The President used his State of the Union address to tout strength on crime, immigration and the use of the National Guard in Democrat-led cities.
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday (Feb. 24), President Donald Trump claimed that, thanks to his administration’s deployment of the National Guard, crime had decreased in cities such as New Orleans, Memphis, and Washington, D.C. In regard to D.C., Trump claimed there was almost no crime.
However, current figures from the Metropolitan Police Department contradict Trump’s claims that crime has been completely eliminated. There have been nine murders in 2026, compared to 27 during the same tracking period last year. However, assault with a dangerous weapon crimes are up 20 percent, with 126 incidents occurring so far this year compared to 105 incidents around the same period last year.
.@POTUS: Starting last summer, I deployed our National Guard and federal law enforcement to restore LAW and ORDER to our most dangerous cities.
Here in Washington, crime is now at the lowest levels ever recorded — and murders in D.C. this January were down close to 100% from one… pic.twitter.com/8J94iHlQCi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
D.C. had a 21-day stretch earlier this year without a recorded homicide, the longest streak without a murder in more than a decade. According to a January 29 report by the Washington Post, only one person had been murdered in the month of January. Trump associates and others who supported his use of the National Guard in the nation’s capital claimed the Guard’s presence on the ground was one of the primary reasons for the drop in crime, but crime figures were already falling long before the Guard was deployed.
In a 20-year homicide trend, murders dropped sharply from a peak of 274 in 2023 to 187 in 2024. By comparison, the city had 60 fewer murders in 2025, with only 127.
In sum, violent crime in D.C. was down for the second consecutive year.
In 2025, Trump claimed that D.C. was under a “crime emergency,” prompting a federal takeover of the MPD. Even before that, the Justice Department released figures in 2025 stating that crime in D.C. had hit a 30-year low in 2024 under the Biden Administration.
According to the Council of Criminal Justice, crime rates fell nationwide in 2025. Homicides were down 21 percent from 2024 and 44 percent since a recent peak in 2021.
The State of the Union featured several protests, including Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who held a sign that said “Black People Are Not Apes.” He was escorted out, but not before being confronted by soon-to-be retiring Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) and two other Republicans.
