Trump Administration News: President Takes Credit for Steep Crime Rate Declines With False Claims

Trump Visit to N.Y.: President Trump addressed a crowd on Long Island in a wide-ranging speech that touched on what he called the nation’s “best crime record in recorded history,” making sweeping, exaggerated claims about new data released by the F.B.I. on Friday. Read more ›

White House Ballroom: The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to bless the construction of Mr. Trump’s White House ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing.

U.S. Military: Mr. Trump dismissed concerns about the dire conditions reported aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has played a central role in supporting U.S. operations in the Middle East against Iran. Reports suggest military personnel are experiencing poor living conditions and declining mental health after more than eight months at sea. 
President Trump took credit on Friday for what he said is the nation’s “best crime record in recorded history,” pointing to new crime data on 2025 released by the F.B.I. on Friday.

The president said that “every single number” in the report was the lowest in recorded history, which is not the case. While the president made sweeping, exaggerated claims, crime analysts agree that 2025 was a remarkable year, with record declines and historically low crime rates.

A speaker at Trump’s event thanked him for getting state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, back in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by the president last year. Not only was it a temporary restoration, but the person left out a salient fact: It was Trump himself who let the deductions die in his initial tax cut bill in his first term, over major concerns from his donors in New York.

With his new attorney general, Todd Blanche, in attendance on Long Island, President Trump attacked New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, who brought a successful civil fraud lawsuit against the president and his company. He bemoaned the dismissal of charges against her for alleged mortgage fraud. “She got off on a technicality,” he said, before saying ominously, “Let’s see what happens.” He reminded the audience that she campaigned in 2018 on a pledge to investigate Trump.

“Pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” President Trump told an audience in Garden City, N.Y., as he expressed confidence about the course of the Iran war, which began in late February, and the strength of the U.S. blockade.

He suggested that high gas prices were a minor burden compared to keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

“When you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4, it’s OK,” he said. “I’ll never apologize. I did the right thing.”

Speaking at an event in Nassau County on Long Island, President Trump claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had determined that 2025 had the “best crime record in recorded history,” teasing at annual statistics that the agency is expected to release soon.

The F.B.I. shared preliminary statistics in May, showing the largest single-year decrease in murders and violent crime since 1937. But Trump claimed a much more sweeping mantle, saying 2025 had the “single largest reduction in crime in American history.”

He also appeared to blur the lines between a historic drop in the crime rate as opposed to the number of actual crimes recorded.“Every single number is the lowest number in recorded history,” he said, a claim not made in the F.B.I.’s preliminary statistics.

The ballroom case presents the Supreme Court with another challenge to a signature Trump initiative.
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Construction of the new White House ballroom at the White House in July.Credit...Andrew Leyden for The New York Times
The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to bless the construction of President Trump’s White House ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing.

The planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom has been mired in litigation ever since the president tore down the East Wing in October as part of his plan to dramatically remake the White House campus. But the courts have let Mr. Trump build even while questioning the project’s legality, allowing the ballroom to steadily rise in recent months.

President Trump on Friday dismissed reports of deteriorating conditions on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for over eight months.CreditCredit...DVIDS, via Reuters
President Trump on Friday dismissed concerns about dire conditions reported aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been deployed for more than eight and a half months, much of it in support of the war against Iran.

Mr. Trump’s comments came in response to a reporter who asked about the reported conditions stemming from the extended deployment, which have included shortages of basic supplies, safety and hygiene issues and deteriorating mental health. When the reporter said that the crew members’ families were concerned, Mr. Trump said, “No, they’re not.”

John IsmayAs a naval officer, John Ismay completed a 239-day deployment from 2009 to 2010 aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz, and deployed to Diego Garcia briefly in early 2002 after the Sept. 11 attacks.
raft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s supply problems began soon after the first day of the war, as Iranian missiles and attack drones fell on a Navy base in Bahrain.

The Iranian attack, retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assault on Tehran, destroyed much of the base. And as it went up in smoke, so did a major logistics hub that the Navy has relied on for decades.