ABC News' fact-checking on presidential debates is getting pretty old after the FBI quietly makes a surprising correction about the U.S. violent crime rate
In a political showdown between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris last month, Trump cited an increase in violent crime to beat the Biden-Harris administration's record.
“Despite their false statements, crime continues unabated here,” Trump said. “Crime in this country is extraordinarily high.”
Shortly after, ABC debate moderator David Muir tried to fact-check the Republican candidates.
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Former President Trump slammed Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate, citing the rise in violent crime. (Doug Mills/New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“President Trump, as you know, the FBI says that overall violent crime is actually decreasing in this country,” Muir responded.
Trump quickly pushed back.
“I'm sorry,” Trump told Muir. “They were making deceptive statements. They didn't include the worst cities. They didn't include the cities where the worst crimes happened. This was a fraud. They claimed to have created 81 Just as the figure of 8,000 jobs turned out to be a fraud.” ”
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A recent FBI update appears to favor Trump. Although it reported that violent crime decreased by 2.1% in 2022, the FBI has now admitted that it actually increased by 4.5%.
Crime and data expert John Lott said the new figures reflect a net increase of 80,029 violent crimes in 2022 compared to 2021. He revealed that within the violent crimes category there were an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies and 37,091 aggravated crimes. assault case that year.
Mr. Muir has not yet acknowledged the changes to the FBI's statistics on “World News Tonight,” according to Gravure records.
ABC presidential debate co-hosts David Muir and Lindsey Davis have criticized former President Trump for refusing to correct Vice President Kamala Harris despite constantly fact-checking him. It was heavily criticized. (ABC News)
ABC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
ABC News sparked outrage after the debate moderator repeatedly fact-checked Trump while ignoring all of Harris' claims.
Even the liberal writers of NBC's “Saturday Night Live” criticized its broadcast rival, NBC, for its “biased” arguments.
“I was hoping that my striking good looks would be recognized in the debate I moderated, but unfortunately it was about whether I was biased against the Democratic Party. ,'' Muir, who plays cast member Andrew Dismukes, told the audience, eliciting laughter. audience.
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The FBI has quietly acknowledged that violent crime is on the rise across the United States after reporting a decline in 2022. (Getty Images)
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Trump himself has repeatedly criticized Muir and ABC News, accusing the network of breaking an “agreement” it made with the Trump campaign before the debate.
President Trump: “You don't know this, but we had an agreement with ABC that we would not make any corrections, and they violated that agreement. Why? They're bad people, they're fake.'' Because it’s news,” he said on September 26. “So he did the same thing to me over and over again during the debate. He violated the contract. That's the contract. Because you can accept anything and try to make up a story with it. We made a deal that didn't happen. You can do whatever you want as soon as the discussion is over, but he did it in complete violation of our agreement, and there it is. Many people were standing. [as he looked toward his staff] It will tell you exactly what it was, it will show you what it was. David Muir has lost all credibility. ”
FOX News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
