Overview
- President Donald Trump publicly claimed Washington had not had a murder in six months, a statement contradicted by police statistics.
- Metropolitan Police Department data show at least 128 murders in the capital during 2025.
- Families of recent victims, including 17-year-old Tristan Johnson killed in November, say the rhetoric erases their losses and misleads the public.
- White House spokespeople have credited the president with transforming Washington’s safety, according to statements to the Associated Press and The New York Times.
- Homicides fell from roughly 12 per month in 2024 to about seven per month in 2025, a decline reported to have begun before the National Guard deployment in September, which the administration also tied to assisting ICE operations.