The same day as a TIME Magazine interview was published where Trump refused to accept FBI crime data showing that violent crime across the country was on the decline, the MAGA extremist stumbled to back up his claim that Venezuela had a 72 percent reduction in crime due to the country sending “all their criminals from Venezuela right into the good old USA.”
Raw Story reports that Trump made his often-repeated claim this morning during an appearance on Detroit’s WJBK-TV. When host Roop Raj asked about the origin of the data, Trump stammered and said he received the information from “the papers,” then a “federal statement,” before settling on “Venezuela” as his final (made up) answer.
Learn more from Raw Story:
- Donald Trump immediately floundered when asked by a local TV anchor to identify his source from claims about crime statistics in Venezuela.
- The former president appeared Tuesday morning on Detroit’s WJBK-TV and capped off a brief interview with anchor Roop Raj by citing a version of a statistic he frequently uses in speeches.
- “One stat before we go,” Trump said. “Venezuela was very crime-ridden. They announced the other day [a] 72 percent reduction in crime in the last year. You know why? They moved all their criminals from Venezuela right into the good old U.S.A., and Biden let them do it. It’s a disgrace.”
- Raj gently pushed back, asking where Trump was getting those numbers, and the ex-president stammered.
- “Uhhhh, I guess I get them from the papers in this case,” Trump said. “I think it’s a federal statement or, well, they’re coming actually from Venezuela. They’re coming from Venezuela.”
- Raj appeared skeptical, saying, “We’ll have to check on that” before thanking Trump for his time.
- Politifact recently examined a similar claim Trump made about foreign nations emptying their prisons and mental health facilities and sending those people to the United States.
- Venezuela’s government doesn’t publish reliable crime data, but an independent monitor reported a 25 percent drop in violent deaths between 2022 and 2023 in the South American nation. The Venezuela Observatory of Violence noted the national rate was high compared to other countries in that region.
Read the entire story on Raw Story.
Watch the Trump interview clip here.
Published: Apr 30, 2024 | Last Modified: May 8, 2024