Violent crime has risen under the Harris-Biden administration – after ABC's David Muir refuted Trump's claim that crime was 'through the roof': Justice Department report

Violent crime has risen under the Harris-Biden administration, according to U.S. Department of Justice data released Friday, contradicting ABC News debate moderator David Muir's corrections to Donald Trump during his showdown with Kamala Harris on Tuesday night.

The survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, looks at self-reported violent crimes over the past six months, meaning it includes crimes that may not have been reported to police.

The annual National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) found that the total number of reported violent crimes – including rape, robbery and aggravated assault – increased from 5.6 per 1,000 in 2020 to 8.7 per 1,000 in 2023.

The highest violent crime rate recently was recorded in 2022, when the survey found 9.8 cases per 1,000 people over the age of 12.

The rape rate increased from 1.2 per 1,000 in 2020 to 1.7 in 2023, the robbery rate increased from 1.6 per 1,000 in 2020 to 2.6 per 1,000 in 2023, and aggravated assault increased from 2.9 per 1,000 in 2020 to 4.5 per 1,000 in 2023.

The question of whether crime has increased under the Harris-Biden administration compared to Trump was a major point of contention in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, when the 45th president charged: “Crime in this country has gone through the roof.”

“President Trump,” Muir interjected, “as you know, the FBI says that violent crime overall in this country is declining.”

The 2024 FBI quarterly report, which Muir was likely referring to, does not take into account crimes that go unreported to police, but shows that violent crime fell 15.2% when comparing the first three months of 2023 with the same period this year.

The FBI statistics included murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault among violent crimes – but they were far from providing a complete picture, as only 72% of police officers participated in the report.

Trump took a victory lap on Friday after the report was released, citing the Bureau of Statistics report during a press conference in Southern California.

“Remember David Muir tried to correct me and said crime is at an all-time high?” Trump told reporters.

“I guess [the DOJ] “You probably watched the debate and heard this stupid man, this stupid fool, make this statement to me,” the 78-year-old added.

The NCVS also showed that other forms of crime have increased compared to 2019, including stranger violence (8.1 per 1,000 versus 11.4 per 1,000 in 2023) and violent crimes involving weapons (4.0 per 1,000 versus 5.3 per 1,000 in 2023).

The number of car thefts has also increased from 3.9 per 1,000 in 2019 to 6.1 per 1,000 in 2023.

John Lott, former senior adviser to the Justice Department for research and statistics, told the Washington Post that there are several reasons for the discrepancy between the FBI and Justice Department figures.

“There are reasons why the number of crimes reported to police in FBI data has declined,” Lott said, noting that the number of police officers in cities like New York has “dropped steeply” in recent years.

He added that the NCVS was set up decades ago to record crimes that go unreported to the police.

“About 40 percent of violent crimes and about 30 percent of property crimes are reported to the police,” Lott continued, adding that the controversy essentially boils down to whether people are interested only in reported crimes or in “total crime.”

“I guess people are more interested in the overall crime rate,” he said.

On Friday afternoon, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt Muir, host of ABC's “World News Tonight,” called on “to immediately publicly apologize to President Trump for the incorrect and rude fact-checking of his debate.”

“This new data proves President Trump was right,” Leavitt added. “Violent crime is up, and if Kamala is given another four years to implement her policies of weak crime control, defunding police, and eliminating cash bail, America will continue to turn into a crime-ridden hellhole for illegal immigrants, Venezuelan gangsters, and drug dealers. ONLY President Trump will restore law and order. If Americans want to be safe, VOTE TRUMP.”

ABC News did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.