NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump warned nearly a year ago that the District of Columbia may have been reporting “fake crime numbers” when he deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital.
Now, the Metropolitan Police Department is embroiled in scandal, as 13 officers have been placed on leave, with some already undergoing termination, according to MPD Interim Chief Jeffrey Carroll, as an ongoing probe into alleged manipulation of statistics unfolds.
“Our Internal Affairs Bureau has completed an investigation into crime reporting,” Carroll said. The MPD did not immediately respond to a Tuesday request for comment. “This investigation was reported — it was referred to us earlier this year from the United States Attorney’s Office.”
Senior officials, including an assistant chief and district commander, are among those being scrutinized, according to reports.
DC POLICE ACCUSED OF MANIPULATING CRIME STATS AS FEDERAL PROBE FINDS THOUSANDS OF MISCLASSIFIED CASES
Trump received heavy blowback from District officials and Democratic lawmakers for dispatching the Guard to the area after declaring on Truth Social that “DC gave fake crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.”
Trump claimed that until the Guard arrived, Washington was the least safe city in the U.S. “and perhaps the world.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment, while House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer took credit for the developments leading up to the suspensions.
“These terminations are a direct result of the Oversight Committee’s work exposing dangerous efforts by DC Police leaders to artificially lower crime rates,” Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement.
Meanwhile, several Democrats, including those in the District, have lambasted Trump for his actions.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., slammed the White House in August, saying the president’s use of federal law enforcement within her city is a “disproportionate overreaction” and “offensive.”
WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AS TRUMP’S USE OF DC POLICE FOR CRIME CRACKDOWN IS PLACED IN THE CROSSHAIRS BY DEMS
Council members on the District Council — where there are no Republicans — called Trump’s behavior off-base and extreme.
District of Columbia District Attorney Brian Schwalb also sued the feds for an “unlawful attempt to take over [MPD]” and the Justice Department’s Home-Rule order to the District in that respect.
Schwalb’s office said in a statement at the time that Trump had no right to supplant then-chief Pamela Smith, with the AG adding that his actions represented a “hostile takeover.”
“The Administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the District’s right to self-governance and putting the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk,” Schwalb said, further calling the move the greatest threat to the District’s “home rule” provisions of self-governance.
In a profane response a month later to the Guard’s presence, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., declared Congress would never provide consent to Trump’s actions in Washington.
“No f—ing way,” he said in response to a question on extending the National Guard’s tenure.
‘THEY’RE EMBARRASSING US’: NATIONAL GUARD PRESENCE IN DC SPARKS FIERY CAPITOL CLASH
Schumer called Trump’s move an attempted distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein files saga.
Fox News Digital reached out to Schwalb, Holmes-Norton, Schumer, the White House and the MPD for comment.
A representative for Schwalb acknowledged Fox News Digital’s inquiry and said the attorney general’s office would respond soon.
Meanwhile, the MPD’s union boss welcomed the news, saying his members “warned that this toxic culture of coercion, fear, and corruption left thousands of cases uninvestigated, denied victims justice, gaslit residents, and endangered public safety.”
“Forensic teams were not dispatched, evidence went uncollected, detectives were never notified, and dangerous criminals walked free. All while the public was fed falsified Daily Crime Report (DCR) numbers,” Gregg Pemberton said.
Read the full article here