Trump Downplays Domestic Violence As A ‘Much Lesser’ Crime
by Sara Dorn · ForbesTopline
President Donald Trump suggested domestic violence shouldn’t be considered a serious crime during a speech Monday on religious liberty, while also complaining that crime statistics aren’t lower in Washington, D.C. since his federal crime crackdown.
Key Facts
“If a man has a little fight with the wife, they’ll say this was a crime, see? So now I can’t claim 100%,” Trump said during remarks at the Museum of the Bible, alleging, without evidence, that domestic violence reports were preventing him from taking credit for a 100% reduction in crime in Washington, D.C.
Trump said “much lesser things, things that take place in the home” were unfairly inflating Washington, D.C. crime statistics.
Trump lamented that crime is down 87% in Washington, D.C., since his federal takeover, though it’s unclear where he sourced the statistic—violent crime is down 27% this year compared to the same time last year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, though Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Aug. 27 that carjackings had decreased 87% during the first 20 days of the federal takeover compared to the same time frame last year.
Trump’s comments drew widespread rebuke: Dawn Dalton, executive director of the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, told Mother Jones “we don’t agree with what the president is saying,” while University of Michigan Economics professor and Brookings Institution senior fellow Justin Wolfers tweeted “let me just say what the President won’t: Domestic violence is not okay. It’s immoral, illegal and abusive.”
Tangent
Trump has faced numerous accusations of abusive behavior toward women, including rape allegations made by his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, that she later walked back. Ivana Trump’s rape allegations first surfaced in a 1993 book about Donald Trump in which the author detailed a deposition from Ivana Trump’s and Donald Trump’s divorce. In it, Ivana Trump said Trump sexually assaulted her in 1989 during their marriage, though she watered down the accusation just before the book was released and said she did not intend for the word “rape . . . to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.” Ivana Trump released a subsequent statement during Trump’s 2015 campaign in which she said “the story is totally without merit.” Trump was also found liable by a Manhattan grand jury in May 2023 of sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996 after she accused him of raping her in a Manhattan dressing room in 1996. Jurors rejected her rape claim but found he was guilty of sexually abusing her. A judge ordered him to pay her $5 million in damages.
Key Background
Trump has repeatedly suggested his Washington, D.C. crime crackdown has dramatically reduced crime there as he’s seeks to replicate the effort in other cities, warning that he could send the National Guard to Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore or Los Angeles next. Violent crime in Washington, D.C. was down 30% last year, compared to the year prior, amid a nationwide decline in most major cities.
Further Reading
DC Sues Trump For Deploying National Guard (Forbes)
Trump Says He’ll Send National Guard To Chicago And Baltimore (Forbes)