Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) says FBI Director Chris Wray must explain why the agency released figures showing violent crime decreased in 2022, then quietly amended them to show an increase instead.
Democrats used the figures to rebut claims that the party’s policies had led to crime, heralding instead “historic declines.”
Media outlets cited the FBI data to claim that conservatives who said crime seemed to be going up were pushing misinformation. In the September 2024 debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said, “Crime in this country is through the roof,” only to have moderator David Muir interject to say, “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down.”
The House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan chairs, said “Chris Wray isn’t off the hook for cooking the books on crime stats.”
“In September 2023, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBI) released Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data purporting to show a 2.1 percent decrease in violent crime across the country from 2021 to 2022. Last month, however, FBI revised its 2022 data to show that violent crime had actually increased by 4.5 percent,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Wray Thursday.
“The FBI did not publicize its revision of 2022 violent crime data, and the only way to see the change is to download the FBI’s updated crime data and compare it to the previous year… The FBI did not mention this significant data revision in its press release about violent crime data for 2023,” he added.
“The FBI’s revision of violent crime data confirms what our oversight has shown: The Biden-Harris crime epidemic continues to escalate and far-left state and local policymakers place the interests of criminals over the needs of their communities,” Jordan, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, wrote.
Democrats have also been accused of manipulating crime statistics because far-left prosecutors often decline to pursue charges. In some cases, residents of cities like San Francisco become so aware of that that they don’t even call the police.
“Americans have known all along what the FBI is now finally reporting—crime is continuing to escalate,” Jordan wrote.
He said the FBI must provide Congress with all communications relating to the 2022 crime update and any correspondence that would show the FBI made an effort to correct the record.
Trump called Wray’s sleuthing abilities into question after Wray testified that he had not noticed any cognitive decline in Joe Biden. After Trump was shot in the ear on camera, Wray also testified that there is “some question” whether Trump was actually hit by a bullet, and an FBI probe was “ongoing.” The FBI later apologized.
FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms and typically stay on between presidential administrations. But Trump is under no obligation to keep Wray. Trump has tangled with the four most recent FBI directors: Robert Mueller, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Wray.
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