FBI secretly corrects data: Crime is up, not down, under Biden-Harris: 'President Trump is right…again'

The FBI secretly tweaked the robbery, rape and murder data for 2022. This was revealed via an inquiry by RealClear Investigations (RCI), which found that instead of a 2.1% drop in violent crime, there was a 4.5% increase.

In September 2023, the agency reported that the previous year had closed with a more than 2-point drop in violent crime. The figure has since been used by the Democratic campaign as evidence of the security achievements of the Biden-Harris administration.

A year later, however, the FBI corrected these numbers. However, the announcement was made with no more than a few terse words in a footnote: "The 2022 violent crime rate has been updated for inclusion in CIUS, 2023." This aroused the RCI's suspicions. Upon downloading the new data, they noticed the change: a 4.5% increase in violent crime.

After adjustment, the records show 1,699 more murders, 33,459 more robberies, 7,780 more rapes and 37,091 more aggravated assaults. In all: 80,029 violent crimes had been swept under the rug.

Analyst John R. Lott Jr, author of the study, maintained that the findings raise questions about data collection methodologies, but remarked that nothing seems to justify these "dramatic" increases. The best example, he explained, is with murder data. Despite being a crime for which there is usually a reliable record, because most are reported, "the revised data for 2021 and 2022 shows a net increase of 1,699 more murders" he said. "How do you miss 1,699 murders?"

'Trump is right'

"President Trump is right ... again," the Republican campaign reacted in a statement. "Democrats continue to lie when they claim crime is under control with Kamala Harris," they noted, adding that "their agenda to defund the police" would result in worse figures.

Elon Musk's American PAC echoed the news, assuring that "Democrats and legacy media" pretend to "give you the illusion that cities are safe, but now we know the truth."

Users on social media recalled that when Trump said in the presidential debate that "crime here is up, and through the roof," moderator David Muir came out to discredit him using old FBI figures: "President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down on this country." The Republican responded that those numbers were "fraudulent."

A new blow to the FBI's credibility

The revelation may deal a new blow to the already-tarnished image of the agency. A recent Gallup poll revealed that a majority of Americans disapprove of its performance: 30% describe it as "poor" and 25% as "only fair."

Moreover, the partisan gap is striking: while only 23% of Republican or Republican-leaning independent voters thought favorably of the agency, 64% of Democrats responded the same. The 41-point gap is the second largest partisan rift among all agencies, trailing only the CDC (46 points).

"The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data," opined Carl Moody, a specialist in the study of crime at the College of William & Mary, as reported by RealClear Investigations. He further detailed that from 2016 to 2020, "there were small changes of less than one percentage point," while from 2004 to 2015 there were no revisions.

John R. Lott Jr, author of the investigation, summed up this distrust with a question: "Should the FBI’s 2023 numbers be believed?"