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Donald Trump has come under fire for suggesting that domestic violence shouldn’t be classed as a crime.
The president was speaking at a Museum of the Bible event in Washington, D.C., on Monday when he made comments about crime statistics.
It comes after Trump deployed the National Guard to the state after he claimed crime was out of control and declared a public emergency on August 7.
- Trump suggested domestic violence shouldn’t be classed as a crime, sparking fierce backlash from opponents and support groups.
- Trump appeared to suggest domestic violence is over-reported at a Museum of the Bible event on Monday.
- CDC data reveal intimate partner violence is severe, with millions affected and over half of female homicide victims killed by partners.
Donald Trump suggested domestic violence shouldn’t be recorded in crime statistics
Image credits: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Trump also appeared to suggest that domestic violence incidents had been over-reported to the police.
Intimate partner violence in the U.S. is significantly underreported.
“They said crime’s down 87%. I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s more than 87%. Virtually nothing,’” Trump said during his speech.
“And much lesser things, things that take place in the home, they call crime.
“You know, they’ll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say, ‘This was a crime, see?’ So, now I can’t claim 100%.”
His comments minimizing the impact of partner violence were sharply criticized by his opponents and domestic abuse support organizations.
Trump minimizes domestic abuse during a talk at the Museum of the Bible: “Things that take place in the home, they call crime … If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime, see?” pic.twitter.com/fDbyMovsMP
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 8, 2025
Intimate partner violence is seen as a significant public health issue in the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Statistics published by the CDC show that about 41% of women and 26% of men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner.
Over 61 million women and 53 million men have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime, the CDC said.
Data from U.S. crime reports cited by the CDC also suggest that about one in five homicide victims is killed by an intimate partner.
Over half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner, the reports said.
“The DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence believes that intimate partner violence is a crime and more than a ‘little fight with the wife’ as President Trump stated earlier today,” Dawn Dalton, the coalition’s executive director, told The 19th.
Trump deployed the National Guard to D.C. in August
Image credits: The White House
“Per federal and local statute, domestic violence is a crime and one that is not only a precursor to domestic violence homicides, but also a common factor in community violence, including mass shootings, where perpetrators often have a history of committing domestic violence.”
Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore, a survivor of domestic violence, also condemned Trump’s comments in a statement.
“As a survivor of domestic violence, I found President Trump’s comments today downplaying domestic violence deeply offensive and disturbing,” she said.
“Trump has a long history of violence against women that makes his dismissiveness unsurprising.”
In a statement to The 19th, the White House said Trump wasn’t “talking about or downplaying domestic violence.”
Spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that Trump’s executive order to deploy the National Guard to D.C. “specifically took action against domestic violence.”
“While President Trump is making America safer, the Fake News is whipping up their latest hoax in real time to distract from the Administration’s tremendous results,” Jackson added.
Image credits: Austin DeSisto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Crime statistics in D.C. do show a decrease in reported offenses since the deployment of the National Guard.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data shows that, compared to the same period in 2024, overall crime decreased by 14% and violent crime decreased by 39%.
Within the violent crime category, homicides decreased by 58%, sex abuse by 40%, robberies by 57%, and assaults with a deadly weapon by 8%.
However, statistics do not support Trump’s claim that D.C. is a “crime-free zone” and show there are still hundreds of reported crimes each week.
According to CNN, there is also no data to support Trump’s claim that crime in Washington, D.C., has been down 87% at any point during the federal takeover.
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