FBI Director Kash Patel credited the Trump administration’s law-and-order policies for producing the U.S.’s largest-ever drop in murders in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The Council on Criminal Justice released a report, notably leaving out the top two murder rates in national cities per capita, showing that U.S. murders dropped by 21% in 2025. The report, which analyzed data from 40 large cities, showed the largest single-year decline on record.
Patel argued that this historic turnaround is a direct result of Trump’s crackdown on crime, including a significant increase in violent crime arrests and the disruption of gangs and criminal enterprises.
“[Media outlets] somehow forgot to mention President Trump or the historic results of this FBI,” Patel said in an X post. “Nearly 200% more arrests. Violent gangs crushed. Fugitives hunted down.”
The CCJ study shows that aggravated assaults fell by 9%, while gun assaults and robberies tumbled by 22% and 23%, respectively. Drug crimes were the only category to increase, rising by 7%.
While the CCJ study reports a decrease in crime, Jackson, Mississippi, and Birmingham, Alabama, were not included in the study despite having the highest murder rates per 100,000 people.
While researchers from the CCJ noted that crime had been steadily dropping since the early 2000s, Patel countered that the current pace of decline is unprecedented, attaching a graphic showing the “FBI’s historic year.”
In celebration of Trump’s first year in office, the White House detailed a series of federal interventions as the primary drivers behind drops in rapes, robberies, and aggravated assault, by 6%, 16% and 10%, respectively.
The administration’s “Making Our Communities Safe Again” agenda focused heavily on a targeted federal crackdown in Democrat-led cities.
For example, the Washington, D.C., Safe and Beautiful Task Force reportedly conducted 7,500 arrests and seized 735 illegal firearms. D.C. saw a 60% drop in murders following federal intervention.
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Patel has been a central figure in the crime crackdown efforts, spearheading Operation Summer Heat, a nationwide initiative to capture the “worst of the worst” violent offenders.
The three-month operation resulted in more than 8,700 arrests of narcotics traffickers, gang members, and violent felons.