Overview
- Kash Patel, the FBI director, posted a Council on Criminal Justice homicide chart with the caption “Leadership matters,” and online critics noted the timeline appeared to end before President Trump’s current term was shown.
- Newsweek’s fact-check found the chart’s roughly 20 percent decline matches CCJ data showing a 21 percent drop in reported homicides from 2024 to 2025 across 35 large cities.
- CCJ’s figures are not a national count, and the group says any claim of a historic low needs broader federal data before it can be confirmed.
- The New York Post reported an FBI spokesman pushed back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s criticism by saying the CCJ report covers 2025, highlighting how outlets are framing credit and causation in partisan terms.
- Researchers say many forces likely drove the decline, including local community violence interventions, and if the trend holds nationally it would mean fewer people killed and fewer families losing loved ones.