The Trump administration is taking aim at the nation’s capital with a federal investigation into allegations D.C. metro police cooked the books on violent crime statistics.
It’s a probe that could expose systematic data manipulation or undermine public trust in one of the nation’s most scrutinized police departments.
It also appears to be a way for Attorney General Pam Bondi to curry favor with Trump after a botched review of the Jeffrey Epstein files that still has MAGA circles reeling with claims of a cover-up.
The investigation into allegedly faked crime figures comes after Trump directed federal agencies to take control of the nation’s capital to address violent crime.
MPD in May placed D.C. police commander Michael Pulliam on leave and began investigating him for allegedly changing crime data.
Since last week, agents with the FBI, ATF, CBP and other federal agencies have been seen policing the streets of Washington, D.C, making more than 400 arrests in that period.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has extolled the drop in violent crime after a years-long spike during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local police data for Washington, D.C. shows that violent crime is down 27 percent from the same time period in 2024 to this year, with homicides down 11 percent and robbery down 30 percent.
Pam Bondi’s Justice Department is investigating whether MPD officials altered data to make it appear that violence crime was declining in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump ordered a federal takeover of the nation’s capital last week amid reports of spiking violent crime and in an effort to make the city more ‘beautiful’
‘We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down,’ Bowser said on MSNBC this month.
But Trump claims this is not the case and says those who allegedly tampered with the data need to face consequences.
‘D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday morning.
He added: ‘This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!’
The investigation is being run out of the Attorney’s Office in D.C.
The federal prosecutor’s office for Jeanine Pirro did not respond to the Daily Mail when asked to confirm whether MPD officials are under investigation.
Trump says that ‘fake crime numbers’ were delivered to ‘create a false illusion of safety’
It’s expected that the new federal investigation’s scope will go beyond Pulliam and look into the actions of other local officials and whether they messed with crime statistics, people familiar told the Washington Post.
Multiple reports note that Pulliam has denied the claims, though there doesn’t appear to be a public statement from the former commander on the allegations.
‘Until 4 days ago, Washington, D.C., was the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United States, and perhaps the World,’ Trump claimed, lauding his federal takeover as the nexus that brought a halt to violent crime.
Beyond tamping down violent criminals, Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. is also aimed at cleaning up the streets from homeless encampments and making the city more ‘beautiful.’
