeatedly fact-checked, including during a live debate, Trump was evidently correct in his statements on crime throughout the Biden/Harris administration—though the likelihood the media will adjust their criticism is non-existent.
During the September debate, the Republican candidate claimed that “Crime is down all over the world, except here. Crime here is up and through the roof, despite the fraudulent statements that they made." He was aggressively countered by ABC reporter and debate moderator David Muir, who cited the debunked FBI statistics as evidence of Trump’s error. In response, Trump claimed the data to be “defrauding statements.”
He was evidently accurate, although the FBI did nothing to correct the narrative. Instead, they waited a month before quietly editing their previous report, which had indicated violent crime in the United States had fallen roughly 3% from 2021 to 2022. Instead, it has risen a whopping 4.5%- more than enough to raise alarm for the general population.
Even more troubling is the fact that previous years have shown minimal- if any- adjustments. Years when the reports are changed typically reflect less than a 1% shift, more likely due to miscalculations than subterfuge. Such an intense adjustment, the fall of an election year, certainly begins to read as purposeful. Thus far, the FBI has yet to provide an explanation for the historic adjustments. No statement has been issued, and the shift was only discovered when individuals re-downloaded and compared the updated numbers. Without such civilian oversight, voters would have gone to the polls thinking Biden and Harris were responsible for significant drops in violence rather than its increase.
If the Federal Bureau of Investigations is assisting the Biden/Harris campaign, whether as an organization or through the work of individual agents, the entire department is utterly worthless. It was not so long ago that FBI agent Peter Strzok and bureau attorney Lisa Page were publicly disgraced and lost their jobs over text messages disparaging Trump- all while conducting investigations regarding his administration. In addition to referring to the former President as a “loathsome human being” and an “idiot,” the messages made clear that neither individual wanted a second Trump term.
For a second time, the FBI has interfered with an American election process. The President cannot be allowed to weaponize a justice department, and there is now repeated evidence that the bureau does not remain neutral. The FBI must answer for its adulterated crime data and provide a reason for its quiet change.
FBI data also shows that violent crime fell for the first three years of the Trump administration before hitting a pandemic-related spike in 2020.
Hilary Gunn is a Connecticut native with a degree in Criminal Justice from the George Washington University. She works for a nonprofit and has previously collaborated with the CT GOP as an activist, political campaign manager and field director, and social media organizer. She is currently serving in her fourth term of municipal office and has previously acted as a delegate on the Republican Town Committee.