Conservative podcaster Ben Ferguson left hs fellow CNN panelists stunned after he made the bizarre claim that falling crime rates in 2024 were due to President Donald Trump's policies—even though Trump didn't begin his second term until January 2025.
Ferguson spoke after Trump—who presented fake crime statistics—announced his decision to federalize police in Washington, D.C., and deploy the National Guard in an effort to fight crime.
Trump's announcement is a significant escalation of his previous attacks on the nation's capital, which he has repeatedly referred to as "crime-infested." He claimed in his remarks to the press that D.C. is “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,” a claim at odds with Justice Department data showing that the city’s crime rate hit a 30-year low last year.
Enter Ferguson, who in conversation with other panelists on CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip defended Trump's move, pointing to a spike in violent crime in 2023. Phillip acknowledged crime rates were higher at the time but pointed to last year's numbers, which showed crime was down significantly.
RELATED: MSNBC Fact-Checks Trump In Real Time As He Blatantly Lies About Crime Rates In DC
Ferguson replied:
"I agree, and a lot of it is the leadership of Trump."
After Phillip pointed out that this happened "before Trump" and asked him for "evidence" that this had anything to do with Trump, he replied:
"We have the president of the United States of America enabling law enforcement to do their job, we have ICE agents going out there ... we are seeing numbers come down because you have a president—"
Phillip cut him off, pointing out that it was in fact former President Joe Biden who was in office at the time, to which Ferguson stressed that Biden "was not tough on crime." The two of them also clashed when he disagreed with Phillip's remark that crime rates have "plummeted"—even though federal data shows crime rates decreased by 50% between 2023 and 2024.
To that, Phillip replied:
"I know you don't want to let facts get in the way of the political talking points, but I think if you were to take politics out of the situation there are a lot of complex reasons why crime rates go up and why they go down, and usually the president has not a single thing to do with it."
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
- YouTube youtu.be
Ferguson had earlier posted on social media that he'd be appearing on CNN, saying he would be "talking TRUMP CRIME CRACKDOWN IN DC AND ICE AGENTS BE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOB IN CA!"
However, he found that his blatant denial of the facts did not go over well.
Sorry, Ben. We know facts are inconvenient.
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