President Trump claimed Washington, D.C. hasn’t seen a murder in six months during the annual White House turkey pardoning — a statement that falls dramatically short of reality.
“We haven’t had a murder in six months,” Trump declared during the ceremony, despite Metropolitan Police Department data showing 62 homicides in the district since May 25, 2025.
The Facts on D.C. Homicides
The president’s claim is demonstrably false. MPD records confirm 123 homicides so far in 2025, with one occurring just last week. Since National Guard troops were deployed on August 11, the city has recorded 24 homicides — a significant number, though markedly lower than previous periods.
What’s the real story? While Trump’s “zero murders” claim misses the mark by dozens of homicides, violent crime in Washington has indeed been trending downward. Homicides have decreased 29% in 2025 compared to 2024, and the past six months show a 46% drop from the same period last year.
The city’s murder rate has been on a downward trajectory since peaking in 2023. Through July 2025, D.C. had recorded 96 murders — an 11% decrease from 2024 and a substantial 34% drop from the first seven months of 2023, according to crime analysis.
“A Department of Justice report from January showed that total violent crime in 2024 was at the lowest it had been in more than 30 years, including a 32% drop in homicides from 2023, when it experienced a post-pandemic peak,” the Associated Press noted.
National Guard Deployment Under Legal Scrutiny
The president’s inaccurate claim comes amid controversy over his administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end the monthslong deployment, finding that it “illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district.” The order is stayed for 21 days to allow for an appeal.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb had sued in September to challenge the Guard deployments, asking the judge to bar the White House from deploying troops without the mayor’s consent.
Despite the legal challenges, the administration has touted the Guard’s presence as contributing to crime reduction. During the National Guard’s initial one-month surge, violent crime was down 39% compared to the same period last year, with homicides dropping 53% — seven during the surge versus 15 during the same timespan in 2024.
A City Still Recovering
Even with these improvements, Washington, D.C. continues to grapple with crime challenges. In 2024, the district recorded a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents — the fourth-highest in the country and nearly six times higher than New York City, according to White House data.
For families affected by violent crime, statistics offer little comfort. The family of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a Capitol Hill intern fatally shot on June 30, 2025, continues to mourn while awaiting full justice. “We’re very happy that two suspects were apprehended,” a family member stated. “The third one is still on the loose.”
There are signs of progress beyond the raw numbers. The Metropolitan Police Department reports that 72% of homicide cases in 2025 have been cleared — meaning an arrest has been made. That marks a dramatic improvement from the department’s recent low point in 2023, when the clearance rate dipped to 52%.
Both violent and property crimes are down year-to-date. Federal officials point to increased cooperation between local and federal law enforcement — along with the National Guard presence in certain neighborhoods — as factors in the improvement.
In June 2025, D.C. recorded 12 homicides, representing a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 — a 65% reduction from the highest peak in August 2023, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.
So while Washington hasn’t gone six months without a murder as the president claimed, the city is experiencing its lowest crime rates in decades — a nuanced reality that gets lost in political hyperbole.
