The Orange Buffoon® responded via Twitter to news about Elija Cummings’ Baltimore home being burglarized:
Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019
For the last few weeks, Trump has attacked both Rep. Cummings and Baltimore. He has even claimed, without any evidence, that political leaders in Baltimore of took and mismanaged federal funds.
Yesterday, the official White House Twitter account claimed that Baltimore has a higher crime rate than “Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala—the three Central American nations driving our border surge.”
The murder rate in Baltimore is higher than that of Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala—the three Central American nations driving our border surge.
Democrats have run Baltimore for 5 decades. It's time for accountability.
Today's news: https://t.co/xb9E3Be3a3 pic.twitter.com/tDq50ExvWm
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 1, 2019
He has now made bagging on Baltimore part of his campaign spew.
Imagine a president riffing on the opioid overdose rate in suburban or rural America to laughter from his supporters. You probably can’t… https://t.co/CleOTNYrzg
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) August 2, 2019
CBS Baltimore/WJZ did some fact checking and surprisingly, Trump told the truth.
THE CHECK:
WJZ reviewed data from 2018, the last full year for which data is available.
Data from the U.S. State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council lists El Salvador’s murder rate at 50 per 100,000 residents in 2018.
The council’s report listed Guatemala’s 2018 murde r rate at 22 per 100,000.
Honduras’ 2018 murder rate was not included in OSAC’s annual crime and safety report published in April, but a report from the Observatory of Violence at the National Autonomous University of Honduras gave a figure of 41.4 murders per 100,000 residents.
HOW DOES BALTIMORE COMPARE?
Charm City ended 2018 with a total of 309 murders, according to the Baltimore Police Department. So far in 2019, police report 196 homicides have occurred.
Using the U.S. Census Bureau’s July 2018 population estimate for the city of 602,495, Baltimore’s 2018 murder rate is 51.3 murders per 100,000 residents.
CLAIM: TRUE
