Biden touted drop in crime, didn't warn of organized crime in White House speech | Fact check
Isabel C. MoralesThe claim: Biden warned the US is under threat from organized crime
[En Español: Biden destacó descenso de la delincuencia, pero no advirtió sobre crimen organizado]
A March 4 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of President Joe Biden speaking at a lectern. A narrator appears to translate the president's comments into Spanish.
“Biden warns U.S. under threat from organized crime,” reads the post's on-screen text in Spanish.
The post garnered more than 60 shares in three days.
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Our rating: False
The clip shows Biden talking about his actions to fight crime. He did not say the country was under threat from organized crime.
Biden talks reduction in crime in speech
The post shows a portion of the remarks Biden made during a Feb. 28 speech at the White House about crime prevention. The background of the event and Biden's tie match those in the Facebook video.
A White House transcript of the speech shows the president highlighted his administration's efforts to combat crime by providing additional funding for law enforcement agencies to increase officer recruitment and training, among other initiatives.
But Biden said nothing in the speech about a national threat from organized crime. In fact, he made no mention of organized crime.
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Rather than raise the alarm about crime, he touted what he described as a 50-year low in violent crime.
“Last year, the United States had one of the lowest rates of all violent crime – of all violent crimes in more than 50 years,” Biden says in the speech. "Murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery all dropped sharply, along with burglary, property crime, and theft. And it matters."
Quarterly data from 2023 does show the violent crime rate dropped near its lowest level in 50 years, according to Jeff Asher, a crime analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- White House, Feb. 28, Remarks by President Biden on his Actions to Fight Crime and Make our Communities Safer
- C-SPAN, Feb. 28, President Biden Remarks on Crime Prevention and Community Safety
- Jeff-analytics, Dec. 11, 2023, Crime in 2023: Murder Plummeted, Violent and Property Crime Likely Fell Nationally
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